Kendal flying sites
Note: This map only shows the position of Kendal town within the UK. However, if you zoom in enough the location of Kendal castle will appear.
KENDAL: Balloon ascent launching site
Operated by: Mr Charles Green
Location: Within the walls of Kendal Castle
Period of operation: 16th August, 1825
NOTES: Believed to be the first successful flight in this region. Mr Green was, during this period, touring the country giving balloon ascent/flight ‘displays’. This was possible because of the recently introduced construction of gas-works, in those days mainly to provide town street lighting initially, and Mr Green used this lighter-than-air gas as his lifting ‘agent’ or ‘fuel’. The process of ‘gassing’ to inflate the balloon could take up to two days, and in some cases up to four days. This was because the gas-works were of limited capacity and clearly the inflation of a balloon could only use any excess which could be produced.
I have included in this 'Guide' several of his sites because the expectation of seeing a balloon ascend often drew massive crowds to witness the event. These events were, in many ways, directly comparable to the first rocket launches into space as very few people in those days had seen a human being ascend into the sky.
A REMARKABLE CAREER
In favourable conditions he stayed aloft covering many miles and ascending to 5000ft or more. Much higher in later years. In fact, after making more than 500 balloon ascents, and then being over seventy, Charles Green ascended to over 22,000ft…presumably without a oxygen supply (?) - a remarkable feat.
After his 1825 ascents Charles Green returned to Kendal seven years later, this time making his 105th ascent on the 13th July, 1832. Arranging these ascents was usually plagued with problems and took a lot of organising, plus, after taking-off often being very adventurous too.
To find out more please read the excellent accounts by Peter Connon in his ‘In The Shadow Of The Eagle’s Wing’. Not an easy book to find. I ordered a copy to via my local main library, which arrived from the British Library. For anybody even slightly interested in aviation history it makes for compelling reading.
Indeed, if it wasn’t for the late Barry Abraham, (Chairman of the Airfield Research Group for many years), who helped me enormously in producing this 'Guide-, and recommended that I obtain a copy. Without his advice I am pretty certain that I probably would never have discovered it, and this 'Guide' would be so much a poorer result without it. Truly well researched books on early British aviation history are sadly few in number.
KENDAL: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: Alan Cobham’s 1932 National Aviation Day UK Display Tour
Location: Agricultural Show Field
Period of operation: 29th June 1932
NOTES: Did the CD Barnard Air Tours “Flying Circus” enterprise also use this site on the 25th September 1931 when they visited Kendal? Indeed, did the Cobham ‘crew’ return here when the No.1 Tour displayed in/near Kendal on the 22nd June 1933?
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