Louth
Note: This map only gives the position of Louth within the UK.
LOUTH see also HIGHFIELD FARM
LOUTH see also MANBY FLYING SITES
LOUTH see also SOUTH ELKINGTON
LOUTH see also STEWTON
LOUTH: Temporary Landing Ground
Operated by: Sir Alan Cobham
Location: Just N of Louth
Period of operation: 30th September 1929
NOTES: Louth was the intended 88th venue for Sir Alan Cobham's Municipal Aerodrome Campaign. Starting in May and ending in October one hundred and seven venues were planned to be visited. Mostly in England two were in South Wales and eight in Scotland. Due to a couple of crashes and other setbacks, LOUTH became the 91st venue out of 96 visited. Still of course a quite magnificent achievement.
The aircraft Cobham mostly used for this Tour was the ten-seater de Havilland DH61 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV, named 'Youth of Britain'. The punishing schedule he set himself seems astonishing today. Highly recommended are his memoirs in 'A Time To Fly'. His previous venue was MAIDENHEAD in BERKSHIRE.
Without any doubt this Tour resulted in inspiring several aerodromes/regional airports being created in the early 1930s. But not in Louth.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
The second item, an advert, was published in the Lincolnshire Chronicle on the 28th September 1929.
This photo was published in the Lincolnshire Standard and Boston Guardian on the 5th October 1929.
NOTES: As a general rule for one-day events, (and most were one-day events during his Tour), Cobham would aim to arrive at around 11.00 to be met by the local dignitaries, who he would then take flying around the local area. Following on he would then take selected schoolchildren for flights, the costs being met by a then anonymous donor. We now know that this was Lord Wakefield of Castrol Oil fame and he had offered to pay Cobham for taking 10,000 schoolchildren for flights during this six month Tour.
Finally, he would take fare paying passengers, usually until dusk. Presumably these flights helped to offset the costs of the Tour. By then Cobham was at the height of his fame and invariably a slap up luncheon and or gala dinner had been arranged to treat Cobham at a suitable venue, usually the town hall or a grand hotel. These provided Cobham with an ideal opportunity to extol the benefits of a town having a municipal aerodrome/regional airport.
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