Tally Ho
Note: This map probably does not show the exact site, but is good enough I suppose for this 'Guide'. If anybody can kindly provide an exact location, this advice will be most welcome.
TALLY HO: Temporary flying site
Location: In/near Edgbaston
NOTES: The Birmingham Daily Post sponsored a race between Brentfield C Hucks and Gustav Hamel on the 30th August 1913 offering a trophy and £500 a side, an enormous sum in those days. The route was Edgbaston via Redditch, Coventry, Nuneaton, Tamworth, Walsall, Quinton and then back to Edgbaston. The original idea was for both men to fly a 80hp Blériot two-seat monoplane but Hamel turned up from HENDON with a Morane-Saulnier, a much faster machine.
As a pilot I’m a strong believer that if all else fails….cheat if you can, (it might save your life!), but I certainly wouldn’t go this far. Because the machines were unequal stakes were withdrawn and Hamel handicapped because he was taking his mechanic as a passenger. This is ‘Monty Python’ territory isn’t it? Even so, 30,000 people cheered them off. The Australian Sydney Pickles gave demonstration flights with a Blériot and Edwin Prosser flew his Caudron.
Hamel won the race, by 20.4 seconds. However, 'Benny' Hucks became even more famous as he was the first British pilot to perform a loop, on the 27th November 1913 at HENDON. He returned to the TALLY HO on the 14th February 1914 to demonstrate this manoeuvre having completed it 148 times since HENDON. It is said he “looped the loop” six times while back in Birmingham. But, not necessarily at the TALLY HO?
See the entry for BIRMINGHAM AIR RACE 1913 for much more information about this event.
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