Chirton
CHIRTON: Two temporary aerodromes (Aka NORTH SHIELDS and TYNEMOUTH)
This listing is unusual in two main respects. The first aspect being that it shows two major 'Flying Circus' venues placed barely more than a couple of fields apart in 1933, (and 1934), and, that calling it CHIRTON is to differentiate these two sites from so many others listed in this vicinity.
THE EVENTS
The first event was on the 29th and 30th July 1933 when Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day No.2 Tour visited. The second event was when the British Hospitals Air Pageant arrived here to display on the 19th September 1933. Sir Alan Cobham's second visit was on the 20th and 21st May 1934.
THE LOCATIONS
The Cobham 1933 and 1934 displays were held in a field just north of the A1058, and the BHAP display just south of the A1058. Both venues being roughly west of Chirton, which itself is just NW of North Shields town centre.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for unearthing the material below and providing the maps.
Note: The newspaper article, divided into two parts to make it easier to read, was published in the Shields Daily News on the 24th July 1933.
Note: All three of the items above were published in the Shields Daily News on the 20th September 1933. These relate to the British Hospitals Air Pageant held on the 19th September 1933.
Note: The photos above were published in the Blyth News on the 22nd May 1934. The article was published in the Shields Daily Gazette in the 9th May 1934. The local area view is from my Google Earth © derived database, and only shows a few of the locations listed in this 'Guide' for this area.
NOTES: Once the 'Flying Circus' bonanza got into full swing in the early 1930s, it was on a scale never before seen, or since for that matter. The first tours started in 1931 and featured for example, Aviation Tours Ltd, C D Barnard Air Tours Ltd and the North British Aviation Co. Ltd. Depite Sir Alan Cobham making his Municipal Aerodrome Campaign tour in 1929 using mainly the de Havilland DH61 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV, and visiting 107 venues, he did not get involved with a 'Flying Circus' tour until 1932 - but when he did - it was on a scale which eclipsed all the others, with 174 venues planned to be visited. Starting at HANWORTH (southwest London) on the 12th April and ending at CHINGFORD (Northeast London) on the 16th October. With no rest days in the schedule.
He then moved the entire operation to South Africa! And, that tour started with a three day event at Cape Town starting on the 23rd November 1932, just over a month after his U.K. tour ended. That tour visited 68 venues, ending back in Cape Town on the 17th February 1933. Cobham was of course a renowned workaholic, but even so, surely it seems incredible that upon returning to the U.K., he had organised not one but two U.K. tours.
His No.1 Tour started at DAGENHAM in Essex on the 14th April 1933, and the No.2 Tour started at HOLT FARM, near Southend, (Essex) also on the 14th April. The No.1 Tour was planned to visit 116 venues and the No.2 Tour 151 venues, both ending on the 8th October. CHIRTON (TYNEMOUTH) was the 96th venue for the No.2 Tour. Equally incredible, considering the highly changeable weather we 'enjoy' in our green and septic, (should that be sceptic?), or both, accounts of them failing to display are very few and far between. This said, those highly experienced pilots were experts in scud-running, flying at very low level, and indeed some displays were held at both low level and in heavy rain.
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