Page 5 - Cranwell Photographs

FIRST RRIVALS
Above: Naval ratings help to clear the last of the farm produce from asite that was soon to become a bustling flying station. The stone walls, typical of the area, were also to disappear - to be used to make hard roads from the existing cart tracks to enable the constructor's vehicles to reach the site. The photograph is dated December 1915.
Right: Most probably built in the late eighteenth century as a gamekeeper's cottage, The Lodge, which by 1914 was a farm house, was requisitioned for use as the Commodore's residence. During the Great War it was
doubled in size by adding an eastern half; the design and construction matching that of the original building. Apart from the period 1939- 1945, when it was used as an officers' mess for both RAF and WRAF officers attending courses at Cranwell, the Lodge has been used as the Commandant's residence. It is seen here in December 1915.
Photograph on the opposite page: This undated photograph shows B.E.2c No.1738 undergoing servicing in one of the Cranwell hangars.
First Arrivals
Above: A Chief Petty Officer with thirty five men arrived at Cranwell from Eastchurch and the Isle of Grain on 16th December 1915 to begin work on the new training establishment for the Royal Naval Air Service. Almost all of the group are seen here in December 1915, in front of the gardener's cottage to Lodge Farm, requisitioned as billets for this founding force.
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