Amberley
Note: This map only gives a rough position within the UK. If anybody can kindly offer advice for a more exact location, this will be much appreciated.
AMBERLEY: Early gliding or even man-carrying kite site? (Also known as AMBERLEY MOUNT?)
Location: On the Amberley Estate perhaps (?), roughly 4nm N to NNE of Arundel
Period of operation: About 1909 to 1910 only? Possibly earlier? Later used in the 1990s & 2000s?
NOTES: A site near here was used for gliding. Mr E.C. Gordon England and Mr Graham Wood flew a glider designed and made by José Weiss from AMBERLEY and at one point Mr Gordon England reached a height of 100ft AGL which was thought to be an altitude record for gliders at that time.
I suppose this just might also have been the location for the Kite Flying Competition in 1903 listed under SUSSEX DOWNS?
In his book ‘The Old Flying Days’ Major C C Turner, (published in 1927), states that he thinks José Weiss, (whom he knew well), will be both well known and regarded by posterity because he proved around the turn of the 20th century if not before that larger wings will provide increased lifting efficiency and this was the way forward. The experts of the day thought this to be a ridiculous notion as the weight of such structures would be self-defeating. Such a shame then that Mr Weiss , (1859 - 1919), didn’t live to see his ideas come to fruition.
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