Hunstanton flying sites
Note: This map only shows the position of Hunstanton town within the UK.
HUNSTANTON see also CHURCH FARM
HUNSTANTON see also COURT YARD FARM
HUNSTANTON: Forced landing site
NOTES: I have mentioned a few forced landing sites elsewhere in this Guide, but the description given by Don Robertson in his book The Urge To Fly is I think, one of the best descriptions ever. Not least because the encounter convinced him he was to become a pilot - one day. His book starts: “I was playing on the broad, flat beach at Hunstanton in Norfolk, England when I heard an odd noise approaching from the sea, the sound of an engine spluttering and eventually stopping altogether. My heart began to beat faster. It was the summer of 1917 and I was nine years old.”
“My eyes searched the coastline which, to a small boy, seemed to stretch to the ends of the earth when suddenly, to my intense excitement, I saw the aeroplane as it appeared through the broken cloud, gliding straight towards me. The propeller was stationary and the only sound was the wind whistling in the flying-wires; it made a perfect landing, splashing through the pools of water left by the receding tide and coming to a stop only a hundred yards away. I dropped everything and ran over to see, arriving first but hesitant about going too close.”
“My heart was pounding as the pilot jumped down from the cockpit and walked round to the front to look at his engine, which I now saw was dripping oil. I stared up at his face, spotted with oil and half-hidden by goggles and a leather helmet which had a patch of fur on the forehead and rolls of leather protecting each ear; a long double-breasted brown leather overcoat came down below his knees giving him an air of authority. In my eyes he was a real hero to be able to fly such a thrilling machine.”
“It was a single-seater biplane, very rakish and with a big propeller but before I knew what was happening a small crowd had gathered and the pilot was issuing quick instructions. With a man on either side lifting the tail, we all pushed on the wings, wheeling the aeroplane backwards up the beach above the high-tide mark to the safety of dry sand. I remember the powerful-looking engine, partly enclosed under a shining metal cowling, but above all, I remember the thrill of actually touching it and noticing how lightly built the silver wings were.
Before the local policeman arrived to guard it, I managed to peer into the cockpit with its small hinged windscreen and saw the two cocking handles and the oiled breaches of guns gleaming in the sun. There was a strange smell, not only the dope, but something sickly and sweet; I plucked up the courage to ask the pilot what it was. That was how I first learned that the rotary engine of the Sopwith Camel used castor oil! The next morning I could not wait to return to the beach so, rising early, I dressed hurriedly and ran to the beach before breakfast. I stared at the empty piece of sand with the lines of the aeroplane’s wheels, the only visible evidence it had been there. My disappointment was intense but as I gazed up at the sky the seed of ambition and determination to become a pilot had been sown within me.”
A VISIT BY TWO RAF FLYING BOATS IN 1927
This article in two parts was published in the Lynn News and County Press on the 20th September 1927. I have tried and failed miserably to identify these two aircraft with their serial numbers, which were Supermarine Southamptons.
HUNSTANTON: Temporary aerodrome?
Note: This picture taken by the author in June 2015 shows the Green in the town centre - and nothing much has changed since the 1930s. Without too much doubt some passengers arriving by Eastern Air Transport on a day trip from Skegness would have had a slap-up lunch at the Golden Lion Hotel.
Operated by: Mr Michael Scott later trading as Eastern Air Transport, formed in February 1932
Location: Not known - perhaps South Beach?
Period of operation: 1929 to 1934 only?
NOTES: Starting in 1929 Mr Scott operated regular services between Skegness and Hunstantion using two DH Gypsy Moths (one was G-EBQZ) and the DH Puss Moth G-AAXL (G-AAXI is also mentioned – both Puss Moths), later establishing this operation as Eastern Air Transport in 1932. Between 1929 and 1931 (two summer seasons some say – but I’d make it three), it is claimed Mr Scott’s ‘airline’ carried roughly 10,000 passengers*. The Gypsy Moth could carry one passenger, the Puss Moth two passengers.
If you suppose the summer season was from May to September, about 150 days and supposing they flew seven days a week (quite likely) over three years and also supposing all three aircraft were equally busy, (highly unlikely?), this would give an average of five to six flights a day for the fleet of three - if I’ve got my sums right? I suspect a large proportion of these flights were actually local joy rides rather than SKEGNESS-HUNSTANTON services. It is also worth mentioning that this service was one of the first, if not the first, regional 'airline' services in this part of East Anglia..
HUNSTANTON: Temporary aerodrome
Note: This picture by the author of the northern end of South Beach is without any doubt a very different view compared to the 1930s. Also the tide is in and presumably the groins probably weren't there in the 30s?
Pleasure flights: Air Trips (previously Holiday Air Pageants) run by Pauline Gower and her ground engineer Dorothy Spicer
Location: South Beach
Period of operation: 1934 and 1935 summer seasons
NOTES: Today and for a long time it has been illegal to throw things out of aeroplanes, (except parachutists and some airshow acts of course), but Air Trips had made an arrangement with the owners of the passenger speedboat ‘Tigress’ to allow their flying passengers to attempt to flour bomb the boat! This is said to have been very popular with joy-riding holidaymakers. I bet it was - I’d certainly like a bash, wouldn’t you?
However, it seems unlikely that Pauline Gower would have left her aeroplane on the beach overnight, and therefore she probably decamped to a nearby field which acted as a base. Does anybody now know the details of this operation?
THE ANSWER
In February 2024 Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', kindly decided to investigate and did indeed provide the answer - see below.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Photo One was published in The Sketch on the 22nd August 1934. The article was published in the Lynn News and County Press on the 29th May 1934.
Photo Two was also published in The Sketch on the 22nd August 1934. The local area and area views are from my Google Earth © derived database.
NOTES: The Spartan Three Seater, G-ABKK, was first registered to Miss Pauline Gower in January 1932. It became very well known being flown by a female pilot during the Modern Airways (The Crimson Fleet) flying circus tour in 1932. Equally so taking part in the British Hospitals Air Pageant tour in 1933.
The story becomes a bit muddled as Pauline Gower and Dorothy Spicer had been conducting operations at PENSHURST in Kent, and OAKLEY WOOD in Oxfordshire. (I do not know the relevent dates). However, what is certain is that they decided to de-camp to HUNSTANTON for the 1934 holiday season.
Clearly, operating from the beach at low tide had many advantages, taking place in front of the holiday makers, but their flying field was not far away and easily within walking distance, being just east of the northern end of South Beach, and just east of the LNER railway. That terminated in Hunstanton in the town centre, and the Flying Field was just to the SSE.
I had assumed that whilst at HUNSTANTON the Spartan Three Seater, G-ABKK, was being operated as Air Trips. Maybe it was? However, according to official records, it was actually registered to Air Trips from 09.11.34 until 02.12.36, and the base was given as CROYDON.
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