B C Hucks
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Hi
Just came across a reference to B C Hucks searching for an alleged Zeppelin base in the Lake District in August 1914.
I would like to find out more about Hucks (of loop the loop and Hucks Starter fame). Has anyone written a book on Hucks or can forum members point me to some detailed articles or source information?
Best
David “Zepp Raider” Marks
I haven’t written the book on Hucks yet, but have an ever growing pile of information on him, including copies of the telegrams he sent to Farnborough when he went Zepp hunting.
John Barfoot’s ‘Essex Airmen’ provides a reasonable outline of Hucks’ life, and there is the 3-part series I wrote for Windsock years ago (though the third part is quite inaccurate).
Presumably your interest is derived from “Constructing The Enemy Within: Rumours of Secret Gun Platforms and Zeppelin Bases in Britain, August-October 1914” by Brett Holman, and the link provided by Maurice ?
I found this a slightly odd article, quite selective in its examples and not linking the regularity of supposed ‘Zepp sightings’ extending back to (at least) 1912 and Sheerness, and I had expected there to be more about Halcombe Ingelby’s campaign. The suggestion that Hucks “provided his own aircraft” is rubbish: Hucks had been commissioned in to the RFC (SR) and his three Bleriots impressed in to RFC service. The fact that he MAY have been issued Bleriot 619 (formerly ‘The Tornado’) to search for the ‘Zepp base’was merely co-incidence. I say MAY because, although Hucks ferried 619 to France I have yet to find any documentary evidence that it was the aircraft he used.
Nick
Thank you for the response. I am sure that I have a copy of John’s book somewhere and will dig that out.
Yes, I saw the reference in Brett Holman’s article, which I found out about via Twitter. It’s a “clunky” article liberally sprinkled with footnotes, but thought-provoking none the less.
I am keen to learn more about Hucks vs the Zeppelins and will be in touch.
David
He found nothing. Valve spring broke on the Gnome. He went home. The reports continued.
A commemorative postcard was produced entitled ‘CB Hucks (sic) searching for the Zepp baby-killers’, though I would think that wasn’t strictly contemporary as it was before the first Zepp raid.
Peter Connon’s ‘Under the Shadow of the Eagle’s Wing’ gives a fair account. There may be more in records of the Cumberland & Westmorland Yeomanry and/or 5th Battalion, The Border regiment, both of whom carried out searches in the area, though I would expect that if there was anything to be found, Peter would have found it. He mentions the Bleriot as being ’46’ which he takes to be a civilian racing number – not one I can confirm was ever carried by any of Hucks’ aircraft, or any of the impressed Bleriots.
‘With the First in the Field’ mentions ‘mysterious lights’ over Barrow.
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