Bailleul Aerodrome

1 July 1999, 04:45 PM

Hello all,

Last weekend a friend was driving through the town of Bailleul. He went into the Tourist Information Centre to ask for directions to the site of the 1st War aerodrome that so many R.F.C Squadrons were based at. The reply: "Site of 1st War aerodrome! you must be mistaken". He was not expecting to see any evidence of an aerodrome he just wanted to stand and take his hat off in respect.

Would anybody have a map reference, so that at least we could aim it at the Tourist Information Centre in Bailleul for future visitors who simply want to pay respect.

Regards,
Bob.

Darryl · 1 July 1999, 07:51 PM

Hi,
No references with me at the moment (I'm trying to pay off an airfrieght debt) I'll check tonight as I'm sure I've got a drawing of that aerodrome and surrounding areas at home.

regards

Darryl

(As a side note, my sister-in-law was not aware that there was an aerodrome at Trier even though she grew up there!!! Most of the buildings were fairly temporary at WW1 'dromes and many were not suited to later/larger aircraft. Hence they passed into the mists of time.)

Darryl · 2 July 1999, 03:52 AM

Hello again,

Sorry, but this is the best I can do:

There were, of course, two grounds at Bailleul. The Town Ground was to the south of the town near the railway line. It is possibly the site of one of the two factories today(?).

The second was the Assylum Ground which I would suppose was in the grounds of, you guessed it, the assylum. This is apparently north of the town on the road to Ypres.

This is as specific as I can be with the maps available. It should give the locals something to work on.

Just out of interest, the following Squadrons used Bailleul during the Great War:

1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 19, 32, 42, 53, 60, 65, 69, 1N
and 9N.

Best regards

Darryl

2 July 1999, 03:49 PM

Thanks Darryl. My friend has a 1/250 map of the area so at least we can pin point likely spots.

Regards,
Bob.

4 July 1999, 05:49 PM

This raises good point, maybe a record of aerodromes and their deg/min/sec should be started for reference on the web.

cam

cam

Darryl · 4 July 1999, 07:54 PM

Hi Cam,
what an excellent idea!!!! I'm not close enough to France/belgium to actively seek them out but:::

M, N/S, S/D, good SOH into WW1 aeros, seeks like minded G/L's to share navigation fixes of above. All replies answered, no need for a photo.

Seriously, if anyone wants to work on this I would be only too happy to chip in my two penneths

regards

Darryl