WW1, commonly known at the time as the “Great War”, started in 1914 and ended in 1918, just over 100 years ago.
It is among the deadliest conflicts in human history, with a total of about 40 MILLION casualties – roughly 20 million deaths and another 20 million wounded. Almost the same number of civilians and soldiers were killed.
At the time, it was thought to be ‘the war to end all wars’.
Hover over the cards below to find out more about World War 1
In 1917, Germany (one of the countries Britain was at war with) announced unrestricted submarine warfare. German submarines were called U-Boats and they were deadly.
Britain relied on big ships to transport ammunition and supplies for the war from Newhaven in England to Dieppe in France, but the U-Boats were sinking them with torpedoes. This was bad for the British.
The supply ships needed protecting, so a large seaplane station was built at Tide Mills, next to the port at Newhaven. This meant that the seaplanes could escort the ships, keeping a look out for U-Boats below the waves!
On the western beach at Tide Mills (nearest Newhaven), a massive shed with huge sliding doors was built on a big concrete standing to store the seaplanes. Another bigger shed was built later to mend the damaged planes. If stacked on top of each other, they would have been about as big as the Mill at Tide Mills (which had been pulled down in 1901).
A big wooden slipway was built to get the planes down to the sea and pull them up again, but it washed away in a storm so two more were built from concrete!
Old railway carriages were used as offices and crew rooms, and there were about 8 or 9 planes stationed at Tide Mills.
Old railway carriages were used as offices and crew rooms
Two large sheds were built to store the seaplanes at the base. You can still see the metal runners for the doors at Tide Mills!
About 8 or 9 seaplanes were based at the station
The seaplanes would have been dragged up and down the beach to get into and out of the water, where they would take off and land
A larger hanger space was built later to provide space for carrying out maintenance and repairs to the planes
Newhaven is in this direction
The Village of Tide Mills and the town of Seaford are in this direction
When fully in operation there were about 194 staff at the Seaplane Station. That was more than twice as many people as were living in the Village at Tide Mills at the time!
All these extra people needed somewhere to live, so they built wooden huts on stilts behind the seaplane sheds. Some of the staff also lived in local accommodation in Newhaven, whilst many of the more senior officers stayed in the Village at Tide Mills.
The officers mess (where they would eat, drink and party) was also in the Village, which meant the village was buzzing with life. Listen to what Hilda Baker, one of the residents of Tide Mills, said.
Another reason the Officers stayed in Tide Mills is that they got their food ration from a Canadian army base in Seaford (to the eastern side of Tide Mills) and the food was top notch. The pilots who were 18 or under received extra rations, because they were still classed as children!
Pilot 2nd Lt Ackery (pictured), just 18 (still classed as a child, so extra rations for him!) said:
Not only were the galley staff 1st class but we drew rations from the Canadian supply base where standards were above normal!
Most of the staff at the Seaplane Station were men, but there were 17 women in uniform and 17 household staff. Most of the women in uniform were office workers – short-hand typists earned the most, whilst the household staff earned the least (although they had the longest hours!).
Some women could have also worked as Pigeon Keepers or as Seamstresses, repairing the canvas wings of the seaplanes.
A seaplane is like a normal plane but with two big floats instead of wheels so it can take off and land on water. The seaplanes that flew from Tide Mills had a large engine and propeller in front of the pilot. They were made of wood, canvas and not much else!
The planes had a crew of two men – a pilot and an observer – and there wasn’t much room inside. The pilot flew the plane and the observer had a big machine gun and looked for other enemy planes and submarines.
The seaplanes could only take off when the weather was right. If the sea was too calm or too rough, they couldn’t fly.
Illustration of Pilot Lt Ackery and Observer Lt Dangerfield in the cockpit of a seaplane, based on a historical photo
From the cockpit, the pilot couldn’t see where he was going, or hear the observer because it was so noisy. Instead, the observer would move the pilot’s head to tell him where to go. This was meant to be gentle, but often wasn’t. Listen to what Lt Ackery wrote in his diary:
The role of the seaplanes was to spot enemy U-Boats. A seaplane could carry one big bomb (51kg) and two smaller bombs (23kg) to drop onto any U-boats they found (but only one was ever hit by a seaplane from Tide Mills!).
As well as a big machine gun for shooting at other planes, the observer carried a loaded revolver and a flare gun for signaling.
Every seaplane took off with two homing pigeons on board that would find their way back to the seaplane station if something went wrong or if the plane’s radio failed.
There was a knack to releasing the pigeons so they didn’t hit the plane and die. The observer (the second person in the plane) had to cover the birds’ wings and throw them hard downwards.
During the war there were severe food shortages and there was a real possibility of pigeons being shot down for a free meal, so it was quickly made illegal to shoot the pigeons!
The first flight of a powered aeroplane took place in 1903, only 11 years before the outbreak of WW1, so it’s no surprise that there were a number of crashes around the seaplane station!
There were a total of three deaths from the crews based at Tide Mills:
Pilot Lt. John Frederick Raymond Kitchin (19 years old) and Observer 2nd Lt. George Cole (26 years old) died on 21st June 1918 when their plane crashed into the breakwater at Newhaven shortly after take-off.
Less than a month later on 16th July 1918, Pilot Lt. John Edward Greenwell (23 years old) died when his plane lost height and crashed into the sluice gates of the Tidal Mill.
Seaplane observer Lieutenant Bernard Dangerfield, based at Newhaven Seaplane Station at Tide Mills
After the war finished the Seaplane Station was officially closed in May 1919. All the soldiers and staff moved away.
The smaller of the seaplane sheds was auctioned off and taken to East Quay in Newhaven to be a wine warehouse. It burnt down in the 1960’s.
The larger shed was used to manufacture the concrete piles which replaced the rotting wooden ones at the East Pier in Newhaven (you can still see one today on the beach). The shed was finally relocated to Wimbledon, where it was used to store railway equipment.
It still survives and is now a Grade II Listing building, home to Firecracker Works, a prop and set-building company.
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