Mattishall Village in the Heart of Norfolk

Mattishall Village Website is sponsored by
Ray Taylor .... Property Maintenance.

Mattishall Airfield ..... 1916 - 1919

A book has been published on this subject called
'Mattishall Airfield and The Zeppelins 1916-1919'
by Derek Bingham,
who's Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles lived at Tollgate Farm which was within a few yards of the aerodrome.

Tolgate House/Farm

The site of the airfield was on the field behind Tollgate Farm on the north side of the road just past the cross roads of Blind Lane and Church Lane (Welbourne) on the road coming out of Mattishall heading to East Tuddenham.

There is no evidence of it today the barn on the opposite side of the road has been converted to a dwelling and the small Pay Hut (pictured above) has been removed. The roads leading to the air field have since overgrown.

1916-1919 the men and aircraft from this small airfield played a valuable part in the war effort to combat the new German war machine - the Zeppelin.

The Zeppelin was the brain child of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

Whilst the Germans had the capability to bomb England from the start of the war, the Kaiser had banned this since he considered England as another "Christian nation" and viewed the bombing of civilians as less than gentlemanly. Under constant pressure from his military staff, he finally gave in and permitted the raids. Peter Stresser, Chief of the Navel Airship Division was the driving force behind the German airship program.

Count von Zeppelin (centre) Peter Strasser (right)

In total they made 159 sorties over England killing 557 and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to property. These monsters were over 200 metres long and could fly as high as 3000 metres and were capable of carrying a large bomb load (left).

The first Zeppelin raid occurred on the night of 19th January 1915, when the L-3 carried out an attack on the undefended town of Great Yarmouth, dropping eight 110 lb high explosive bombs in a line across the built-up area and on South Denes. The two people killed in the attack were the first British citizens to die in an air raid. Later the same night the L-4 dropped bombs on King's Lynn, killing a woman and a child.

To combat the ever-increasing German Zeppelin raids which were flying over England unchecked and terrorising the civilian population a decision was made by the War Office to build a line of airfields stretching from London to Hull, called the Home Defence Line. Mattishall was selected as it was in the centre of this defence line and the 80-acre field behind Tollgate Farm was chosen.

The residents of Toll House Farm had no warning that an Airfield was going to be built on their field. The first indication was one morning when lorries and personnel arrived and started putting up tents quite close to the farm's back door. They constructed huts for officers as well as basic facilities such as latrines, bathsheds a generator for the water supply, hangers, workshops,stores and a cook house. The huts were sectional and were made by Boulton & Paul of Norwich. It must have been quite a hive of activity.

The first aircraft flown from Mattishall was the (Bleriot Experimental) BE-2c often called the "Quirk" it was an updated version of the BE-2b with a modified engine for extra stability and the addition of an observer's Lewis machine gun. The BE-2c was Britain's attempt to cope with the superior German Fokker D-V11 and the menacing Zeppelins The pilots from The Home Defence Line had small hand held bombs that they would literally drop onto their targets.

When the 38 Squadron was moved to France to fight on the western Front, they were replaced by 51 Squadron and the FE-2b biplane (Farman Experimental). Initially it was used for reconnaissance, the 2 seater biplane was armed with two or three .303 Lewis machine guns, the observer sat forward in the nacelle, directly in front of the pilot.

An interesting and horrifying account is recorded by Frederick Libby the first American ace of World War 1, on his experience in the plane.

"When you stood up to shoot all of you from the knees up was exposed to the elements. There was no belt to hold you. Only your grip on the gun and the sides of the nacelle stood between you and eternity. Towards the front of the nacelle was a hollow steel rod with a swivel mount to which the gun was anchored. This gun covered a huge field of fire forward. Between the observer and the pilot a second gun was mounted, for firing over the FE-2b's upper wing to protect the aircraft from rear attack.... Adjusting and shooting this gun required that you stand right up out of the nacelle with your feet on the nacelle coaming. You had nothing to worry about except being blown out of the aircraft by the blast of air or tossed out bodily if the pilot made a wrong move. There were no parachutes and no belts".

These small aircraft were often taking off and landing in total darkness and patroling the night skies over Norfolk and its coastline.Often after flying at operational height, on landing the pilots had to be carried from their cockpits, which were completely open , suffering from intense cold.

There were several accidents on and around the air field planes were frequently coming into land and finishing up on their nose. A Lieut Thunder crashed on the Mattishall side of Blind Lane and was immediately engulfed in flames. The pilot, injured and severely burnt,managed to crawl to the nearside bank. He was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Regular training flights were made between Mattishall and Marham, they would follow the Dereham - King's Lynn railway line.

The L-71 on its way to Pulham Airfield to surrender in accordance with the Armistice Agreement

On Aug 5th 1918 the Germans attempted what was to become the last raid on England by a Zeppelin. The L-70 was hovering of the Norfolk coast, on board was Peter Strasser (pictured earlier with Count von Zeppelin) )when it was spotted by the crew of a Lightship. The Lightship radioed the information to Yarmouth and the signal was sent to the airfields. The L-70 was located by Major Egbert and Captain Leckie who attacked the Zeppelin with their incendiary bullets, the Zeppelin ignited and fell into the sea. There were no Survivors.

The Armistice was signed eight months later and the First world War was over. Two of the giant German airships, L-64 and L-71 flew around Norwich during daylight they were on their way to Pulham Airship Station where they surrendered in accordance with the Armistice Agreement. It was reported that they were clearly seen from Mattishall.