Hanham
Note: This map only shows the position of Hanham within the UK. If anybody can kindly provide a more exact location for this or these sites, this advice will be much appreciated.
HANHAM: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: Cornwall Aviation Company
Location: 3nm E of Bristol city centre, near to the Hanham tram terminus
Period of operation: 3rd to 14th June and, as the poster shows, June 1931
Both of these pictures were scanned from the excellent book Cornwall Aviation Company by Ted Chapman. The caption for the Avro picture (c/o W. Craig) reads: "- at Hanham, Bristol at the start of the tour. On the bicycle, Bill Craig, in his Charlie Chaplin outfit is being flour bombed by Frank Cradock in the Avro."
NOTES: This poster of the period promises that The Cornwall Aviation Co. Ltd, of St Austell presented THE FLYING CIRCUS, a burlesque air display, something New and Different, daily 10 AM till dusk. “The Flying Fools” will thrill and amuse you ALL the time. The “Bombing of Charlie Chaplin” was promised to be great fun for the kiddies. “Stunt Flying and Crazy Flying” was part of the programme plus “Simultaneous Wing Walking” and “The Ungrateful Passenger” flying acts, (whatever that was!).
At the weekend further attractions were offered by the ‘Flying Circus’ for ‘Super Air Displays’ including Formation Flying, Aerial Shooting, “Auntie Tries Flying”, “The Flying Squads Unlucky Day”. The message was that - ‘ALL Bristol Should See This Humerous and Unique Display’. The ‘Programme was liable to Alteration in event of un-favourable weather conditions’.
WING WALKING
Note: Here again both these pictures were scanned from Cornwall Aviation Company by Ted Chapman.
First picture: (C/o W. Craig) Martin Hearn also performed wing-walking with the Cornwall Aviation Company - see also the fabulous picture taken at ROBOROUGH (Plymouth).
Second picture: (C/of Mrs. Crews) The caption is; "Cornwall Aviation Company's own Flying Circus at Hanham, near Bristol, with Frank Cradock sitting up on the top wing. This picture was first published in the Bristol Evening World on Thursday 4th June 1931." Presumably Frank later stood up for the display item.
As Ted Chapman tells us: "Wing walking was banned by an order of the Air Council dated 17th June, 1933. Unless the Secretary of State for Air gave special written permission 'no person shall at any time be carried on the wings or undercarriage of the aircraft, or on or in any other part thereof which is not designed for the accommodation of the personnel....". This in effect I believe, pretty much put paid to the practice, which was as you might well imagine, a very popular attraction for the spectators.
I wonder if the Cornwall Aviation Company were the first to use the 'Flying Circus' monikar? Alan Cobham hated the descripton, which appears to have very quickly caught on with the public in the early 1930s.
A LATER ERA
HANHAM was the 87th venue (14th July 1934) for Alan Cobham’s 1934 Tour of the UK.
I assume they used the same site but do you know better? It was after all at least three years later when the Cobham ‘crew’ visited.
Jack Burnham
This comment was written on: 2017-05-11 22:56:19I will be 94 in August 2017 and when I was 5 years old I lived in Wesley Avenue,Hanham BS15 At the back of the house the garden was bounded by a hedge and I can remember watching spell bound as the planes flew from what I think was called the thirty acre field. Certainly I have a recollection that I must have been taken nearer and was told that the planes picked-up handkerchiefs on their wing tips.Sir Alan Cobham's name is familliar to me. Later when I was in a Bristol hospital I was lifted by a nurse to see a German airship flying over the city. At that time I was probably 9 years old.
Reply from Dick Flute:
Dear Jack, Many thanks for these memories, which I shall keep posted. Best regards, Dick
Doug Crew
This comment was written on: 2020-04-19 14:19:47When the flying circus came to Hanham my grandmother, always looking for ways to add to the family income, guarded spectator's bicycles in her nearby cottage (Hunters Road formerly Martins Lane) I think she charged half an old penny per bike she also sold refreshments. 30 acres field has "shrunk" due to housing developments around however some of the acreage is now school playing fields. This is shown in green on the latest maps and is south of Hanham Abbots School and north of Hanham High School.
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
Leave a comment ...
Copyright (c) UK Airfield Guide
