Fairlop pre-WW1
FAIRLOP: Private company "aerodrome" albiet on the Fairlop Oak Playing Fields
Note: This area later became part of the WW1 airfield (See seperate listing)
Operated by: Handley Page
Location: Just N of Forest Road, roughly NE of Fairlop underground station, and about 4nm WNW of Romford town centre
Period of operation: 1910 to 1912
NOTES: On discovering, in late 2017, the remarkable book, British Aviation - The Pioneer Years by Harald Penrose, first published in 1967, he has this to say about FAIRLOP regarding 1911.
"Fred Handley Page had found flying was not his métier. His brief experience had proved the Barking Grounds impossibly rough and small for test flying. With typical vigour, he quickly found a suitable area 1,000 yards long by 500 yards at Fairlop, and obtained a lease and built a shed for machines under test." In those days, a hangar was called a shed. The term 'hangar' came from France, during WW1.
"He then engaged Robert Fenwick, who had come to his notice by flying the H.P. 'B' pendulum-stability biplane built for Planes Ltd, by the Handley Page business in October 1909. After initial unsuccessful tests in the autumn of 1910 it was wrecked when the Handley Page works partly collapsed in a gale, but the biplane was rebuilt, and currently was being flown at Freshfield Aerodrome near Liverpool by Robert Fenwick." See my notes for the FRESHFIELD listing.
"His first flight as H.P.'s test pilot was disasterous, for the new H.P. 'D' monoplane for the Circuit of Britain was smashed at Fairlop too badly for repair on the Saturday before the race. Whatever the cause of the accident, Fenwick was dismissed, and thereupon joined the Vickers Aviation Department. In his place H.P. engaged Edward Petre, known since the Sidney Street affair as 'Peter the Painter', who had recently jointly built with his brother Henry, 'Peter the Monk', a most interesting monoplane utilising shaft-drive from a nose engine to a propeller behind the tail of the fuselage - but unfortunately it was currently crashed by Henry Petre when taking-off at Brooklands."
"It seems probable that Edward Petre now took a financial interest in the Handley Page Company, for the mutual intention was that he would assist with design as well as fly the H.P. machine." The more I learn about this period, the more fascinating it becomes. For example, Harald Penrose then tells us about Edward Petre; "His flying experience was limited to brief experiments with his shaft-drive machine and the 'know-how' obtained as passenger on many flights he had wangled at Brooklands".
ANOTHER ASPECT
Harald Penrose then adds this insight: "C. G. Grey, (My note: He was the editor of Aeroplane magazine), wrote that: "Peter was one of the most charming men I have ever met, and had a way of his own. I remember him coming to that little shack which H.P. used as an office at Fairlop. In one hand he trailed a long strip of steel, in the other he clasped the hand of a large Norwegian who was interested in purchasing an aeroplane. Peter entered the office and introduced the the Norwegian to H.P. with the words "I can't do any trade with this merchant. He can't speak English." H.P. gave a grin and said: "Leave it to me." Within a few moments with the aid of broad gestures, smiles and a few words of German and Latin, H.P. and the Norwegian were in effective communication."
As once being a truck driver travelling across Europe, I can easily relate to this. Having on occassion, when 'week-ended' at a truck-stop somewhere, spending quite some time 'conversing' with another driver when neither of us spoke each others language worth a mention. But, as we had so much in common, it was really quite easy to communicate with much fun, and, quite often, agree on quite detailed points regarding our profession.
Copy of the Royal Aero Club record for Edward Petre
Portrait of Edward Petre
Having found the above, I then asked Alan Simpson, (my guru for this area in Essex for his advice) which is well worth including.
"The site at Fairlop used by Handley Page was at Fairlop Oak Playing Fields (immediately west of Hainault Recreation Ground), which a few years later formed part of the RNAS WW1 Fairlop airfield. This was on the opposite side of Forest Road to where the WW2 airfield later was."
He then added this information:
In 1910, Handley Page acquired the right to fly from a 1,000-yard by 500-yard section of the new Fairlop Oak Playing Fields on the north side of Forest Road. Here he erected a hut as an office and for the storage and preparation of his aircraft under test. The playing fields had been opened by the Prince of Wales on 22 May 1909, as President of the London Playing Fields Society, by which body the ground was laid out.
Handley Page aircraft known to have used this Fairlop site include the Type D, or HP4, monoplane. This was slightly larger and more refined than Handley Page’s earlier machines. The Type D was designed specifically for the third Aero Show at London’s Olympia, held in April 1911, and work on it began at Creekmouth in October 1910, Robert Fenwick assisting Handley Page. For the show, Handley Page had borrowed a 35 hp Green four-cylinder, vertical, water-cooled engine; this was installed in the nose with tubular radiators below on each side. The aircraft was extremely well finished and it was offered for sale at £450 with free flying lessons for the buyer, but there were no takers. At Fairlop, Fenwick had tried in vain to take off with the borrowed engine and, having to return it when the show ended, Handley Page was left with only the 50 hp Isaacson from his earlier Type C. This he found impossible to mount on the monocoque fuselage, so he built a new fabric-covered fuselage; in fact he built a second complete Type D airframe, but kept the original wings and tail unit as spares. On completion, the second Type D was entered for the £10,000 Daily Mail competition for a 1,000-mile circuit of England and southern Scotland on 22 July 1911. With the new engine, the Type D took off with ease from Fairlop on Fenwick’s first attempt of 15 July, but the flight ended disastrously when he crashed it on landing. Handley Page was disappointed at having his hopes dashed after so much effort and, having first checked that Fenwick was unhurt, sacked him on the spot.
Meanwhile, the brothers Henry and Edward Petre had come to consult Handley Page about their own experimental monoplane, which they had crashed at Brooklands, near Weybridge in Surrey. Edward agreed to join Handley Page as test pilot and to assist with design, although he had no qualifications as either pilot or designer and received only a token salary. The repair of the Type D began at the Creekmouth works using the spare components, although not in time for the Daily Mail race. In due course, it re-emerged with a new fabric-covered fuselage, its wings and tail varnished yellow and a liberal coating of anti-corrosive paint on all metal fittings; on seeing this, Petre dubbed it The Antiseptic, although it was also known in the works as The Yellow Peril (this was a contemporary nickname for ‘Gold Flake’ cigarettes). Petre flew the rebuilt Type D several times at Fairlop, but by this time Handley Page had improved on the design sufficiently to attempt a passenger-carrying monoplane, the Type E or HP5, which he thought more likely to appeal than a single-seater.
By mid-April 1912, the Type E was finished and was taken by road from Creekmouth to Fairlop for final assembly. There, on 26 April, it was test-flown in long straight hops by Petre. At that time, Petre had not yet flown a full circuit and was still teaching himself to fly, but he made rapid progress and was soon flying circuits of the playing fields. By the end of June, despite gusty weather, he was sufficiently confident to set off from Fairlop back to Creekmouth. However, considerable damage resulted in the unavoidably difficult landing on the rough ground there, but fortunately the engine was unharmed. The machine was improved during the rebuilding: its original grey rubberised fabric was replaced by linen tautened and proofed by cellulose nitrate dope, and smartly finished in yellow varnish for the wings and tail, and blue varnish for the fuselage. It quickly acquired the Type D’s earlier nickname of The Yellow Peril. The repaired machine was again taken to Fairlop by road and, flying it on 24 July, Petre qualified for his Royal Aero Club aviator's certificate (No 259) there, his flights being officially observed by Thomas Hubbard and Charles Grey. Three days later, on the afternoon of Saturday, 27 July, Petre flew the Type E from Fairlop to Brooklands, and in so doing made the first heavier than air flight across London.
Flight, 3 August 1912
Flying Over the Thames.
LONDONERS in the neighbourhood of the Thames on Saturday afternoon had the rare sight of seeing an aeroplane progressing up the river. This was the new Handley Page military monoplane, which had started from the works at Fairlop, in Essex, and was making its way to Brooklands. The course of the river was followed from Rainham to Putney Bridge and the whole distance of 58 miles from start to finish was covered in 55 mins.
The Type E remained at Brooklands during August 1912 while the War Office military aircraft trials on Salisbury Plain temporarily diverted Handley Page’s interest. Early in September 1912, Handley Page gave up his use of the playing fields at Fairlop when he moved his works from Creekmouth to some converted riding stables in Cricklewood Lane, between Kilburn and Hendon.
A COMPILATION OF ITEMS by ALAN SIMPSON, MIKE HOLDER AND MYSELF
Local map c.1914
An excerpt
Photo
The local map was provided by Mike Holder with informaton by Alan Simpson. The excerpt was obtained from Essex and its Race for the Skies 1900 to 1939 by Graham Smith. The photo of the car carrying the Prince of Wales, opening the Fairlop Oak Playing Fields on the 22nd May 1909, was published in the Daily Mirror on the 24th May.
Aerial photo c.1936
Handley Page Type E, 1911
Area view
The captioned 1936 aerial photo was provided by Mike Holder. The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
FINALLY AND TO SUM UP
In effect we have six flying sites in this small area. This first location operated by Handley Page became, more or less, a military aerodrome in WW1, operated by the RNAS and later RAF. After WW1 a civil aerodrome was established to the west known as FOREST FARM. Later between the wars, CHIGWELL was developed as an aerodrome/airport situated just to the east. These sites all being located north of Forest Road. South of Forest Road we have HAINAULT FARM WW1 aerodrome and later, to the west the WW2 RAF FAIRLOP aerodrome.
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