Between Heaven and Earth
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Between Heaven and Earth by Neil Owen as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Between Heaven and Earth
Image: © Neil Owen Taken: 19 Sep 2012
In the middle of what is now a simple arable field in an otherwise unremarkable landscape lies this memorial. It must be a scant visited site, but the story remains to be heard. This part of Salisbury Plain was important not only geographically but also in terms of military history. These open sweeps were home to the first efforts to form a flying force. The miracle of powered flight had only just happened and by 1912 Larkhill became the first military flying service - originally part of the Royal Engineers, but shortly after the Royal Flying Corps. The new flying machines were, naturally, prone to disaster. The stone tablet on this memorial reads: "In memory of Major Alexander William Hewetson, 66th Battery Royal Field Artillery, who was killed whilst flying on the 17th July, 1913, near this spot." Oddly enough, there is a stone cross on the old A344 (a road that is now restricted and close to the new visitor centre); the cross refers to the same person and the same date - but is some 2.75km away! See Image] for Alan Cooper's image.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.19442
Longitude
-1.800459