George Washington Benson: –1971 [Heath 1902–1911]
Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines
When war was declared in August 1914 the British air force, known as the Royal Flying Corps, sent a total of 63 aircraft to France with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). These primitive machines made of canvas and plywood, held together with wire and powered by unreliable engines were a far cry from the modern aircraft we are familiar with today.
The whole advent of aerial warfare was brand new and both sides strove to master the technicalities and tactics of this new dimension. One particular problem which the British were trying to solve was how to destroy the giant German airships known as Zeppelins, named after their creator Count Graf Von Zeppelin, which were capable of flying long distances carrying bombs that they could drop on defenceless civilians below. They were able to fly high enough to be out of range of anti-aircraft guns and the planes of the time lacked the necessary firepower to shoot them down.
One intrepid aviator decided to try a novel way to solve the problem; he would not try to shoot them down but bomb them instead. On the night of Lieutenant Reginald Warneford of the Royal Naval Air Service pursued and destroyed Zeppelin LZ.37 by dropping three bombs on it which caused it to explode and fall in flames. The concussion from the explosion damaged the engine of Lt Warneford’s plane and he was forced to land in a field 35 miles behind enemy lines but was able to effect repairs and make his way back to a friendly airfield. Boys Own stuff indeed and the following day the King awarded Warneford the Victoria Cross for his exploits. Alas only ten days later Reginald was dead, killed in a flying accident near Paris. He was buried at Brompton Cemetery, London, one of the very few servicemen whose bodies were repatriated to be buried at home.
The Warneford name was a familiar one in the Skircoat area at the time as Canon John Henry Warneford had been the first vicar of All Saints Church, Salterhebble, from 1846 until his death in 1899 and his daughter Minnie still resided in the area and worked tirelessly for the St John Ambulance Brigade. The Reverend Warneford was Reginald’s great uncle and Minnie his second cousin. She campaigned for there to be a memorial to her famous cousin in Halifax and Clog Yard, King Cross, was renamed Warneford Square in his honour in August 1915. The Square is long gone, demolished in the re-development of King Cross and the site is now occupied by the car park for King Cross library but, if you look carefully at the adjacent buildings, you will see that the street sign has been retained to perpetuate the memory of this brave man.
By 1918 the Royal Flying Corps had expanded to almost 4000 aircraft and there was a corresponding increase in the number of pilots required. One of them was George Washington Benson whose family lived at Hadlow, Albert Promenade, Skircoat. He had originally enlisted in the West Riding Regiment and crossed to the Western Front in December 1915. He subsequently transferred into the Flying Corps and during a training flight in March 1918 he decided to pop home for dinner. Although great strides had been made in the design and construction of aircraft they were still small machines by today’s standards and he was quite easily able to land on Skircoat Moor, leave his aircraft, enjoy his meal at his parents’ home and then take off to return to his airfield. Flying was a seat of the pants experience in those days with few regulations to control where planes could fly or land. A far cry from today’s heavily regulated society. George survived the war and passed away in 1971 in Whitby.
In July 1918 another plane landed on Skircoat Moor but this time with tragic consequences. The pilot, Harold Heydewrych, had lost his way and descended to try and ascertain his whereabouts. Aeroplanes were still a novelty and a large crowd gathered curious to see one of the flying machines they had heard so much about. When the plane took off a policeman and some soldiers attempted to clear a lane for it but some of the crowd ran into its path forcing the pilot to take evasive action. His manoeuvre undoubtedly saved many lives but he unfortunately struck four-year-old Arnold Stancliffe of Walton Street, King Cross. Arnold was transported to the Infirmary and his mother rushed there to see him but unfortunately he died the next day from his injuries.
Rob Hamilton, Halifax Military History Society. Thanks to Graham Bradshaw for sharing this with us.