Lenham
Note: This map only shows the position of Lenham within the UK.
LENHAM: Gliding site
This picture is from my Google Earth © derived database, and only shows the rough location for the actual gliding site used. Apparently only used at weekends.
Operated by: Kent Gliding Club
Location: North of the Maidstone to Ashford road. (The A20)
Period of operation: 1930s only?
NOTES: In the early 1930s it is claimed that only six ‘official’ gliding sites existed in the UK. Perhaps so, but I now have at least nine or more ‘unofficial’ gliding sites on record for this period and I’m feeling positive there are many more!
In those days Mrs Sheila M Green, (a director with the BAC company in Maidstone), used a Bentley to launch gliders up to 300ft and toured the country giving demonstrations. Was this used at LENHAM?
Mr Graham Frost, a great friend of this 'Guide', kindly sent me this picture. Cessna built over 300 of the CG-2, a basic primary trainer sold as a kit for $398 which included a bungee cord launch system. It was a last ditch effort to keep the company going through the Great Depression in the early 1930s.
How one or more made it across the Atlantic seems something of a mystery. It appears that around this time the Kent Gliding Club had four aircraft - a Columbus, B.A.C.1, B.A.C.IV and a B.A.C.VI. I can find no record of a 'Columbus' so, is it possible that the Cessna CG-2 was marketed under this name?
LENHAM: Private airstrip
NOTES: Several years ago I made these notes: "The only proof of this airstrip existing is from the AAIB report EW/G2018/03/06. A look around Lenham on Google Earth appears to show no evidence of a prepared airstrip - not that one is needed - and other enquiries seem to draw a blank response.
However, in 2020 I decided to look into this subject once again, and came up trumps this time. See my entry for HUBBARD'S FARM, which is just SW of Lenham Heath village.
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
Leave a comment ...
Copyright (c) UK Airfield Guide
