Court Yard Farm
COURT YARD FARM: Temporary aerodrome (later spelt COURTYARD FARM), and, if so, possibly the location for a more established private airstrip?
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', has kindly provided the following items.
This article in three parts was published in the Lynn Advertiser on the 29th September 1933.
The Google Earth © view, the local area view and area view are from my Google Earth © derived database.
Operated by: Sir Alan Cobham’s National Aviation Day, 1933 No.2 Tour
Location: Just N of Docking Road, 1.25nm ESE of Ringstead village, about 3.5nm ESE of Hunstanton town centre
Period of operation: 24th September 1933 and much later in the 1980s only?
Landing area: E/W 450 grass N/S 400 grass
Note: We do not know exactly which field was used, so this is my best guess. Two aspects are in its favour; being siuated alongside the Docking Road it would be most convenient for visitors. And, seeming to be the largest field it also offers the best area for landings and take-offs into wind. It might well seem by todays standards very small, but in those days it was quite large enough, even for possible use in this case by large airliners? The two Cobham Tours, for example, employed two Handley Page W.10s, G-EBMM and G-EBMR and the Handley Page HP.35 Clive, G-ABYX, for their 1933 Tours. We do not know though, if one of them was used for this venue.
NOTES: In 1933 Sir Alan Cobham and his company arranged two Tours. The No.1 Tour was planned to visit 116 venues but that did include two seperate visits to the Irish Republic. The No.2 Tour was planned to visit 161 venues and commenced at HOLT FARM, near Southend. COURT YARD FARM was the 147th venue. It terminated at MAYLANDS aerodrome, Romford in Essex on the 8th October.
MORE NOTES: Is it possible that the strip used in the 1980s was located on the same farm as used by the Cobham entourage in 1933? It seems highly likely, but, was the same landing area used? Can anybody tell more?
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