Maidstone Airport
MAIDSTONE AIRPORT: Regional airport later aerodrome (Absorbed into RAF WEST MALLING in WW2)
Location: In the northern part of RAF WEST MALLING, 5nm W of Maidstone town centre
Period of operation: 1931 (?) to WW2
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
NOTES: As is so often said - a picture is worth a thousand words. The first two aerial photographs from 1933 clearly show the aerodrome marked as 'Maidstone Airport' although these markings seem to have gone in the 1936 picture. The 1933 pictures are also of interest because they show Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day No.2 Tour assembled, (in part at least?), for their display on the 17th April.
Another aspect shown in these pictures, which I most certainly did not expect to ever see, is that both of the Airspeed AS.4 Ferry aircraft, ordered by Cobham for his display tours, G-ABSI and G-ABSJ, attended this event. First flying in April 1932, they carried around 90,000 passengers in their first season.
Mike Holder has tracked down several mentions in various newspapers regarding this location. The advert in 1931 was published in the Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser on Friday 4th September 1931. The second picture is of an article published in The Bystander on Wednesday 17th August 1932. Note that it says that there has been a "landing ground here for years."
This third picture is of a newspaper article published in The Observer and West Sussex Recorder on the 26th April 1933. The fourth picture is of an article published in the Lincolnshire Echo on the 16th May 1933.
This picture was published in the Illustrated London News on Saturday 20th May 1933. As with the latter article above it shows a picture of Mr Lowe-Wilde with his aeroplane. Without much if any doubt this aeroplane was the BAC Planette, a single seater which first flew during the previous year. My knowledge is far too sketchy, but I do suspect that, in the U.K. at least, this was the first example of a powered glider?
If so, it was truly a pioneering venture, way ahead of its time. This said, the Carden-Baynes Auxiliary did appear in 1935. As far as I am aware, it wasn't for many years after WW2 that the first examples of motor-gliders started to appear, and those I believe were designed and manufactured at first in Germany? However, without any doubt it was in France that the first of the probably best known motor-gliders, designed by Rene Fournier appeared - his first being the RF-1 - which first flew in 1960.
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER?
During Sir Alan Cobham's Municipal Aerodrome Campaign in 1929, when planning to visit 107 prospective sites across the mainland of Great Britain in the de Havilland DH61 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV, the 49th venue was Maidstone. In the end, due to a couple of minor crashes and other unforeseen problems, Maidstone became his 51st venue, (10th August). Eventually he did visit about 96 venues, which was of course still a magnificent achievment.
We have to be very careful about jumping to conclusions, but, for what it is worth I have found a few venues used by the 'Flying Circus' operators during the 1930s where Maidstone is the location. But, of course, did they all use this aerodrome?
The venue for C D Barnard Air Tours on the 11th and 12th April 1931 was "Maidstone".
Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day displays on the 21st and 22nd May 1932 was "West Malling Aerodrome".
His 1933 display is listed above, but it appears the 1934 Tour did not include Maidstone. However, Cobham's venue for his 1935 No.1 Tour on the 3rd July is listed as "Maidstone". Presumably here?
Lastly, it appears that the 50th venue for the British Empire Air Display tour, (organised by Barker and McEwan King), on the 27th June 1936 was Maidstone. Once again - was this the location?
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