Frog Farm
FROG FARM: Temporary Landing Ground (Aka UPTON)
Location: Just E of Liverpool Road, now part of a golf course, about 1.5nm N of Chester city centre
Period of operation: 28th and 29th August 1912
After departing from WORMWOOD SCRUBBS in west London in May, the then famous French aviator Henri Salmet, sponsored by the Daily Mail, embarked on a tour of, initially, the west of England, south Wales, then the south west of England - before doubling back reaching the southern regions of the Midlands and then to south east England. Then along the south coast as far as Southampton before going north.
He had departed from Burton-upon-Trent on the 28th August, and it seems, arrived here without mishaps along the way. For that time a quite remarkable feat of airmanship and navigation.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Note: The short newspaper article was published in the Flintshire County Herald on the 6th September 1912.
NOTE: Mike Holder also found a short article in the Crewe Guardian published in the 30th August 1912. It was of such poor quality that we couldn't reproduce it, but Mike very kindly provided a transcript which I have reproduced below:
AIRMAN AT CHESTER
SIXTY MILES IN FIFTY MINUTES
At 3.35 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon M Salmet arrived at Upton by Chester by Aeroplane from Burton-on-Trent, having completed the voyage of about 60 miles in fifty minutes. On the journey he ascended to a height of 2000 feet, but travelled most of the distance at a height of about 1000 feet. The air was thick with mist and he encountered some rain.
M Salmet passed over the city, and thousands of people on the agricultural show ground viewed his flight with keen interest. He descended on an 18 acre field at Frog Farm, Upton, where during the evening he gave exhibition flights. He left Chester on Thursday for Preston and Lancaster.
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