Steyning
Note: This map only gives the position of Steyning within the UK.
STEYNING: Forced landing site
Note: We have to thank Mr Michael T Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide' for finding this picture and the newspaper account of the flight. Plus of course the maps and pictures below.
NOTES: We need to remember that in the days when this flight took place in 1911, in the dawn of powered aviation, very little was known about how to fly and navigate a powered aeroplane, or machine as they were generally called. The aviators, (now called pilots), had almost nothing to assist them in terms of flying instruments.
The flights in the newspaper report below took place on the 31st July, outbound from HENDON, including landing at STEYNING, and on the 1st August for the thwarted return. Eventually getting back to HENDON early on the 2nd August. The article is quoted at length because it tells us so much about aspects of flight and flying in those early days.
BRIGHTON & BACK BY AEROPLANE
_______♦_________
Lady Passenger the First to Book a Trip
_________
FLYING IN THE CLOUDS
________
"What is believed to be the first booked passenger trip from Hendon to Brighton and back has just been made by Miss Trehawke Davies, of Portland Place, W." (My note: Portland Place is in central London, just west of where the BBC Broadcasting House was later built, officially opening on the 15th May 1932. It still stands of course).
"On Sunday, (My note 30th July), Miss Davies walked into the offices of the Aeronautical Syndicate at Hendon, and, as calmly as if she had been booking to the Crystal Palace by the overhead electric, asked for a return ticket between Hendon and Brighton on an aeroplane. (My note for younger readers - this really was 'on' an aeroplane - out in the open. Cabins for passengers, let alone pilots, were many years away.)
"The request did not take the booking clerk by surprise, and no difficulties were raised when Miss Davies suggested - although it was a singular thing for a passenger to do - that the flight should begin at six o'clock next morning." (My note: A passenger flight of this distance, was I think, unknown - most being of limited duration and fairly local. Indeed, most aviators except for the pioneers, rarely ventured far from their aerodrome).
"Miss Davies' passage was duly booked, and just before six on Monday morning Mr. Barber, of "The Flying Ground," West Hendon, took out the 50-h.p. Gnome Valkyrie racer, and ascended with his passenger in a slight breeze. Making only two circuits of the aerodrome, he quickly attained an altitude of 500ft, and punctually at six o'clock passed over the boundary of the flying ground in the direction of Brighton."
"Before reaching Harrow the wind had considerably increased from the south, and half an hour passed before the aviators arrived over Brooklands track at an altitude of 1,500ft. Owing to the strong wind Mr. Barber seemed it advisable to descend there in order to replenish the petrol tanks. Cutting off his engine, he made a long spiral volplane, passing close to a swift Nieuport machine, and landed near a group of Brooklands enthusiasts"
(My note: When it is said that Barber cut off his engine off - this is true! The early Gnome rotary engines, (designed and produced in France), had only two power settings - full power and off. Later versions had an interrupter switch fitted, so the pilot could switch off the engine to slow down, then re-start it before the engine stopped -as many times as needed. Having full power on in those early aeroplanes was not a problem as they were so draggy it was impossible in level flight, and 50hp, to overspeed either the engine or the airframe.)
SETTING OFF AGAIN
"In ten minutes the fuel tanks were replenished, and, assisted by friendly aviators and mechanics, Mr. Barber was once more on the wing and heading for Shoreham." (My note: SHOREHAM was then being established as the aerodrome for Brighton.) "An altitude of 1,400ft. was maintained; higher up the wind was found to be very strong, the barometer registering drops of 100ft. in a few seconds. When in sight of Lancing College, and Shoreham Aerodrome the petrol supply was exhausted owing to a strong head wind, and the pilot made a forced descent near Steyning in a four-acre field surrounded by trees."
Although the account makes no mention, clearly enough fuel was obtained locally to complete the flight to SHOREHAM. As the picture above shows, quite a crowd had gathered to witness the departure. A very common occurence in those days when an aeroplane unexpectedly arrived. The local verbal grapevine system was clearly very efficient. Very few had telephones in those days.
"To ascend from such a restricted space necessitated a fine effort of airmanship, but Mr. Barber succeeded in flying through a gap of trees with only 3ft to spare, and in five minutes he landed at the Brighton and Shoreham Aerodrome."
My note: Perhaps surprisingly no mention is made of what Miss Davies and Mr Barber did for the remainder of the day.
NINETY-FIVE MILES an HOUR, AND A BIT OF FANTASY?
"The return journey was begun at 7.56 on Tuesday morning, in spite of a twenty-mile-an-hour wind. At an altitude of 1,000ft. the aviators flew into the clouds, and the wind increased to over thirty miles an hour. This was proved by the fact that in only ten minutes the Valkyrie was over Horsham. Mr. Barber descended on the golf links, one and a quarter miles north of Horsham and alighted at 8.7 a.m., exactly eleven minutes after leaving Shoreham, having travelled at a speed of about ninety-five miles per hour. Immense interest was shown by thousands of people from the surrounding country."
My notes: Without any doubt Barber did not fly in sustained cloud. To do so would have been nigh on suicidal. They were probably flying through low-level scud, quite typical as a cold front passes through in this part of the world. Another aspect was that the aeroplane was not flying at 95mph. It was passing over the ground at this speed, in the prevailing wind. The aeroplane would be travelling, in the wind, at its usual cruising speed.
GROUNDED
"Half a gale of wind blew all day, and it only calmed down at eight o'clock, when Mr. Barber decided to give a demonstration. Some 6,000 people availed themselves of the opportunity of examining the aeroplane and witnessing a flight at an altitude of 2,000ft. The proceeds were given to the local Cottage Hospital. Mr. Barber and his passenger were most hospitably entertained by Mr. G.J. Lucas of Warnham Court."
Note: This picture was obtained from Google Earth ©. I am of course assuming that the golf course in this picture is the same golf course that existed in 1911.
SETTING OFF FOR HENDON AGAIN
"At dawn on Wednesday Mr. Barber flew his machine from the golf links to Warnham Court, and alighted on the lawn immediately in front of the house to pick up his passenger. Thus Miss Davies suffered no more inconvenience than had her motor driven up to the front door. From Warnham Court Mr.Barber made a non-stop flight to Hendon, arriving at 6.10 on Wednesday morning."
"Miss Davies is no novice in aviation, having made several cross-country flights on a Valkyrie."
We must of course try to remember what a "cross-country" flight probably consisted of in those days. Impossible to determine today of course, but most likely something like five to ten miles from HENDON aerodrome?
Nevertheless, what a fabulous account of what appears to have been the first example of a 'long distance' charter flight. What would they have made of the type of executive jets regularly crossing oceans, less than one hundred years on?
This account certainly makes me smile. I have had in the past, on more than one occassion, an ostensibly very easy two day jaunt, (flying VFR - Visual Flight Rules), to northern France or mid France or the far side of Belgium for example, scuppered by bad weather, sea fog etc, and needing an extra day - and this at the height of summer.
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