Stag Lane
STAG LANE: Civil aerodrome (see also the nearby EDGWARE WW1 military aerodrome)
Note: This picture was obtained from Google Earth ©
What I think is very interesting, viewed from a modern day perspective, is just how close the busy STAG LANE airfield was to the equally busy RAF aerodrome at HENDON.
Note: I believe this factory has now been demolished? If so, today the only tangible proof of this famous aerodrome are a few street names and similar nearby and I do wonder if the people now living here appreciate the significance of these names?
Operated by: Initially: London & Provincial Aviation. Later by De Havilland Aircraft Company
Note: This picture from a postcard was kindly sent by Mike Charlton who has an amazing collection. See: www.aviationpostcard.co.uk
Of interest I think, is that G-EAYT was registered on the 12th October 1921 as a DH.9C - not an Airco DH.9C - so presumably built new at STAG LANE. Registered to the De Havilland Aircraft Co it was operated by their subsidiary De Havilland Aeroplane Hire Company. It crashed into the sea at Venice Lido, Italy, on the 2nd October 1922.
See 'Another Amazing Charter' below.
It was registered as a four-seater, presumably including the pilot, and it appears that two passengers could travel in the cabin whereas the third passenger, (if there was a third passenger of course), had to travel in the open in front of the pilot. What would many of us give today to fly in the front cockpit! Or even in the cabin for that matter.
Charter/air taxi: Air Taxis, De Havilland Aeroplane Hire Service
Pleasure flights: Air Trips, London and Provincial Aviation
Flying school/clubs: D.H. School of Flying, London Aeroplane Club, London Flying Club
Other users: Aerofilms, Irving Air Chute Co
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
NOTES: The seventh and eighth pictures are of considerable interest, showing Sir Alan Cobham arriving back at STAG LANE on the 7th October 1929 having completed one of, if not the most remarkable tour of Great Britain ever. The intention was to campaign for air-mindedness and encourage the construction of municipal aerodromes and regional airports, the tour being known as Sir Alan Cobham's Municipal Aerodrome Campaign.
The original plan was to visit 107 venues, mostly in England but with two in Wales and seven in Scotland. In the end, after a few setbacks including a couple of crashes, he managed to visit around 95 venues. Still a quite magnificent achievement. The aircraft he mostly used, as seen in these pictures above, was the de Havilland DH60 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV, which could carry ten passengers, and named 'Youth Of Britain'.
As a general rule, Cobham only stayed for one day. The idea was to arrive at a venue at around 11.00 and take local dignitaries for a flight around the area. This would be followed by a slap up luncheon, usually in the town hall, when Cobham would exhort the assembly to appreciate the civic value of having an aerodrome.
After lunch Cobham would take groups of selected school children for a local flight, typically 40 or 50, which were sponsored by an anonymous donor - which we now know was Lord Wakefied of Castrol Oil fame. After that he would carry fare paying passengers until dusk, presumably to raise enough revenue to cover the costs of the tour. And he hoped to make a profit.
We need to remember just how famous Sir Alan Cobham was in those days, by todays standards a super if not mega-star. Indeed, the first ever civilian pilot to be knighted, in 1926, for his achievements in aviation.
Spotters note: The aircraft in the background of both these pictures, G-AARR, was a DH9J. It went on to serve with Air Service Training at HAMBLE from May 1931 to December 1936, when it was scrapped.
Manufacturing: De Havilland Aircraft Company
Location: About 7 miles NNW from central London in Burnt Oak. Inm WNW of RAF Hendon
Period of operation: 1915 to 1934 (Some say 1939 and others 1920 to 1934)
NOTES: Some say this site was a WW1 training airfield opened in November 1915 for training pilots under contract by London & Provincial Aviation, (who had their main base at nearby HENDON). This seems to be borne out but their activities ceased in July 1919 after a dispute with the Department of Civil Aviation who refused a license to keep them operating the aerodrome. Are the reasons for this decision still known?
After a few attempts at establishing the beginning of de Havilland at STAG LANE I came across the book Tiger Moth by Stuart McKay, arguably the doyen of all things de Havilland. It therefore seems only sensible to quote his account: “Geoffrey de Havilland was designing aeroplanes long before the demise of the Aircraft Manufacturing Company, whose closure precipitated him into joining forces with former colleagues to establish his own company in 1920 at the age of 38.” The Aircraft Manufacturing Company (see COLINDALE/HENDON) is usually better known as ‘Airco’.
“The de Havilland Aircraft Company Ltd., moved bodily into premises on Stag Lane aerodrome, a stone’s thrown from Hendon where “The Captain” as he was reverentially known, had already made a reputation as designer and pilot. Stag Lane had originated as a Hendon overspill where, in the quiet of the countryside, the London and Provincial Aviation Company trained pilots for the Royal Flying Corps. After the Armistace, the company had attempted to build civil light aeroplanes until they clashed with bureaucracy, lost their battle, diversified, went down again and eventually sold up. But they maintained the freehold on the land.”
“Business for DH’s was slow in common with most others in aviation at that time; work was sufficient only for fragile maintenance of a small but dedicated workforce. In the midst of a cash crisis in October 1921 when the company had been advised that it must buy the Stag Lane freehold or get out, a young sporting pilot, Alan S. Butler, was directed to the DH offices upon the advice of C. G. Grey, perspicacious Editor of The Aeroplane.”
“Alan Butler outlined his specification for a two/three seat racing tourer and asked whether de Havillands could build it. The instinct of the chief designer and his works manager was to quote a ridiculously high price in the hope that this young man might pay up or else go away. Not only did Alan Butler agree to pay £3,000 for what became the DH37, but he immediately offered to invest a further £50,000. The offer was accepted and Stag Lane purchased outright. The future was now assured and Alan Butler became a director, then Chairman, a post he held for almost thirty years.”
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
In a 'Time To Fly' published in 1978, (and highly recommended reading), Sir Alan Cobham has quite a lot to say to say about his involvement with aerial photography in 1921 and the relationship de Havilland had with Aerofilms. It really is a fascinating story and without much doubt helped de Havilland to establish his company here.
It appears that part of the deal with Aerofilms was that they insisted Alan Cobham had to be involved. He soon saw opportunities to do quite well and indeed at one point realised he was making more money than Geoffrey de Havilland! Without any doubt this experience, paying great attention to detail and planning, paid dividends later on in Alan Cobhams career.
AN EXAMPLE
For me of course this is very frustrating, as I cannot hope to find the 'flying sites' they used. "To illustrate the kind of productivity that was possible in good weather, let me outline the pattern on one tour that Russell and I made on behalf of Aerofilms. From Stag Lane we flew to Ipswich and then to Norwich for the night; on the second day we photographed Sandringham and Boston and ended up in Lincoln; on the third we visited York, Darlington, Newcastle and the Dukeries, and ended up in Sheffield; on the fourth it was Huddersfield, the Lake District, Birmingham, Newport, Swansea, Weston-super-Mare and Bristol, and on the fifth and last day we flew from Bristol back to Stag Lane, doing a great deal of work at Cheltenham and Gloucester en route."
"In five days, therefore, we did work that might have taken five weeks in bad weather, to the great benefit of our clients."
Having been involved in a similar project in the early 1990s, given controlled airspace and many other constraints; and often poor weather - this today mostly seems an incredible achievement.
A PUBLICITY STUNT
Here again, another episode from 'A Time To Fly': "At one point the Star - a London evening paper now deceased - devised a publicity stunt by means of which people on holiday in various East Coast resorts could buy the four o'clock edition almost as soon as it appeared in London. Bill Hatchett, the other De Havilland's pilot, was to supply Whitstable, Margate and Dover by landing at each of those towns."
My note: If only I could find out where! What a boon for this 'Guide'.
"I was to supply Southend, Clacton, Lowestoft, Yarmouth and (for good measure) Norwich, not landing anywhere but dropping my bundles of newspapers on to previously selected fields. The actual dropping was done by a young man in the rear cockpit; and at Southend he somehow managed to lose his head and fling overboard bundles that were meant for the other towns, as well as those destined for Southend. They fell in all kinds of unintended places, among children who came running to see the fun. It seems almost a miracle that nobody was killed, and the other towns had to go short."
INNOVATION WAS A De HAVILLAND BYWORD
Subject to more information becoming available it would seem the second striking de Havilland initiative at STAG LANE was the formation of the D.H. Hire Service early in 1921 who advertised, “An aeroplane with driver to go anywhere for 2d a mile.” Note the term driver rather than pilot because the best chauffeurs of the day were highly professional people and probably the term ‘pilot’ carried ‘dare-devil’ connotations? DH.9Cs painted scarlet were used and Alan Cobham was one of the first DH ‘drivers’ as well as being a DH ‘test pilot’.
A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES
Here again quoted from 'A Time To Fly': "Then there was taxi-work, usually organised in a great hurry. An American on holiday in London heard his father was ill, just too late for him to catch the boat at Southampton. But it would call in at Cherbourg before going on to New York, and if we worked quickly, he could be flown across the Channel and join it there."
"The difficulties were considerable: customs regulations meant I had to go by a roundabout route, landing at Lympne and near Boulogne instead of flying directly, and I also faced head-winds and storm clouds, eventually landing on the Cherbourg racecourse in driving rain and only just in time. My passenger caught his boat with a few minutes to spare; he wrote to thank me later, expressing his grateful appreciation of the fact that Americans weren't the only ones who could hustle when the need arose."
The most notable and longest charter seems to have been to a wealthy American who hired an aeroplane to take him around Europe and the Middle East. The ‘driver’ was Alan Cobham and it is now surely easy to see that this experience provided the essential stepping stones of logistics and route planning experience for him to become the leading British air route exploration pilot later on, pioneering new air routes across and around the British Empire for Imperial Airways. And, this experience in turn no doubt led to his ability to set up by far the leading and most extensive operation of UK ‘Flying Circus’ tours in the late 1920s and 1930s. It must be mentioned that Cobham detested the term "Flying Circus".
AND ANOTHER
"A few days later I had to make another emergency dash, this time to Antwerp. A ship's captain needed to get back there in a hurry: he had crosed over to London to visit his sick wife, and now heard that his employers were ordering him back to sea sooner than he had expected. Not desiring to be detected on this truancy, he hurried to the station, but the last boat train had gone. 'If you want to get to Antwerp tonight', said a porter facetiously, 'you'll have to fly there!"
"This was meant as a joke, but he took it seriously and seized the telephone. Ten minutes later the arrangements had been made and a price agreed; half an hour later, at three in the afternoon, he was at Stag Lane; and by half-past-six he was on board his ship at Antwerp and deeply grateful to me." I wonder if something like this could be arranged so quickly today? Please try to find a copy of this book - there's a lot more.
AN INCREDIBLE 'CHARTER'
In 'A Time To Fly' Sir Alan Cobham devotes an entire chapter to his exploits when being hired by the eccentric American multi-millionaire Lucien Sharpe to fly him around Europe and beyond. It really is a fabulous story and quite probably without equal since.
"On an August morning in 1921, a gentleman who lived in Paris happened to be visiting London; and as he walked down Piccadillly, he saw a notice in a travel-agency window: 'Hire an Aeroplane to take you Anywhere!' - He was a man of about forty, enormously fat - he must have weighed twenty stone, (My note: 127kg), red-faced, white-haired and blue-eyed. I told him that I was at his disposal. Where did he want to go?"
" 'To Brussels' he said, so off we went. We took with us a man called Fox, the agent who had brought us together and who now wanted to see something of European air transport. We had plenty of room, since I was flying a four-seat DH.9C, with accommodation for two passengers behind the pilot and one in front. We had one lunch in Brussels, and then - since flying sharpens the appetite - another in Amsterdam."
"From Amsterdam we flew on to Hamburg for the night, then to Copenhagen. As we approached that city the engine started to splutter - but Sharpe wasn't bothered. He had his maps out and was totally absorbed in the prospect below. We staggered in to Copenhagen rather precariously, and that evening gave me my first experience of my passenger's very knowledgeable enthusiam for wine."
But here comes the bit that fascinates me. "In the morning I tried to find out what was wrong with my engine, but unsuccessfully; and by good fortune, the director of the Danish Aviation Company offered to change it for another that was running well." By comparison I tried to imagine on my many trips into Europe in a Cessna 172/182 or Piper PA-28 type - what an engine change would involve - some ninety years or so later? Would I be crazy to expect it would only take a day?
"We proceeded to Stockholm." What a story this is. "From Stockholm to Oslo, stopping on the way at Örebro to call on a British pilot named Saunders who was giving jor-rides there." That flight over desolate mountainous countryside to Oslo caused Alan Cobham some anxiety, not least because he had heard of the hardships suffered by two British aviators who had crash-landed not long before. What we need to appreciate today, is that this part of the 'Hire contract' by Sharpe was entailing a serious pioneering flight in many of not most respects. "On we went towards the setting sun, and we eventually enjoyed a very pleasant day in the Norwegian capital."
"From there we went back to Copenhagen, and then on to Rostock and Berlin." When the German Mark then stood at 340 to the pound and was falling fast." When I first went to Germany in around the early 1960s, the German Mark was around four to the pound. But I will never understand currency fluctuations. "On we went to Warsaw, where a similar collapse of the currency created frightful problems. There was no accommodation at all and we had to spend the night in the Turkish baths. Then, after two happy days in Prague, we flew to Vienna and to yet another collapsed currency, which made all kinds of extravagance possible to those who had sterling."
From Vienna they flew to Klagenfurt initially and then to Venice. Once again with perilous conditions along the way. From Venice they flew to Brescia, then Milan, and onto Nimes in France, ending up in Paris. "We went past places that have now become crowded resorts - Monte Carlo, Nice, Antibes, St Tropez, St Raphael - and they were all deserted. In those days the Riviera was where English people went in winter." How odd, I think, that he doesn't mention Cannes.
"In three weeks we had visited eight European capitals and flown over eleven different countries, covering more than five thousand miles in only fifty-six hours of airborne time. Sharpe's bill for hiring the aircraft came to less than £700, and he thought it very moderate. His hotel and car expenses may well have reached a similar figure."
ANOTHER AMAZING CHARTER
If only this wasn't just a 'Guide' I would love to copy every word. But this will have to suffice. Cobham thought the previous 'Tour' would have put Sharpe off, but not a bit, he wanted much more. To see Spain and Morocco and Algeria and Tunis, to study Roman remains and the pattern of Arab migration. "
"So off we went in December 1921, through rather dirty weather, over Poitiers, and Toulouse to Gerona, circling every historical monument as we came to it and astounding simple folk in many places with the majestic modernity of our arrival." He then went to Barcelona and underwent severe engine problems, imcluding flying back to the UK for a new engine, until it was realised that normal Spanish fuel was 'shit' to coin a phrase. He had to be very careful thereafter.
He rejoined Sharpe in Seville, and Granada was visited. From there they flew to Malaga, and Cobham remarks, "...my first experience of eating an orange picked straight from the tree. I was in a mood of high exaltation: everything was going well. My client was satisfied, I was seeing the world, colourful things were happening and the sunshine and the warm gentle breezes constrasted splendidly with the gloom of an English January."
I can identify with this completely and have experienced it many times. It really can be glorious at that time of year. But, he was lucky, the weather can quickly change to abysmal, very windy, low cloud and torrential rain for days on end.
"...at Granada, we enjoyed a particularly romantic and memorable evening in the Alhambra." I can vividly remember visiting the Alhambra many years ago, not having much idea what to expect - and being utterly captivated, awed and so impressed. Fabulous in every respect, especially the 'Court of the Lions."
From Malaga they routed via Gibraltar and Tangier, landing in Casablanca before moving on to Marrakesh - being the first civilian aircraft ever to land there. I am so tempted to quote more - read the book! From Marrakesh they flew to Magador, then to Tiznet before returning to Marrakesh where Cobham gave joy rides. But I think this episode is worthy of mention, considering Cobham's already developing enthusiasm for spreading the message about aviation.
"We were at Rabat, and there was a dinner-time argument about the survival of Moorish music in Spain. One gentleman present, something of a scholar in such matters, confessed his sceptiscm. Sharpe suggested that he should go to Spain and listen. No, he couldn't do that, it would take too long. Sharpe turned to me. 'How long would it take to fly to Seville?' 'Three hours.' was Cobham's answer.
" 'Right', he said, turning back to the sceptic, 'we lunch together tomorrow in Seville. In the afternoon you will hear a concert that will convince you, and in the evening we shall dine here in Rabat. And so it happened, within the one day. By surface transport it would have taken at least two or three weeks." But I wonder, without access to an executive jet, could something like this be achieved today? Assuming there is an airport at Rabat?
From Rabat they flew to Fez. Then onto Oujda and Oran and Algiers in French Algeria. (Horrendous probems in Algiers). Then to Biskra, down to Toggourt and ending at Batna for that stage. They then flew to Constantine and Tunis, then flying across the 'Med' (which was a very anxious time for Cobham) to Catania on Sicily. The flight up to Naples was beset by bad weather and extreme turbulence - a story in itself. Once again, please do try to get a copy of 'A Time To Fly'.
They then flew on to Rome, arriving just as Pope Pius X1 was being crowned. "The Piazza in front of St Peter's was packed with people, and Sharpe thought it would be a good idea to honour this occassion..... by circling three times round the great dome, thereby suggesting the tiara or threefold crown of the papacy. This had never been done before: any pilot who tried it now would end up in jail." Quite so - several years ago I arranged to try and get aerial pictures of central Rome using a zoom lens. But the restrictions were so severe I ended up with nothing worth talking about.
"Our original intention had been to go in to Brindisi and then to Athens and Constantinople." (My note: now Istanbul). But Sharpe changed his mind and wanted to visit Florence first, and then Venice. Typically winter weather intervened - they got to Florence, but the onward flight to Venice ended up with him ditching near to Venice in fog. Only the engine was salvaged.
Far from being put off by the ditching near Venice, Sharpe hired de Havilland, with Cobham, for another tour starting on the 20th February 1923 which covered some twelve thousand miles. Once again severe problems were encountered on the first stages and at Brindisi. Reaching Athens the next destination was Sollum on the north African coast, via a stop on Crete. After a couple of helpful flights for British officials to Siwa and Matruh, to prove just how useful an aeroplane can be, cutting a two or three day land journey down to a couple of hours or so, they flew to Cairo. Finding permission to fly to Baghdad refused, they then flew down the Nile to Asyut, Karnak, Thebes and Luxor. Plus Abu Simbel and Aswan.
"Leaving Cairo on Good Friday, which considered a good time for visiting Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho and the Dead Sea. We did so, although it was rather against the rules, in view of all the processions and other solmenities, Moslem as well as Christian, that were taking place. Sharpe gave me an incessant running commentary from a Bible he had marked previously. (It is still the best guide-book to that part of the world). He was by now, it must be said, something of a sceptic in all religious matters, despite his upbringing among the Plymouth Brethren."
Without much doubt, travel and an interest in history, will soon reveal that all the major religions are a farcical mish-mash of myth and very simplistic ideas and ideals constructed by people with almost no concept of how humanity really works. And even today we still suffer the consequences. Not so much in Europe today thankfully, but can it last?
"After spending some days in the Holy Land, with flying visits to Damascus and the Sea of Galilee, we found ourselves enjoying the hospitalty of old friends in French Syria, and then surveying Baalbeck and Aleppo from the air." What would Cobham make of the situation today? "On our long roundabout journey home, we initially traversed the whole Mediterranean from Syria to Morocco, something of a record trip in its way (we were certainly the first people to fly from Egypt to Morocco)."
"Our route took us to Alexandria, and then to several places that became famous later on in the course of the second world war: Sollum again, then Tobruk and Derna and Benghazi. At Benghazi we were greeted by a large crowd, who in their eagerness to press forward failed to notice - or perhaps just to care - that a car which was leading the group of them had suddenly burst into flames. I noticed and I cared, and as I had a fire extinguisher on board I taxied up to the burning vehicle, deployed my foaming jet, and saved it. It is probable, I suppose, that this was the only occasion in all human history on which a burning car has been saved by a passing aircraft!"
"Our journey on from Benghazi to Tripoli was a dangerous one. The Italians were then at war with the local Arabs and had bombed them heavily, thereby making them unfriendly towards aeroplanes. We had five hundred miles to go against a prevailing head-wind, no fuel was available en route, and the Senussi were more than likely to shoot at us with some anti-aircraft that they had managed to capture."
What a story! They made it of course, landing first at Misratah, then onto Tripoli before pressing on to Sfax and Constantine. They then flew to Oran, Fez, Marrakesh, Casablanca, Rabat, Seville, Granada and finally Madrid - where they parted company with Sharpe. Cobham then decided to fly home in one day, on the 1st May 1923. "We had breakfast in Madrid, lunch in Bordeaux, afternoon tea at Lympne, and dinner in London." A flight I would never have contemplated even trying some eighty years later, in a modern light aircraft. But of course Cobham wouldn't have had all the flight planning, avoiding controlled military airspace, filing of flight plans, logging of en route radio frequencies for diversions and flight information services, etc, etc to deal with.
This wasn't the last connection Cobham had with Sharpe. Just after Cobham had returned from his exploratory flight to India in 1925, he flew to Rabat to collect him, then flying to Seville and by stages to Beaune in France. As Cobham says: "I do not want to give the impression that during this period I was Sharpe's full-time chauffeur. I was working for the De Havilland Hire Company, which was then the most active body in the country so far as practical commercial flying was concerned."
A point we really must remember today.
"He was a good and colourful customer, but only one of many; I made it my business to meet all requirements, his included, and also to organize special flights that would capture the headlines and so constitute good propoganda for the cause of civil aviation, in which I believed passionately."
A NOTABLE FLIGHT
To quote from 'A Time To Fly': "In September 1924, for example, I decided that it would make big news if I flew to Africa in one day, using the new DH.50." As Cobham readily admits, he was being, "a bit artful", (This wasn't to the Congo or the Cape), but of course as so many of us who have had holidays in countries from Morocco to Eqypt - there is so sense of being in Africa in the normally held perception of that continent.
".....I was flying to Tangier, which is only 1,112 miles from London. But it is undeniably in Africa." Indeed, many years ago I hired an aeroplane from Malaga to fly down to Gibraltar and to fly across the Straits to circle the Spanish enclave on the other side. So that I could claim to have flown to Africa.
"Elliott and I made it very nicely, despite strong head-winds and a flat tyre at Madrid, which was our only stop en route. We took off from Stag Lane at 6 a.m. and landed at Tangier at 7.30 in the evening, to find press representatives and a champagne reception waiting for us. We had hoped to do the same thing in reverse next day, making the round trip from London to Africa and back within forty-eight hours, but bad weather caused us to change our route and spend a short night in Toulouse, and we landed at Croydon at 11 a.m. on the third day."
"Our whole trip amounted to not much less than three thousand miles, and we had completed it in just fifty-three hours, of which twenty-eight hours were flying time. It made the news-headlnes all right."
AN ASPECT WELL WORTH MENTIONING
"When I look back, what astonishes me is the speed at which we operated. I am not referring to the speed of our aircraft, which was then anything between 90 and 105 mph. What I have in mind is the rapidity with which we got going. We would get a telephone enquiry about immediate transport to some remote and obscure place in Europe: a price would be agreed within ten minutes, and we would be ready to go within the hour."
I wonder if today, executive jet operators, for example can respond so quickly? Can anybody kindly offer advice?
"Aircraft were always kept ready, suitcases always packed, maps on file, a supply of ready cash in the office. It played havoc with one's home life, but it was all very enjoyable. Flying men were then relatively few in number and formed a friendly international brotherhood: wherever one went, one met friends. And in those days, Englishmen were deeply respected all over the Continent: the pound sterling had a high value and was accepted without question everywhere - and so, if it comes to that, was any cheque drawn by an Englishman on a London bank. Things have certainly changed since then."
This written in the 1970s.
Perhaps so in terms of payment, but once credit and debit cards came about it really is so much easier. Without any doubt the brotherhood of airmen is, if anything, far stronger today than it has ever been. Which I can testify to having flown in every country in western Europe, and several more besides. Very often calling in at an airfield without any prior notice, and being airborne within an hour or two. The 'magic' words being along the lines of, "Hello - I'm a British pilot - is there any chance I can fly here?"
A FLIGHT TO RANGOON
In 1924 there was a considerable debate concerning the best way to establish an air route to India and beyond. Many favoured airships whilst others favoured aeroplanes, especially using flying boats. The Director of Civil Aviation, Sir Sefton Brancker, was ordered to go to India and make a report. Cobham, who knew and had flown Brancker before, was aghast to learn that he was supposed to travel by ocean liner. However, the Air Minister, Lord Thompson, was adamant that no more than £750, the cost of a first class ticket by sea, would be spent.
Knowing the major propaganda value of such a trip, Cobham raised the rest of money, and technical support from within the aviation industry. On the 20th November 1924 Cobham set off from STAG LANE, with Sir Sefton and his mechanic Elliott for Paris. This was in the DH.50 G-EBFO. The story of the trip deserves a book in its own right, but all I can do is a very brief precis. It certainly illustrates how much has changed since. India had yet to be partioned and many of the place names have changed too. For example, the destination of Rangoon in Burma is now Yangon in Myanmar.
From Paris they flew to Köln (Cologne) and onto Berlin via a landing in Hanover. (Germany). Then to Lemberg/Lvov in Poland. Bucharest in Romania was next before landing at Constantinople (Istanbul) in Turkey and then, via Konya, onto Alexendretta/Iskenderun in the Hatay Province, in southern Turkey at the NE edge of the far Mediterranean Sea. They then flew to Aleppo and Raqqa (Syria), Baghdad and Basra (Iraq) and on down the Persian Gulf, (now just The Gulf), before reaching Karachi in India, (now Pakistan), on the 30th November. As Cobham says; "It was quite an eventful journey, illustrating the present limitations of air travel as well as its future possibilities". Quite impossible today of course in a small civilian aircraft. So much for progress - one step forward and so very often - two steps back.
Cobham seems to rather 'gloss over' the fact that having reached Karachi, where Elliott had to overhaul the engine, Brancker went to Delhi by train! And, arriving in Delhi, Brancker had gone on to Rangoon - also by train. It would appear that they landed at Allahabad and Benares before arriving at Calcutta (now Kolkata) to find Sir Sefton still there in hospital. They also needed a new cylinder block which took four days to arrive from Karachi.
There is one story I think I should mention, simply to illustrate in what esteem pioneering aviation was so often held in those days, except by the British? I can so easily imagine the outraged Clerk of the Course erupting in a fury at such desecration.
"When we first arrived in Calcutta I landed on the racecourse. But we were not wanted there, and it was soon arranged that I should use the maidan for my aerodrome for the duration of my stay, which was rather like a foreign pilot visiting London and being told to use Hyde Park. The R.A.F. took an interest in this, and asked me whether it would be possible to land a squadron of DH.9s on the maiden. On my advice and under my supervision, this operation was undertaken; the only hitch was that one young officer objected to a civilian giving him orders and refused to park his aircraft where I told him to. He just stayed there obstructing the runway while his C.O. circled overhead, unable to land. But he soon gave way."
"It amazed me that these R.A.F, aircraft ever flew at all. Spares and kitbags were slung under their wings, increasing the drag and distorting the aerofoil shape." Cobham relates; "We lived in great state at Calcutta." Whilst there Cobham undertook a flight into the Himalayas for photographs, which was not a success. After the new cylinder block had been fitted they then flew to Rangoon via Chittagong (now in Bangladesh) and Akyab in Burma (Myanmar). Branker had travelled from Calcutta to Rangoon by boat!
They started back home from Rangoon on the 28th February 1925. Once again more or less retracing the route down. But it seems routeing via Bandar Abbas and Bushire in Persia (Iran). Cobham then says they also landed at Bierut and Aleppo - but this makes no sense at all, Bierut being way off track. But of course Sir Sefton Branker was trying very hard to establish a wide variety of possible future air links. And Beirut was an obvious shortcut if a link with Turkey, probably via Romania could be established. It was not to be and the eventual air routes were via Egypt.
But, I digress. Cobham doesn't give any details, but they ended up in Prague (Czechoslovakia), leaving on the 12th of March. The flight to Strasbourg ended in a forced landing in a snowstorm on a very precarious short uphill site - but the only one available - with no chance of taking off again. "With willing help from local people we dismantled the aircraft, got it onto lorries and conveyed it for re-erection at Stuttgart; and from there we flew home by way of Paris, and faced a grand official reception when we landed at Croydon on 17 March 1925." What a trip!
"Despite this last mishap and various other setbacks, the Director of Civil Aviation had been impressed by his journey. Nominally, he had made this trip with a view to the establishment of an airship route to India; but I think he experienced a change of heart in the course of it, and began to see that the facilities needed were going to be civil aerodromes rather than mooring masts. It was already becoming clear that the 200 m.p.h. airliner was a possibility: the slower airship would lose the race. I think he was getting the message. If so, it's all the more sadly ironical that an airship killed him. He died in the crash of the R.101."
A FLIGHT TO CAPE TOWN
Having returned from India, Cobham set about organizing an exploratory flight to Cape Town in South Africa. As said before, it is so well worth reading his memoirs in 'A Time To Fly' to understand his motivation and the circumstances behind this. "It was an immensely complicated task. The De Havilland company agreed to lend me the same DH.50 - G-EBFO - that I had used for my flight to Rangoon; but the old 240-h.p. Puma engine would not be powerful enough, since I would be heavily loaded and would at some places be taking off at high altitude. Sir John Siddeley came to my rescue and lent me a 385-h.p. Jaguar which improved the performance enormously."
The exact reason some fifty years later why Vickers designed the fabulous VC-10 for the African routes.
HOW WAS IT ARRANGED?
This was a question that had intrigued me ever since first hearing of this flight - many years ago. And once West Ealing library had obtained a copy of 'A Time To Fly' - in March 2019 I had the answer: "Then there was the problem of where to land on the way. Rough war-time aerodromes existed all the way up the Nile, and farther south there were various race-courses and playing fields, but there were many places at which facilities would need to be improvised, and I had to send out instructions."
I had assumed that Imperial Airways would have had a considerable interest in this project - but it appears they weren't in the slightest bit interested. However, Cobham had decided to have a film made of the entire trip, in collaboration with Gaumont, and this was a great success. He says his share was £8,000 - a considerable sum in those days.
ANOTHER WORLD
Cobham took off from STAG LANE on the 15th November 1925 into weather so foul he admits they only found CROYDON to clear customs with the aid of signal rockets! We today can easily imagine how the flight progressed, but for them it must have been an astonishing experience as Africa slowly unfolded beneath them. I haven't come across pilots of light aircraft flying this route in more recent years carrying a spare propeller, a rifle and a shotgun, cooking utensils - plus light alpaca jackets and a black tie for formal occassions along the way. But these items were deemed essential baggage.
It really is a fabulous story in every respect and their arrival in Pretoria was a full-scale gala event, not far short of a Royal State visit. This state of affairs continued as they flew around South Africa, but I like one detail Cobham mentions. He had met Captain Strong, Master of the S.S. Windsor Castle and they agreed to race each other back to the UK as they were both departing on the same day. The stake was that the loser would stand the winner a good lunch in London. Cobham later heard that many bets were placed on the outcome. Cobham won.
But this was just a side show, his arrival at CROYDON was truly spectacular. And what a day - and as Cobham says, the 13th March 1926 - "was just about the busiest of all my days". "We left Pisa at four in the morning, crossed the Alps in beautiful weather, breakfasted at Lyons, crossed the Channel, and landed were fêted at Croydon. Then I flew the aircraft to Stag Lane and put it to bed, drove to Buckingham Palace, saw the King, and eventually reached home to dine with my family at eleven at night. You might call that a full day".
A REVELATION
After all Sir Alan Cobham had achieved in the DH50 G-EBFO you might assume that it would be preserved in a museum, one of the most famous aircraft of all time. Something Cobham was, even then, very keen on seeing achieved. But no, the directors of de Havilland, considered it nigh on worthless and flogged it off to an Australian air taxi firm for £500. After fifteen years it crashed and nothing is, it appears, known of the remains.
How attitudes have changed. Today we would regard the attitude of the de Havilland directors as being the lowest form of vandalism, committed by people of extreme ignorance and lacking in any care for the future. Which is of course the case. But, we need to remember that this was entirely normal for the time and an attitude that persisted both in civil and military circles well beyond WW2.
THE DH.60 MOTH ERA
On a Sunday afternoon, the 22nd February 1925, (some say 1924), Geoffrey de Havilland made the first flight in the prototype DH60 Moth G-EBKT. A type which quite rightly is said to have made private flying popular in the UK and many other countries*. Many examples of the Moth ‘family’ of aircraft types soon began to be used for astounding and record breaking long distance flights. The original price for a DH.60 Cirrus Moth was £795 but this reduced to £650 as it gained in popularity. On the 29th May 1924 Alan Cobham flew the prototype Moth to Zurich and back in one day, (about 1000 miles). It is claimed that by 1929 roughly 85% of all privately-owned aircraft in the UK were DH Moths.
*The term “popular” needs to be explained because, for private owners, only the very wealthy could afford to own one. In those days, very generally speaking, the average annual income for a skilled agricultural or industrial worker was around £125 given a 50 hour week at roughly a shilling per hour. Therefore the £650 price would represent over five years total income for a working class skilled craftsman.
In so many ways the claims of the Moth’s abilities mirror almost exactly those made later for the Piper Cub in the USA. But if you see a Moth flying today it will probably be carefully manhandled to the take-off point and after landing. Not so a Cub of course.
THE MOTH AND THE AERO CLUBS
In the latter half of 1925 the five Air Ministry subsidised Aero Clubs came into operation, and each one had colour coded fuselages. The London Aeroplane Club aircraft based here were painted silver. The Lancashire Aero Club, (at BARTON?), were blue. The Midland Aero Club, (CASTLE BROMWICH) were green, and the Newcastle Aero Club, (at TOWN MOOR perhaps?) were Red. The Yorkshire Aero Club aircraft were painted red and orange, but all attempts I have made to establish where they were based has failed. I’d guess BROUGH or HEDON?
Note: We have Mr Michael T Holder, once again, for unearthing these pictures of the opening of The London Aeroplane Club, published in Flight magazine on the 27th August 1925.
THE LONDON AEROPLANE CLUB
When on the 19th August 1925 the London Aero Club was formally opened, (The Lancashire Aero Club opened before), operating costs for a DH.60 Moth were said to be £2 15s per hour. (Two seater training types on an AOC today (2009) are roughly £100 per hour or more with dual instruction in the UK). With the subsidy costs for instruction were 30s per hour dropping to £1 per hour for solo flight. (A pound comprised twenty shillings and a shilling comprised twelve pennies). Therefore it was estimated most capable students could learn to fly for £20 inclusive of club membership, dual flying tuition, the mandatory three hours solo flight and the fee for an ‘A’ pilots license. In 2009, if being an able student taking the minimum of hours, you can have expected to pay £4500 to £6000 to get a PPL ‘A’ License. This seems to indicate that the cost of learning to fly has substantially decreased over the years.
AN EPIC FLIGHT
Nov 16th 1925: Some accounts reckon Alan Cobham took-off from here for a survey flight to Cape Town in the DH.50 G-EBFO returning to the UK on the 13th March 1926, (I think you’ll find this flight actually departed from CROYDON on the 15th?). This is the stuff of legend - five months away, and can you imagine the arrangements, (we call it logistics today), needed to do this in those days! Why aren’t our children taught this stuff in their history lessons at school? Why are we still so obsessed with military history? People like Drake and Nelson for example did fine things to support the Crown, (and in Nelson’s case the emerging Empire), in their day, but Alan Cobham, (later Sir Alan Cobham), did far, far more for the British people in his quest to promote and expand aviation in a way that the public could use and appreciate. I doubt few people know this today when boarding a wide-bodied airliner to go to far flung places. If anybody should get the credit for this from a British point of view, the name Alan Cobham should be the one they know.
Why? Because Mr Cobham almost alone, had the vision, the supreme vision, that air travel was primarily for the ‘common’ people and not just the rich elite and that they would be the ones to eventually travel far and wide across the globe. What’s more he did something about it, creating a revolution in just twenty years in which the seeds were set. If we were a Catholic country surely he’d be sainted?
BRITISH AIRCRAFT REGISTRATIONS
In 1928 (?) the decision to change the British aircraft register format from ‘G-E’ to ‘G-A’ was taken, (the same register is used today but with a much more flexible regime), and the very first registration, G-AAAA went to a DH.60 Moth based here - for a while at least.
THE LADIES ARRIVE ON THE SCENE
STAG LANE is also associated with a handful of quite remarkable women pilots, who during the 20s and 30s were members of the London Aero Club. For example, Sophie Catherine Theresa Mary Pierce-Evans, a self-made Irish lady, (orphaned as a girl), who became Lady Mary Heath. Lady Mary Bailey was another and the New Zealander Jean Batten yet another. The list goes on; Pauline Gower, Dorothy Spicer, Winifred Spooner and Joy Muntz. It really was the most extraordinary set of circumstances - with so many famous lady pilots gathered together. I suppose it is quite reasonable today to see how they must have inspired each other.
Perhaps oddly, when you look at the period, it appears that social standing - still so prevalent in those days - did not appear to exist within the civilian flying fraternity. (It certainly did in the RAF). And certainly not to excluding a solicitors secretary such as Amy Johnson from joining the Club. It really was a most egalitarian regime and, for the time, showed a quite remarkable degree of female emancipation. Please remember that, for example, if a secretary decided to marry, she had to give up her job to become a housewife. This sort of prejudice still applied to 'air hostesses' until the 1960s.
THE AMY JOHNSON LEGEND
For some unfathomable reason the single name that, generally speaking, survives today in popular terms is Amy Johnson. This is not to decry Amy Johnson’s considerable achievements, It is simply that these other women also achieved fame for being damned fine pilots and Amy herself never once claimed she was better than average. But of course the press and media don’t like the truth getting in the way of a good story. In fact her so called ‘humble origins’ in Hull turns out to be yet another myth as her parents were quite well off, her father being a successful fish merchant.
Some say that she first learnt to fly at HEDON (YORKSHIRE) near her home town of Hull but this is rubbish. Possibly this was just a joy ride? See COTTINGHAM. It appears she was not much impressed with the experience.
Others, (who I now think are probably correct, reckon she started to fly here). In what I would regard as the definitive biography of Amy Johnson, (Amy Johnson - Enigma in the Sky) by David Luff, he states she had her first flying lesson on the 15th September 1928 under the tutorlage of Captain F R Matthews in a Moth. It appears that he told her that she would be wasting her money if she continued - and unlikely to make a pilot. David Luff has discovered that she was issued with a flying helmet several sizes to large, and so could hardly hear the advice and instructions.
Even so she did persevere under Major Herbert Travers and eventually made her first solo on the 9th June after a check flight with Captain Matthews ironically enough. It appears she had clocked up fiften hours and forty-five minutes of instruction. This said, this tuition was spread over some ten months and this is not an ideal way of going about things. It should be noted that this account by David Luff does vary somewhat with the account by Mary Cadogan, some of which is quoted below and I now believe that David Luffs account is more accurate.
MORE INFO
Once again regarding women aviators of that period I think Mary Cadogan in her book Women with Wings has probably got the story correct? It seems well worth quoting a couple of paragraphs: “She had to wait some time for her first flying lesson at the London Aeroplane Club in Stag Lane, Hendon.” (My note, STAG LANE was not in Hendon, if anything it was in Burnt Oak). There was a long waiting list for these government-subsidised lessons which, at £1 10s an hour, Amy could just about afford from the £5 a week (no mean wage in 1928) earned in a solicitor’s office. Her first period of instruction from Captain F. R. Matthews in a DH.60 Cirrus II Moth (sic), was strictly disappointing, and he told her uncompromisingly that she was no good. The techniques that Lady Heath had once declared to be ‘ten times easier than riding a bicycle’ seemed to elude Amy.”
It now appears that Mary Cadogan had her facts somewhat confused. It now appears that dual instruction was £3 an hour, and solo flight was £1. 10s.
“Happily she achieved greater rapport with the Club’s chief flying instructor than with Matthews. He was Captain Valentine Henry Baker, MC, AFC (who was to be killed when test-piloting during the Second World War). Baker gave Amy five out of her ten initial lessons and, with a reputation for teaching the unteachable, he inspired her with confidence that helped her to acquire both her private and commercial pilot’s licenses.”
What Mary Cadogan says next, is I think very significant. “At that time, Lady Heath was the only British woman to have formally qualified as a ground engineer, but she had done so in the United States. Jack Humphreys, the chief engineer at Stag Lane, spotted Amy’s flair for mechanics and gave her a great deal of help and encouragement. Thus Amy achieved the distinction of becoming the first female ground engineer to qualify in Britain.”
GAINING HER LICENSES
It appears Amy gained her license, (some say made her first solo flight), in June 1929 and her engineering C license in November. Incredible then to realise that she set off for Australia, from CROYDON, on the 5th May 1930, less than a year later. Mary Cadogan goes on to make a very important point: “It is no wonder that she sometimes became irritated when, with this, her degree and her hard-won pilot’s and engineer’s licences behind her, people still used to refer to her as the typist who became an airwoman.” Despite this the cruel truth does appear to be, (and Amy herself admitted it), that she was never to become ‘a natural pilot’ or overcome her inability to fly solo on instruments or even make consistently satisfactory landings - according to some accounts.
It now seems that she did in fact learn to fly solely on instruments, but oddly, despite considerable experience, sometimes completely misjudged her landings. But, these 'bad landings' were generally when utterly exhausted during her record breaking flights. What has to be taken into account is that during the late 1930s she flew for both Hillman Airways, (as sole pilot in his DH Dragons - to Paris for example), and later for PSIOW (Portsmouth, Southsea & Isle of Wight) in Airspeed Envoys - probably also as sole pilot.
Ironically, it does seem to be proven that, Amy Johnson – despite all her experience – was probably the first female ATA pilot to die flying? Her last flight is shrouded in mystery today, but almost all the mystery can easily be discarded. She made a gross error in navigation which seems hard to explain? Was it just incompetence as would appear to be the case? Flying over an unbroken low overcast as Amy was that day requires considerable nerve, as I can testify having done so in France where it is legal to do so as a PPL. (But I did have a very good friend, a senior BA Captain, working the knobs and dials of the RNAV equipment). Even so, to end up over the Thames Estuary when the original destination was KIDLINGTON in OXFORDSHIRE clearly demonstrates that Amy had little if any idea about even basic IFR navigation techniques?
AN EXCUSE FOR A RANT?
All this needs to put into some sort of perspective. There have been countless examples of airline pilots leading a full career who could never be described as proper ‘stick and rudder’ pilots. Pilots who had little interest in the joy of actually flying an aeroplane, but who performed their duties up to a certain standard. I am told that today these are exactly the sort of pilots airlines are looking for. Pilots who are largely number crunchers and procedure followers. (Since making this comment I’m now told, in 2011, that the attitude is definitely changing and the “better” airlines are thinking again about having pilots with good “stick and rudder” capabilities.)
It was utterly obvious, (regarding the attitude to have pilots who were, in effect, systems managers), that taking such a stance was inviting a major accident to happen ‘by design’. But this is what invariably happens when accountants and ‘systems people’ are allowed to obtain senior management positions in a company which, by its very nature, has to be controlled by people with deep operational experience. It is without any question a total myth that the latest airliners fly themselves. There is absolutely no doubt that modern systems can make the work of the pilots much easier but, as often as not, when push does comes to shove, either these systems fail and/or become superfluous to requirements.Fortunately for us all today, such instances are very rare indeed.
It has been known for pilots confronted with horrendous circumstances on their six monthly checks in a flight simulator to deal very competently, but, only to be berated for not following company procedures. When asked to demonstrate how the situation is dealt with by following company procedures to the letter, the examiner, (often if not usually a Line Training Captain), then crashes!
The Air France Concorde crash in Paris is possibly a good example. Several British Airways Concorde pilots maintain it was utter folly to shut down an engine in this critical phase of the take-off; as by doing so the aircraft must crash! A jet engine can keep working for quite a long time even when on fire. Simply because most of the components are designed to operate normally at much higher temperatures than fuel on fire. As it turned out the engine was not on fire, it was fuel leaking from the punctured fuel tanks that caught light in the efflux from the engines on re-heat. Put simply, this crash need not have happened, should not have happened and was, with little doubt if any, entirely avoidable if the crew had been properly trained. Indeed, many aspects of Air France Concorde operations seems to have been fundamentally complacent.
Incidentally, it now appears that in the later years of operation Concorde was unable to comply with even basic performance requirements for civil airliners. So a cosy arrangement was made for it to keep flying under military standards of airworthiness. I wonder how the rich and famous might have felt, sipping champagne at 40,000+ feet at Mach 2 or thereabouts, if they’d known this? Even so, perhaps a good illustration that an aircraft can be operated perfectly safely, as I believe that British Airways never had a serious safety related incident with Concorde?
Fortunately the airlines are very much still besieged by pilots with a love of flying, especially the case in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. And it is exactly these pilots who so often can - when push comes to shove - think outside ‘the box’ and save the situation. Many other countries of course have quite rightly and wisely decided that they should adopt these methods also. In case you now think I’ve lost my marbles by not including the USA the stark reality is that the majority of American airline pilots are not required to operate, or be trained to, similar standards to European, Australian and New Zealand aircrews for example. The fact that many can is probably much more likely due to their individual sense of professional pride and perhaps, in a few cases, company policy. END OF RANT
LADY MARY HEATH
The case of Lady Mary Heath is utterly fascinating and I can recommend Powder Puff Derby by Mike Walker for an introduction to her story and those of other singular female pilots of the between wars era. Unfortunately Mr Walker doesn’t know the first thing about aircraft or how they fly and continuously let’s himself down by not troubling to take advice on these matters. But, to be fair, he was chasing their life stories.
"Mary (then Mrs Elliot-Lynn) gained her A license in 1924. This was five years before Amy Johnson gained hers. ‘Mary’ then went on to get her B or commercial license, then to discover that the International Commission for Air Navigation forbade women from flying commercially! The question must be asked regarding the ethics of the London Aeroplane Club for taking her money for a useless qualification. When she passed the test it was it seems only a couple of years after the Commission had withdrawn its ban from any women getting even an A license for private flying. She set about fighting the authorities and eventually won.
By some kind of odd coincidence the other female pilot of distinction during this period, (they became both unlikely companions of a sort), whilst competing openly in public, was also of Irish descent, and she was to become Lady Mary Bailey who married the South African industrialist Sir Abe Bailey. They both competed for altitude records and air races. Lady Mary Heath was very extrovert in public whereas Lady Mary Bailey shunned publicity. Another claim to fame Lady Mary heath has, or so it appears, is that she was the first ‘British’ female pilot to perform a loop.
AN EXCUSE FOR ANOTHER RANT
She wasn’t British at all - she was Irish. Hailing from a country which was still, in some important respects, nigh on at a war footing with the United Kingdom! But of course we must always remember the illustrious tradition of the British establishment, supported by the press and media on the whole, for being – arguably - the most two-faced, morally corrupt, conniving and duplicitous bunch the world has ever seen? For example, when the New Zealander Edmund Hilary conquered Mount Everest with ‘Sherpa Tenzing Norgay’ in 1953 it was without any doubt a BRITISH victory. But, when the RAF set about a world speed record in 1946, some people kicked up because the second choice pilot, Bill Waterton, was Canadian – despite having served in the RAF with distinction in WW2.
It really is appalling prejudice. In WW2 a very large proportion of RAF aircrew came from ‘foreign’ and Commonwealth countries. The big ‘joke’ being of course that today, when looking at the ‘British’ team entering the Olympics for example, only a distinct minority are of ethnic Anglo-Saxon descent. Having lived in an inner London suburb most of my adult life I welcome and desire ethnic diversity, it enriches life no end. END OF SECOND RANT
OTHER EPIC FLIGHTS
The flight Lady Mary Heath made from Cape Town to the UK, departing on the 5th January 1928 was a epic affair. At Khartoum she met Lady Mary Bailey heading south. Lady Mary Heath appeared glamorous at the dinner to honour the two aviatrxies, insisting on flying everywhere in elegant costume, and having a full complement of dress for all occasions stowed within her aircraft, certainly for a long trip like this. Both these flights succeeded, Lady Mary Bailey then flying back to the UK. It really does seem odd to me that both these epic flights are now mostly forgotten.
This was after all only three years after Alan Cobham had demonstrated the viability of Empire air routes in these regions. It seems Lady Mary Heath landed first a LYMPNE (KENT) before flying on to CROYDON (SURREY) where a huge reception had been arranged and she performed a loop in her Avro Avian before landing. This said and by comparison, and as pointed out elsewhere, even the quite fantastic flights by Alan Cobham seem today to get little if any recognition. She later achieved a light aircraft altitude record, 23,000 feet – without oxygen – and other records. But, today, how many know of her?
A MOST UNUSUAL APPEARANCE
Perhaps the most unusual type of aeroplane to arrive at STAG LANE, and be based there for a while, was the Morane-Saulnier MS-137 (CH-184) owned by R.W.R. Trafford. He had flown it from Switzerland. See MICHAELCHURCH for more information.
THE TIGER MOTH
Some say the Tiger Moth is arguably the ultimate de Havilland classic type. It is equally arguable it isn’t, but, it was the most produced type. And, it appears, it was basically a botch job. To quote Stuart McKay again: “Stag Lane legend has it that a DH60T was incarcerated in an isolated shed where the centre section was repositioned forward of the front cockpit, and to compensate for the consequent shift in centre of gravity, all four wings were swept backwards by the simple expedient of cutting off the rear spar root ends with a handsaw. Later, when it was required that the CG should be moved even further rearward, the top wings only were re-set, in the interests of spar economy on the prototype it has been suggested.”
“The legend is born. Conversion of a DH60T into a DH60T Tiger Moth was accomplished in a Stag Lane shed with the aid of saws, drills and calculations on the backs of old envelopes. At least, that is the way popular myth would have us believe, although it may not be far from the truth. In September 1931, the first of two prototypes of the DH60T Tiger Moth, G-ABNJ, was tested at Martlesham Heath under the DH Class 2 markings E.5. The recommendation that increased dihedral on the lower wings would prevent the ailerons from touching the ground whilst taxying was incorporated into the second test aircraft G-ABPH, and at the same time the opportunity was taken to increase the sweep on the top mainplanes. DH considered that such changes constituted a major departure from the basic DH60 theme, and elected to issue a new Type number.”
“On October 26th 1931, G-ABRC/E6, the first aircraft built specifically as a Type DH82, was flown from Stag Lane by Hubert Broad, a historic event unrecorded in his log book.” This might well have been because he was distinctly unimpressed – the DH.82 and DH.82A Tiger Moth does not really fly very well – which made it an ideal trainer. And of course these atrributes continue to endear the type to those who love this quirk because, put quite simply, if you can fly a Tiger Moth accurately and with panache, you really are a very good pilot.
I have flown with pilots who have mastered the type and can affirm that aerobatics in a Tiger Moth really is something that needs to be done in life. A ‘must do’ before pushing up the daisies. And, there really is a sense that the type can only just perform most manoeuvres which makes the experience so much more exhilerating.
JEAN BATTEN
Another very famous female aviatrix who trained at STAG LANE was Jean Batten who gained both her private ‘A’ and commercial ‘B’ licenses, (presumably both at STAG LANE?), and she eventually went on to accomplish some truly astounding flights; such as from LYMPNE (KENT) to Darwin in Australia, (beating Amy Johnson’s record by over four days), and she became the first woman to complete the round trip. In 1935 she flew from England to Brazil, the first woman to do so and the next year she set another world absolute record to New Zealand taking eleven days and forty-five minutes. On the way back in 1937 she set another solo record for either sex from Australia to England taking five days, eighteen and a half hours.
As an individual Jean Batten was a very complex character exhibiting many traits that appear directly contradictory. For example she was extremely self-possessed and exploited every opportunity to grab money to advance her flying career and certainly sought popular adulation. On the other hand she had an unusually secretive private life with her mother – which even kept her father and brothers at arms length. Although I have yet to find time to read it, (my wish list of books to read will undoubtably exceed my remaining life span – and I have no short term plans to ‘pop-my-clogs’), Ian Mackersey’s biography Jean Batten: The Garbo of the Skies (1990) comes highly recommended.
PAULINE GOWER
For some reason STAG LANE attracted many of the greatest woman aviatrix in the late 1920s and 30s. Another example is Pauline Gower who came from a privileged background and did not need to ‘earn a living’. She went on to be commandant of the women ferry pilots in the ATA during WW2 and indeed, became a board member of the British Overseas Airways Corporation during WW2. When at STAG LANE Pauline Gower became great friends with Amy Johnson and Dorothy Spicer. The latter became the first woman to hold all four ground engineer’s licenses.
Although sexism still exists to some degree today it is surely very hard to appreciate just how entrenched it was in those days, and how, for any woman with any aspiration to enter this ‘man’s world’ had a personal equivalent of a climb up ‘Everest’ to confront. Even men who were otherwise clearly very intelligent in almost every respect clearly couldn’t their ‘head around the idea’ of women being involved in aviation. Perhaps, for just one example amongst many, vying to be the most ignorant, blinkered, unimaginative and totally unaware person on the planet - was Charles Grey, who founded The Aeroplane magazine in 1911 and remained editor until 1939. He had this this to say about the Civil Air Guard when it was formed in 1938. “The menace is the woman who thinks she ought to be flying a high-speed bomber, when she really has not the intelligence to scrub the floor of a hospital properly.”
So sad to learn, after such a brilliant career, he turned out to be an ignorant bigoted buffoon and today a laughing stock! He was also feted by the Nazi party in Germany and took much delight in giving accounts of how wonderful Germany was under the command of Herr Hitler. We should not criticize this appraisal too strongly today, as he was spot on in recognising just how exceptionally well they were doing in aviation.
THE CIVIL AIR GUARD
Perhaps this might be a good place to explain the Civil Air Guard and I think Mary Cadogan in her book Women with Wings gives as good an account as any I have come across: “In October 1938, when war in the fairly near future seemed a probability rather than a vague possibility, the Civil Air Guard (CAG) was formed. This scheme to encourage the training of new pilots, would would be desperately needed once hostilities began. Fifty-seven of Britain’s fifty-nine flying clubs participated; subsidised flights became available at half a crown (instead of something like £2), per hour. In less than a year after the beginning of the scheme 10,000 new pilots were in training, nearly 1000 of whom were women.”
This is astonishing. Go to any GA airfield today in the 21st century and I can pretty much guarantee that 95%+ of pilots will be male. Women have certainly made inroads into commercial and to some limited extent military aviation, but the sheer joy of flying in private aviation seems to have largely by-passed their attention in recent years. Why? There are exceptions, the joint aircraft owner and CFI of my flying group is a woman, and we have another as a very enthusiastic and very capable pilot group member.
I find this an interesting subject having flown with women several times. Once in the air I can detect no difference regarding sex, (not that I recognise any particular difference anyway), so I find flying with a woman no different from flying with a man. We just get on with the job in hand as equal partners. Any difference in flying experience hardly matters, having equal respect for each other is far, far more important. This is exactly how less experienced pilots learn self-respect - being given the responsibility of coping. As is the case of course in every other facet of human endeavour?
MORE ABOUT THE TIGER MOTH
On the 26th October 1931 the first flight of the DH.82 Tiger Moth took place. Designed specifically to an Air Ministry basic trainer specification. It was a pretty simple redesign of the DH.60 Moth with the engine turned upside down and the top wing being swept forward to allow instructors easier access/egress wearing parachutes. Less than a year after it first flew the RAF adopted it as their basic trainer, entering service in 1932. The same year the first DH.83 Fox Moth flew on the 29th January. But the Tiger Moth was far from perfect, especially when spinning. It took a while to figure this out and spin strakes were added, resulting in the ubiquitous DH.89A we still know today. Oddly enough the DHC.1 Chipmunk suffered similar development problems needing spin strakes to be added.
A PERSONAL MEMORY
I took a flight from DUXFORD in June 1985 with Mike Russell who operated the Russavia Collection, (a Dragon Rapide and Tiger Moth), and he had restored the Tiger Moth, G-MOTH, to closely resemble K2567 the first Tiger Moth to enter RAF service in November 1931. Mike was clearly a very capable pilot, in fact flying commercially for Britannia Airways at that time, and he obviously relished showing off his treasured Tiger - a most memorable flight that I will never forget. I took a second flight in K2567 only this time Mike wasn't available. I still looked foward to the flight as it was being flown by a professional test pilot - and was really quite surprised to find that compared to Mike, he completely lacked any flair for the type, and it was really a rather dull affair.
As an aside, it might well seem incredible today but it was commonplace in those days for aircraft to enter service, including airliners, within a month or so of first flying - or even less! Indeed the first flight of the DH.84 Dragon took place on the 24th November 1932, (some say the 12th ), destined for Hillman Airways at MAYLANDS in ESSEX and, (it is said mind), delivered a week later!
FLYING CIRCUS VENUES
Venue, 30th April to 1st May 1932, for Alan Cobham’s National Aviation Day UK Display Tour.
Revisited on 5-7th August 1933 by his No.1 Tour.
Venue (15th April) for the 1934 Sky Devils Air Circus Tour of the UK
CLOSURE
After STAG LANE aerodrome was closed in July 1934, largely due to the massive expansion of housing estates, the factory was used by the DH Engine Company and this factory continued operating here until….? The London Aero Club had moved across to HATFIELD (HERTFORDSHIRE) in September 1933.
Tony Kerrison
This comment was written on: 2017-11-04 19:36:03The DH Engine factory was certainly still in operation in 1962, because my brother, an RAF Technical Cadet at RAF Henlow (yes, folks, Hen LOW, Beds) went there on his first period in industry. His course required Tech Cadets to undertake two stints in the Aircraft industry, & he spent 6 weeks at home near Burnt Oak whilst learning about engine-building.
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Tony, Many thanks, I shall keep this info posted. Best regards, Dick
colin
This comment was written on: 2018-04-07 00:58:47Fascinating! I am trying to record my mother's experiences as she nears 90; she worked at DH Stag lane in the 40's as an industrial photographer, including the Ghost engine. I am searching for her old photos currently.
Lindsey Joyce
This comment was written on: 2019-01-08 15:15:18Hi. I remember the Stag Lane factory well. As children, we were taken by buses from the factory to the London Palladium for the annual pantomime trip. Then it was back to the factory for a party. My late Father closed the old factory down following its merger with Rolls Royce. Our family subsequently moved to Bristol in July 1969.
Michael Holder
This comment was written on: 2020-05-17 12:44:28Dick, there are some 1931 aerial photos of Stag Lane - EPW035011 ENGLAND (1931). Stag Lane Aerodrome and surrounding residential development, Queensbury, from the south-east, 1931 - on Britain from Above. Also pictures of aircraft - EPW017872 ENGLAND (1927). Queensbury, DH60 Moth G-EBOH undergoing flight trials at the De Havilland Stag Lane Aerodrome, 1927.plus EPW030058 ENGLAND (1929). Little Stanmore, Sir Alan Cobham finishes his 21 weeks' flying tour of Britain at Stag Lane Aerodrome, 1929. Many photos.
Roger Dale
This comment was written on: 2021-02-16 10:59:22Born 1938 lived on the aerodrome estate,achieve PPL 1977, would like to see aerial photos of the early days of DH Staglane and erea, Please advise. thank you.
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