Great Chishill
GREAT CHISHILL: Temporary forced landing site
In 1912 most people in the UK had never seen an aeroplane, let alone one flying. So, the unexpected arrival of one created a huge amount of interest in the local area. As in this case when Captain Raleigh, with Lieutenant Wanklyn as a passenger, set off from Aldershot on the 10th September, (presumably Farnborough), to fly to Thetford in Norfolk where Army manoeuvres were taking place in a Breguet Type IV, of which the Royal Flying Corps had acquired four examples.
Reaching Royston it appears they had engine problems, (regarding the ignition system perhaps?), so elected to make a forced landing at The Hall which is just south of the B1039, south-east of Great Chishill village and about 4.5nm ESE of Royston town centre. It seems that after repairs a trial flight revealed that all was not well with engine, so it stayed here overnight until taking-off the following afternoon after more remedial work on the engine had taken place.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', has both identified this event happening and provided the following:
Note: This newspaper article was published in the Herts, Cambs Reporter and Royston Crow on the 13th September 1912.
Note: The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
A LATER ADDITION
Mike Holder later found this picture of Captain Raleigh published in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on the 17th September 1912.
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