Cote Hill
COTE HILL: Aerodrome and gliding site (Aka MR LEE'S FARM)
Operated by: Mr C F Lees
Gliding Club: Rugby and District Gliding Club
Location: Just W of the A5199, (old A50), just W of RAF HUSBANDS BOSWORTH. About 1nm SSW of Husbands Bosworth town centre and roughly 6.5nm SW to WSW of Market Harborough town centre.
Period of operation: 1930 to 1932 certainly. Possibly used occassionally up to 1939?
NOTES: Venue, (18th July 1932), for Sir Alan Cobham’s National Aviation Day UK Display Tour and listed as being the Market Harborough venue. This seeming to be a tad odd because Husbands Bosworth is about 6.5nm SW/WSW of Market Harborough.
COVERED IN CONFUSION
I could not make much sense of this until Bob Hakewill very kindly contacted me in February 2019, pointing out there was a Cote Hill Farm in exactly the position I thought it might be. Much later, thanks to Mike Holder, we now have chapter and verse.
Gliding sites in the 1930s especially, tended to be on top of hills as the main means of launching was invariably by a bungee drawn by the keener and fitter club members. In this case however the Rugby and District Gliding Club pioneered the use of a car to launch their gliders.
This said, at any given location, it was quite common practice to move the actual launch positions around to gain the best possible lift available. And, in many if not most cases, the flights were of short duration and mostly in a more or less straight line. In many ways, for the majority of glider pilots in the UK, the flight durations had not advanced much, if at all, since Otto Lilienthal was making his gliding experiments in Germany (Prussia) from 1867 to 1896.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Having been given a list of gliding sites published in 1930, by Mr Graham Frost, (also a great friend of this 'Guide), COTE HILL was also included. With so little known, in March 2024, I decided to ask Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', if the location appeared on any map? The resulting response, below, left my flabber well and truly ghasted!
THE OFFICIAL OPENING ON 23rd NOVEMBER 1930
Article One, in two parts, was published in the Rugby Advertiser on the 28th November 1930.
Article Two was published in the Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail on the 22nd August 1930.
1931
THE RUGBY ADVERTISER GETS EXCITED ABOUT A FLYING MEETING
This article in five parts, was published in the Rugby Advertiser on the 28th July 1931.
Article Four was published in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette on the 1st August 1931. The local area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
THE GREAT MOTORLESS FLYING DISPLAY
The advert was placed in the Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail on the 18th September 1931. Article Five, in seven parts, was published in the Rugby Advertiser, also on the 18th September.
MUCH FANFARE, NOT MUCH ACTION
Article Six was published in the Rugby Advertiser on the 25th September 1931.
1932
THINGS HOT UP, AND, A FLYING CIRCUS DISPLAY
The Notice was published in Flight magazine on the 26th February 1932. The Advert One was placed in the Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail on the 3rd June 1932.
The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
THE COTE HILL MEETING, 3rd JULY
Clearly this was a great success, and being held just fifteen days before Sir Alan Cobham arrived with his first UK National Aviation Day display team.
The advert was placed in the Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail on the 17th June 1932. Article Seven was published in Flight magazine on the 8th July 1932.
The photo was published in Tatler on the 3rd August 1932.
THE NATIONAL AVIATION DAY DISPLAY, 18th JULY
The picture was published in the Leicester Evening Mail on the 19th July. Article Eight, in two parts, was published in the Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail on the 15th July.
NOTES: Sir Alan Cobham was a tad tardy in latching onto the potential for hosting extravagent 'Flying Circus' displays as the Great Depression took hold around 1929. He detested the term 'Flying Circus' but once having decided to become involved his touring displays blew the socks off the competitors. His 1932 Tour was planned to visit 174 venues!
It started at HANWORTH aerodrome in south west London on the 12th April and travelled throughout most of mainland Britain to both Wales and Scotland but not Northern Ireland. COTE HILL was the 88th venue. And, they arrived on time! The tour terminated at CHINGFORD in north London on the 16th October. And, can you believe, then shipped out a fleet of aircraft to tour South Africe commencing in Cape Town on the 23rd November.
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