Chapel Hill
CHAPEL HILL: Seasonal airfield
Operated by: Cornwall Aviation Company
Location: To the W of the Ramsgate Road, about 1.5nm S of Margate town centre
Period of operation: July and August, 1926 through to 1931
G-EBIZ flying along the seafront
NOTES: This information and the three pictures came from the excellent book Cornwall Aviation Company by Ted Chapman published in 1979.
This picture of the Avro 504K G-EBIZ, (from the Phillips family), is of interest. Captain Percival Philips, who owned and headed the Cornwall Aviation Company, was summoned to appear in court on a charge of low flying. This was on his first day of flying at Margate in the 1927 season.
Several witnesses claimed he was flying dangerously close to the crowds of bathers - as close as three yards according to one deranged idiot. It is only now, in the 21st century, becoming generally accepted that witness accounts should not be relied upon unless strenuous tests are applied.
It appears that this photograph helped him to avoid prosecution. There was then, and as far as I am aware it still exists today, no limitation on how low you can fly above the sea.
A group picture in 1931
This picture c/o T. Bounsall, shows, from left to right; Harold Wilson, Arthur Williams nicknamed as 'whitenut', and Capt. Percival Philips. Then Kim, the photographer at Margate and lastly Cyril Poole, a Cheltenham man who worked for CAC for several years.
The Avro 504K they are standing in front of is probably G-EBIZ, which was Capt. Philips favourite.
Refuelling an Avro 504K
This picture, (courtesy of B. Hayward), is captioned: "Ben Hayward with a 2-gallon can re-filling the main petrol tank of an Avro 504K at Margate in 1927."
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