Rearsby
REARSBY: Civil private aerodrome
Operated by: Originally provided to the County Flying Club by Lindsay Everard later a ‘Sir’.
Taylorcraft Aeroplanes later Auster Aircraft Company and later still Beagle Aircraft Ltd
PICTURES OF AUSTER J/1 AUTOCRATS
CAPTIONS
I cannot be entirely certain but I think I probably cut these pictures out of an article in Aeroplane Monthly many, many years ago.
Picture One: Autocrats in production at Rearsby during the winter of 1945-46
Picture Two: Autocrats being assembled circa 1945/46
Picture Three: The first production Autocrat G-AGTO (Copyright E J Riding)
Picture Four: I simply cannot resist including this astonishing picture here, of the Aeroplane magazine's Autocrat G-AERO, landing on HMS Illustrious on the 15th October 1946, somewhere in the English Channel.
Notes: Pictures One, Two and Four are all the copyright of Aeroplane magazine.
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER?
The last picture is a good illustration of where the limits of this 'Guide' might be - considering it is supposed to be inclusive of all UK flying sites. Let's face it, as this picture proves beyond any doubt, the Royal Navy aircraft carriers should most certainly feature - despite them moving around all over the world.
To address this problem, a list of some of the Royal Navy aircraft carriers is included - see seperate article listing - Aircraft Carriers, and, What Is A British Flying Site
Charter user: Post 1945: Bond Air Services
Flying club/schools: Post 1945: Auster Flying Club, Beagle Flying Club, Casair
Note: In the 1957 The Aeroplane directory, the Auster Flying Club were operating just one Auster.
1959 ‘snapshot’. Auster Flying Club
Gliding: WW2: RAF M44 EGS until 1947
Post 1945: Leicestershire Gliding Club (very briefly after 1945) then in 1960 home to the East Midlands Gliding Club. In 1962, by then amalgamated with the Coventry Gliding Club and the EMGC together they formed the Leicestershire Gliding Club which re-emerged at this site.
Manufacturing: WW2: Taylorcraft later becoming the Auster Aircraft Company
Repairs: WW2: Taylorcraft were repairing first DH Tiger Moths later Hawker Hurricanes and Typhoons
Sales: Pre 1940: Midland Aircraft Company (Early UK Piper agents in 1939 with one aircraft, a J-4A Cub registered G-AFTE which crashed shortly after)
Location: Off Gadsby Lane, Rearsby, 6nm NNE of Leicester
Period of operation: 1937 to 1971
Note: This map is reproduced with the kind permission of Pooleys Flight Equipment. Copyright Robert Pooley 2014
Runways: Pre 1940: 86 acres and possibly an all-over grass airfield?
1965: N/S 610 SE/NW 853 E/W 945 (All grass runways)
NOTES: Originally operated from the early to mid-summer as an un-licensed aerodrome, very naughty in those days. After a visit from the County Police it eventually gained a temporary license in September 1937. Even so a somewhat lax approach was adopted and after a ‘shake-up’ call by an MCA inspector the CFC eventually got its act together and the aerodrome was officially opened in July 1938 with a permanent license being granted in October.
THE C.R.O. (Civilian Repair Organisation)
To quote from the book Hurricane by Leo McKinstry this was: "....a large network of contractors and engineering companies overseen during the Battle of Britain by that managerial dynamo Lord Beaverbrook, the Minister of Aircraft Production." He then explains; "Like the Dowding system, the CRO was a masterpiece of administrative effeciency, embracing no fewer than forty-three different companies around the country, while there were also mobile CRO contractors that carried out repairs at the Fighter Command airfields. Among the firms that worked on the Hurricane were Taylorcraft of Rearsby and David Rosenfield based at Barton near Manchester."
"By mid July 1940 the CRO was returning aircraft to operational service at a rate of 160 a week.It has been calculated that 35 per cent of all the fighters issued to squadrons during the Battle of Britain were repaired aircraft. No fewer than 60 per cent of Hurricanes that crashed on British soil ended up back in service, the other 40 per cent serving as a useful supply line for components. Altogether during the war, 4,000 damaged Hurricanes were put back into service by the CRO, a remarkable achievement that not only lessened the impact of the Luftwaffe but also highlighted the durability of Sydney Camm's design."
As pointed out elsewhere, the Hawker Hurricane was the mainstay of the RAF at that period, and, highly regarded by its pilots, being a much better 'gun platform' than the Spitfire.
AN AUSPICIOUS FLY-IN
The International Auster Pilots Club held a Fly-in to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Taylorcraft using a portion of the airfield on 10th September 1988 attracting twenty eight Austers. Later the IAPC became the International Auster Club. A similar Fly-In in (20th September 1997) attracted forty nine visitors. The 2002 and 2003 other Fly-Ins, mostly using a field next door to the original airfield? At the 2003 IAC AGM twenty-five Austers flew in to LEICESTER, many visiting REARSBY landing in the stubble field.
AN INTERESTING SIDENOTE?
In May 2023 Mr Graham Frost, a great friend of this 'Guide' found this entry on the British Civil Register. It relates to the Taylor J-2 Cub G-AEIK which was registered to the County Flying Club Ltd based at REARSBY on the 3rd December 1938. As most civil flying, all when it comes light aircraft, was banned at the start of WW2, most even slightly useful types were impressed. But not, it appears, this one. So why not?
The Taylor company in the USA became the Piper Aircraft Company, and the direct lineage of the Taylor J-2 Cub to the Piper J-3 Cub is obvious. Therefore, one might think, a quite useful type for being impressed, as a squadron hack etc. Reported as being scrapped during WW2, the registration was cancelled on the 18th January 1945!
Trying to trace the history of aircraft manufacturing companies is of course not at all the purpose of this 'Guide'. But, in this case, it does serve to illustrate a curious coincidence. The Taylorcraft Company was an off-spin of the Taylor Company, and of course the making their designs in the UK became Auster.
A BIT MORE INFO
In August 2024 Graham Frost discovered that the Avro 616 Avian Mk.4M, G-ACKE (ex VH-UOB), was registered to Mr Victor H Doree from 29.09.38 until 22.10.41 and then put into store at his house until around October 1944. It was then re-registered to a new owner. It appears that Mr Doree based G-ACKE here.
C D Smith
This comment was written on: 2021-05-15 09:32:05My father, Leonard Smith (who was a carpenter) worked at Rearsby repairing aircraft during the war. I believe his great friends, Les Jackson (also a carpenter) and Les (?) Hinks (Trade unknown) worked there too. They had an annual reunion for very many years after the War.
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