Stroud Farm
STROUD FARM: Temporary Landing Ground, later temporary aerodrome
Note: These four items have been very kindly provided by Mr Michael T Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide'.
Operated by: Sir Alan Cobham during his 1929 Municipal Aerodrome Campaign
Sir Alan Cobham's 1932 National Aviation Day Display Tour
Location: Bray near Maidenhead, approx. 2nm SSE of Maidenhead town centre
Period of operation: Possibly both on the 28th and 29th September 1929? 21st April 1932
THE 1929 MUNICIPAL AERODROME CAMPAIGN
Starting in May and ending in October, Sir Alan Cobham embarked on a tour of mainland Britain to extol the benefits to towns of having a municipal aerodrome/regional airport. He had intended to visit 107 venues, mostly in England but with two in South Wales and eight in Scotland. In the end, due to a couple of crashes and other setbacks, he managed to visit 96 venues, this being his 90th venue. This being of course a quite magnificent achievement.
We do not know if he stayed here for one or two days? He had been at BROCKWORTH in GLOUCESTERSHIRE for two days, on the 26th and 27th of September, and departed for LOUTH in LINCOLNSHIRE for a visit on the 30th September. As a general rule for one-day events, (and most were one-day events), he would aim to arrive around 11.00 to be greeted by local dignitaries. He would then take them for a flight around the local area.
Sometimes a slap-up luncheon had been arranged during which Cobham had the opporturnity to make his case for a town having the many benefits of a municipal aerodrome at least, or possibly a regional airport. During the evening another gala dinner was invariably arranged to celebrate the town having such a very famous visitor. At that time Sir Alan Cobham was arguably the most famous pilot in the UK due to his exploits pioneering routes to South Africa and the Far East for Imperial Airways.
Following on from taking the local worthies for a flight, he would then take groups of selected schoolchildren for flights, the costs being met by a then anonymous donor. We now know this was Lord Wakefield of Castrol Oil fame, and he had offered to pay Cobham to take 10,000 schoolchildren for flights during his six month tour. After this Cobham would take fare paying passengers flying, usually until dusk. Presumably to help offset the costs of making this Tour.
The aircraft he mostly used was the ten-seater de Havilland DH61 Giant Moth, G-AAEV, named 'Youth of Britain'.
NOTES: Also listed under BRAY and MAIDENHEAD listings. It is important to remember that the 'Flying Circus' operators did not always use the same locations year after year. Indeed, it often seemed to depend on where they could get the best deal for hosting their venues.
It now seems that this site later became RAF BRAY in WW2.
Terry Clark
This comment was written on: 2018-10-14 16:00:32Could this be the airfield known as 'Bray Court' during wartime. I think it was a satellite used by White Waltham and Fairoaks.
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Terry, The answer is - I don't know. Suspect it might be? I wonder if anybody can advise? Best regards, Dick
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