Four Hangars

Four Hangars

Aircraft hangars built in 1912 by the engineers Harbrows for the Admiralty at Eastchurch. The building consists of two end-opening paired sheds, each measuring 60 feet by 70 feet, built in-line as two semi-detached units with a central linking annexe. The construction features a steel frame with stanchions set at 10-foot centres. The lower sections of the party walls separating the hangars and the same level of the front elevation are constructed from coarse concrete blocks, with corrugated iron cladding throughout. All roofs are made of felt laid on timber boarding. The exterior is plain in character, with the full-width front doors partly infilled. The interior contains steel trusses that are portal-braced to the front, with timber trusses serving the central annexe.

These hangars were built as part of the Royal Navy's expansion of Eastchurch as a training base. They are of a larger 50-foot span and length compared to four similar sheds identified on a Royal Aero Club site plan dated June 1910. Historical records show that in February 1912 ten acres of ground close to the Club sheds were leased and work commenced on six new sheds and three portable hangars, with these hangars shown on a plan dated December 1912.

Eastchurch, together with Larkhill in Wiltshire, is one of only two sites in Britain where aircraft sheds built in association with the early pioneers of powered flight have survived (1910 at Larkhill and 1912 at Eastchurch). They rank amongst the most historically significant structures associated with the pioneering phase of powered flight to have survived anywhere in Europe or America.

Flying at Eastchurch began in July 1909 when C.S. Rolls used Standford Hill for glider tests. From May 1910 the site became a fashionable centre for aviation pioneers. By September 1910 there were 18 sheds rented by pioneers including Moore-Brabazon, C.S. Rolls, and Tom Sopwith. In November 1910 the Royal Aero Club offered the site's facilities to the military for training purposes. After the formation of the Royal Flying Corps in April 1912, Eastchurch was established as the Naval Wing headquarters, becoming known as HMS Pembroke II. Following the formation of the Royal Naval Air Service in July 1914, naval landplanes were sent to Eastchurch for mobilisation. The base conducted official trials of the Handley Page 0/100 bomber. Expansion in 1916 and 1917 resulted by November 1918 in a 600-acre site with 29 hangars. The base became the Armament and Gunnery School in 1922, renamed the Air Armament School in 1932. It transferred to Coastal Command in November 1938 and was used to mount raids on shipping in German-occupied ports until severe raids put the airfield largely out of action from September 1940 to June 1942. After 1950 the airfield returned to agriculture and the buildings were converted into an open prison.