Harrogate flying sites
Note: This map only gives the location of Harrogate town within the UK.
HARROGATE: Man carrying kite trials?
NOTES: In December 1901 a telegram was sent, (presumably from the War Office?), to Samuel F Cody at, The Grange, Walker Road, Harrogate. Asking if it was convenient for an officer from Aldershot to see his kite experiments. I assume these were man-carrying kites for reconnaissance purposes as by 1899 at least Cody had demonstrated such a device near Carlisle. And, Cody was very keen for the British government to adopt the idea.
SOMETHING TO BE LOOKED INTO?
The more you look into early British aviation history Harrogate crops up time and time again. But why? Having visited the town many times I can’t really understand why Harrogate was a favoured location for early aviation pioneers. Can anybody explain?
HARROGATE: Temporary landing ground
Period of operation: 24th July 1911
NOTES: A site near Harrogate was selected to be the first Control Point for the Daily Mail ‘Circuit of Britain’ air race. Twenty one aircraft departed from the assembly point in BROOKLANDS on the 22nd and fifteen aircraft departed from the race starting line at HENDON on the 24th. Five aircraft reached Harrogate and only three managed to reach Edinburgh. Incredibly this acheivement compares really very favourably with some flying circumstances today when attempted by private pilots! But it must be borne in mind most of us today would never take such risks as they did.
For example in May 2003 I was involved in a strictly VFR (Visual Flight Rules) flight departing from ELSTREE to a unique airshow at Ober-Schleissheim near Munich. It took us three days to get there, (although we did arrive before 8AM on the third day), mainly due to weather and air show administration difficulties and of the two hundred or more light aircraft visitors invited on the Sunday only about sixteen arrived and we were the first to arrive before the weather closed in. We had also travelled the longest distance across Europe of anybody attending we were told.
In effect we had not really made much progress compared to these early aviators. Except that we were not prepared to risk our lives!
HARROGATE: Temporary aerodrome for ‘joy-riding exhibition flights’
Operated by: The Northern Aircraft Co
Period of operation: 1914
NOTES: Although I have found no proof of an actual flying site, the fact that The Northern Aircraft Co had an office at No.9 Station Square seems to indicate they would have been operating in the area.
HARROGATE: Civil airport
British airline user: North Sea Aerial & General Transport
NOTES: It appears that a regular Scarborough-Hull-Harrogate service commenced in April 1919. Could anybody kindly provide a location for this 'airport'? It needs to be remembered that a regional airport, even in the 1930s, could consist of just a field with a windsock. Perhaps just a tent or shed to provide shelter in some cases.
HARROGATE: This was the 14th venue for Sir Alan Cobham’s 1929 Municipal Aerodrome Campaign Tour on the 1st and 2nd June 1929. Starting in May it ended in October it was planned with one hundred and seven towns and cities to be visited. Mostly in England but with two venues in Wales and eight in Scotland. Without any doubt this Tour encouraged several aerodromes/regional airports to be constructed - but not in Harrogate.
A couple of crashes and other setbacks meant he visited 97 venues, still a magnificent achievement.
The aircraft he mostly used was the DH61 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV, named 'Youth of Britain'. This tour was an amazing example of stamina and organisation and I can highly recommend reading his memoirs in A Time to Fly.
It seems possible that the Cobham 'Tours' visited HARROGATE during every Tour from 1929 until 1933? The latter being 'Flying Circus' venues. See OAK VIEW for more infirmation.
In 1932 it appears that a very serious accident occurred, according to Ted Chapman in his excellent book Cornwall Aviation Company published in 1979. The Cornwall Aviation Company were sub-contracted to the Cobham organisation to provide 'stunt flying displays' but also joy-ride operations.
Note: This picture, c/o A.J. Adams, was scanned from the book Cornwall Aviation Company.
"A more serious accident occurred almost at the end of the tour. At Harrogate, on the 5th October, Captain Crundall in Avro G-AAUJ was unable to recover from three spins started at a height of 1,500 feet. The aeroplane was nearly level at 50 feet, but hit the ground obliquely whilst still diving. The pilot and one passenger were not seriously hurt, but the other passenger was thrown out and died on the field."
I think this is of great interest. It appears; "The Yorkshire Herald, which had previously found fault with CAC at Yeadon criticised the organisation of the display and thought no pilot could do low aerobatics every day and get away with it."
And of course they were spot on. But I think that we should not judge those pilots by the standards we have today. Their job was to thrill the crowds, and flying very close to the edges of 'the envelope' was simply part and parcel of the job, which they accepted. Plus, I suppose, as many if not all of them were brought up to think of the risks of flying in WW1, by comparison these sorties were a doddle?
HARROGATE see also BIRK CRAG
HARROGATE see also OAK VIEW
HARROGATE see also THE STRAY
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