RAF Eastchurch - Royal Navy Use

Royal Navy Use

In November 1910 the Royal Aero Club, at the instigation of Francis McClean, offered the Royal Navy the use of its airfield at Eastchurch along with two aircraft and the services of its members as instructors in order that Naval officers might be trained as pilots. The Admiralty accepted and on 6 December the Commander-in-Chief at the Nore promulgated the scheme to the officers under his jurisdiction, stipulating that applicants be unmarried and able to pay the membership fees of the Royal Aero Club. Two hundred applications were received, and four were accepted: Lieutenants C.R. Samson, A.M. Longmore and A. Gregory, and Captain E L Gerrard, RMLI. It was originally planned that Cecil Grace would be their instructor but, following his untimely death, George Cockburn took his place and offered his services free of charge. Technical instruction was provided by Horace Short. The airfield later became the Naval Flying School, Eastchurch.