Cornwall in the First World War

During this month, each weekday I'm posting a photograph showing Cornwall's First World War. This week the theme is Cornwall's first military air bases.

That said, rather than Cornwall this photo actually shows the Isles of Scilly. Royal Naval Air Station Tresco was built at New Grimsby, and operations by the Navy's waterborne aircaft against German U-boats began in February 1917.

Here, it's the following summer. The slipway is complete, the main hangar still under construction; to its right is Tresco's old stone mill, which the station absorbed. The single long dark building by the beach is the ammunition store. To the left of the slipway are workshops, while on the right of the photo are several accommodation huts.

On the shoreline we can see moored a Curtiss H.12 flying-boat, along with a derelict-looking hull probably from another H.12; a second hull sits on the road from the slipway. The photo was probably taken after lunch; on the road above the accommodation huts, a line of ratings is returning from the direction of the canteen. 

My book, 'Cornwall In The First World War', is published by Truran. With 112 pages and 100 images, you'll find it in bookshops across the Duchy. It's also available through Amazon: http://amzn.to/19JbtZm