Littlehampton flying sites
Note: This map only shows the position of Littlehampton within the UK.
LITTLEHAMPTON see also WICK FARM
LITTLEHAMPTON see also MIDDLETON-on-SEA
LITTLEHAMPTON: Early flight trials
Location: On the sands, or as we would now say, the beach – W of Littlehampton
NOTES: It seems that José Weiss and Mr England brought the Weiss No.1 Tractor Monoplane down here for “unsuccessful” flight trials in 1910. Presumably this meant it didn’t actually leave the ground? Mr Weiss could obviously build an airworthy aircraft; in 1909 his glider flew very well from AMBERLEY about 10 miles north of Littlehampton.
However, in his book British Built Aircraft Vol.3 Ron Smith paints an entirely different picture: “José Weiss tested two aircraft on the sands to the west of Littlehampton (‘close to Arundel Castle’) from April 1910.” The reference Ron Smith uses for the location being ‘close to Arundel Castle’ makes little sense as this castle is about 3.5 miles inland. In fact, if you use the main road you have to drive through Littlehampton to get to Arundel. Bugger – I’ve become a pedant as well as an anorak! Geekdom beckons?
Anyway, to get back to Ron Smith’s story: “One was a tailless pusher named Elsie flown by Gerald Leake; the second was a powered version of one of Weiss’ earlier gliders, this being flown by E.C. Gordon England.” I can’t remember where I obtained the “unsuccessful” quote from, but today it is perhaps difficult to gauge just how ‘success’ was viewed in those early days. As Ron Smith explains, “Elsie was flying successfully by mid-April 1910, a flight of 200 yards being recorded on the 16th. Elsie featured the crescent-shaped wing planform and washed-out wingtips which so influenced the early Handley Page monoplanes. Good flying results continued into the summer, at which time Weiss decided to move to Brooklands where, in 1911, he flew a further design named Sylvia.”
MARGINAL
It is perhaps worth trying to understand and appreciate just how marginal the flight capabilities of many of those early aeroplanes were. Indeed, this applies to what we now regard as very successful designs like the aircraft Blériot used for crossing the English Channel. There is a good story about a replica built at BOOKER, (now WYCOMBE AIR PARK), by the Doug Bianci company, Personal Plane Services, (possibly for the film Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines?). It was a most exact replica but it stubbornly refused to become airborne. Every detail was checked and checked again but it would not fly.
Then, a very bright person, (I wonder who that was?), asked, what was the service ceiling of the type? The answer was 500ft at best. As BOOKER is 520 feet AMSL this aeroplane probably couldn’t even fly that high even in ideal conditions! And indeed, this is why Blériot crash landed on NORTHFALL MEADOW, a dip in the Dover cliffs, as he probably realised that his aeroplane couldn't climb over the cliffs.
I would like to make the following comments regarding early flying experiments, especially relating to some designs now regarded as failures. It is just possible that if some of those early experimenters who conducted their tests in the spring or summer; if they had attempted to do so on a very cold winters day when a high pressure system was over the region, possibly assisted by a reasonable breeze for a headwind, the aircraft just might have flown quite well!
Puttering along in a straight line at an altitude of 10ft for a hundred yards or so would have been a major result in those days for some designers.
I have certainly seen how dramatically the effects of air pressure and temperature can affect even very popular modern light aircraft designs. In Australia for example when the temperatures really get up, even popular types like the Cessna 150/152 are grounded. They might well be able to lift off in ground effect but can’t climb away!
LITTLEHAMPTON: Private helipad
Operated by: Mr N H Andrew?
NOTES: As pointed out elsewhere private helipads today are ten a penny but in the mid 1970s they were still a rarity, hence this inclusion where it seems the Bell 47G-5A G-BBRG was based. Does anybody now know where this helipad was?
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