Park Royal
PARK ROYAL: One-off flying site, close to ACTON aerodrome
Note: The local area map above shows the proximity of Grahame-Whites first departure point in PARK ROYAL, and his second departure point at WORMWOOD SCRUBS. In the third map above, the oval, presumably once a race-course (?), is very close to the site used by Grahame-White.
Operated by: Claude Grahame-White used part of the disused Agricultural Showground* for the Daily Mail sponsored London to Manchester race which took place in 1910.
Location: W of Abbey Road and W of the Plumes Hotel, S to SW of the Grand Union canal, in West Twyford. On the site later occupied by the Guiness brewery.
Period of operation: 1910 to 1913(?) Probably only used once in 1910?
Runways: ‘All over’ grass field - with rails often used as the actual launching runway?
This photo was scanned from The History of British Aviation, 1908 to 1914, by R Dallas Brett
NOTES: Grahame-White had favoured WORMWOOD SCRUBBS but couldn’t get permission in time so built a shed, (then the term for a hangar), at PARK ROYAL to prepare his aircraft, a French Farman design. Despite this setback he had intended to use WORMWOOD SCRUBBS as the departure point, (belated permission being granted), but bad weather prevented him making the roughly two mile flight. So, instead he took-off from PARK ROYAL on the 23rd April 1910.
He was then well ahead, by a couple of days, of his rival – the Frenchman Louis Paulhan who was departing from a site later to become the famous HENDON aerodrome. However, having reached HADEMORE CROSSING near Lichfield in Staffordshire, during the night a storm came through and overturned the aircraft. (See HADEMORE CROSSING and WORMWOOD SCRUBBS for more thrilling accounts of this epic competition). It was during the race that Claude Grahame-White, in a desperate attempt to overtake Louis Paulhan, attempted the first ever night flight in the UK. Despite this incredible act of bravado, Paulhan won the race.
*It would now appear that this site was part of the Royal Agricultural Show grounds which existed from 1903 to 1906. A report published by the Acton History Group states: “The site was used as an airfield from 1909 to 1913”.
This now appears incorrect. Without much doubt the flying sites were divided between ACTON aerodrome and TWYFORD.
ANOTHER ASPECT
In February 2023 I was kindly contacted by Mr Roger Goetz, the grandson of Fritz Goetz, whose actual first name was Boleslav. He also provided these very rare photos. But, where were these pictures taken? My guess, but more of a hunch really, for the second picture - is that it might have been taken at PARK ROYAL? My reasoning, such as it is, is that if the picture was taken looking roughly south to south west, the raised ground on the right hand side could well be Hanger Hill?
It appears that after initially setting up his company, the Fritz Goetz Monoplane Co at BROOKLANDS, they then moved here, probably in 1911. Goetz had employed John Brereton as a pilot although Goetz himseld did fly his monoplane. Presumably the enterprise was not a commercial success, as Brereton left to take up a position as pilot/manager with the Blackburn Aviation Company.
THE TWYFORD PART IN THE STORY
It now appears that another aerodrome was planned just to the NNE of where Claude Grahame-White had taken off in 1910.
Here is an excerpt from a letter sent by Mr E W Twining of the Twining aircraft manufacturer in Hanwell to Mr T O B Hubard of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain discussing the potential suitability of this site as an aerodrome. The “flying area (is) about one mile long and two miles around, nearly flat, rough and very bumpy, perhaps a rail should be used for launching”. The first question I asked myself on reading this was why on earth did they need somewhere so large? Then the penny dropped and of course the term aerodrome itself explains it too. In those days the aerodrome was actually the ‘local’ flying area, not just the place where you took off and landed. The possibility that a powered aircraft could be used to fly from one place to another, (at least as a practicable proposition), was still in it’s infancy and attempts to do so received tremendous publicity by and large and were quite comparable with the really long distance and often trans-oceanic flights undertaken a few years later. Indeed, equal in many ways to the manned space flights of just over half a century later if you think about the potential risk involved. It seems you only die once when indulging in such adventures!
If you can find a copy of C C Turners Old Flying Days book it contains, on page 109, a fabulous description of the departure scene in 1910 when Grahame-White took off to contest the first London to Manchester Air Race.
In his excellent book RAF Hendon Andrew Renwick tells us: “In May 1910 the aviation press reported that it was planned that Grahame-White’s school at Pau, (My note: In France), would move to Park Royal. He was renting it as an aerodrome and plans had been passed for workshops and hangars. By then one of the six Bleriots his company had been constructing was tested at Park Royal. Pleasure flights and exhibitions were also planned. In fact, the school moved to Hangar 16 at Brooklands in April and stayed there; it was here that Grahame-White did most of his flying at that time. In May he was prosecuted for speeding, and used his Farman to fly from Brooklands to the court in Woking.”
This was an entirely separate site to the ACTON AERODROME, situated just to the south, by about half a mile.
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
Leave a comment ...
Copyright (c) UK Airfield Guide
