Windsor flying sites
Note: This map only shows the position of Windsor town within the UK.
WINDSOR & ENVIRONS: Balloon launching sites
Period of operation: 1783 to 1850 or thereabouts?
NOTES: It is reported that King George III commanded a demonstration of a hydrogen balloon here in 1783. This seems at face value utterly astonishing as the gas had barely been identified by French scientists at that time let alone having time to develop a means of manufacturing it? In this same year the Montgolfier brothers working in France had made astonishing strides with hot air balloons and had succeeded in carrying the first man, (the physicist de Rozier), to ascend in a tethered balloon on the 15th October.
However and much more significantly, (a fact often mainly dismissed because a human being wasn’t carried aloft?), Jacques A C Charles launched a hydrogen balloon in France on the 27th August 1783 and on December the 1st that year he safely flew his own design of hydrogen balloon with a passenger some 27 miles (43kms). So just like the Wright brothers with powered flight, by fluke and happenstance history also gives the Montgolfier brothers the gong although others probably deserve to share the honours in part at least in the spirit of fairness.
OTHER EVENTS
In 1831, (the coronation of William IV), and in 1837, (when Queen Victoria was crowned), the ‘professional aeronauts" (or balloonists as we'd say today), Mr & Mrs Graham flew at WINDSOR. A few years later it seems, Guards officers based at the nearby barracks filled their balloons for flights from the nearby gas-works
In the 1860s the then renowned pair, the scientist James Glaisher and the aeronaut Henry Coxwell, had been conducting mostly high altitude ascents to take copious readings and observations. It is claimed that in many ways this work laid the foundation stones for what later became the 'science' of weather forecasting. It is reported that the pair made at least one ascent from WINDSOR GREAT PARK.
WINDSOR CASTLE: Temporary landing ground
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Note: We have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for providing these maps and pictures. We believe the first picture is free from copyright.
NOTES: On the 1st February 1911, on the invitation of King George V ‘Tommy’ Sopwith landed on the East Lawn at Windsor Castle. He had taken off from BROOKLANDS in a E.N.V. engined Howard-Wright biplane. Although now mounted on wheels, the distinctive layout of the airframe clearly shows it to be a development of the first Wright 'Flyer'. Indeed, this arrangement was still, in 1911, a design much favoured with the Short brothers designing similar versions and of course, Bristol with their 'Boxkite'.
We do not know (?) how Sopwith navigated from BROOKLANDS to WINDSOR CASTLE but a look at the map seems to indicate that, taking a northerly heading he would have soon seen the river Thames. All he had to do then is turn left, (to the west), and routeing via Chertsey, Staines and Wraysbury, when he reached Datchet the castle, and landing site, would have been in plain view. The straight-line distance is about twenty miles, and the river doesn't jink around much, (or meander if you prefer), over this section.
What we do also know, is that just before arriving at WINDSOR CASTLE, Sopwith had one of his radiators developing trouble through "frostbite" so landed on the Datchet golf course around 1.30pm. (See sixth picture). Flying in what might well have been near to or possibly sub-zero temperatures, is, even today in light aircraft, quite a hazardous enterprise, to say the least. Today we'd say that the radiator was icing up, and of course we must remember that engines in those days had to run at much lower temperatures. They didn' t have thermostats fitted and the cooling system wasn't pressurised.
WHY SOPWITH?
Clearly, as we might usually view his career today, as a major aircraft manufacturer during WW1, he was then in fact internationally famous for winning the Baron de Forest prize of £4000 for the longest flight from the U.K. to Europe on the 18th December 1910. Also flying an E.N.V. engined Howard-Wright biplane.
This was a fabulous sum in those days, (when an average worker earnt around £1 a week), and it appears he used the winnings to set up the Sopwith School of Flying at BROOKLANDS.
What never ceases to amaze me is how differences of opinion can vary so much, even over very important historical events when I would have thought there were no grounds for any doubt. This is a very good example. It seems that nobody disagrees that Sopwith departed from EASTCHURCH, on the Isle of Sheppey in KENT. But where did he land in Belgium? Was it as some claim Thirlemont, or Beaumont near Hainult?
Despite this, I reckon that the truly astonishing part of this story is that Sopwith was awarded his pilots Royal Aero Club certificate, No.31, on the 22nd November 1910. Barely a month he before attempted to win the Baron de Forest prize! But of course we really do need to remember that he didn't need to know very much about flying - next to nothing was then known. Having barely enough skill to fly a circuit or two of the aerodrome was pretty much all that was needed to gain your 'ticket'.
WINDSOR: On the 9th September 1911 Gustav Hamel arrived in Windsor having departed from HENDON on the first ever ‘official’ Air Mail flight. He then it appears, conducted a private flying display for King George V. What is not generally known though is that he then pioneered a regular air mail service between Windsor and Hendon conducting sixteen flights over ten days spread between the 10th and 28th of September. Or did he?
Others say several other pilots participated in a variety of machines and the service terminated on the 26th? But where did he, or they, land at Windsor? One account, (which I respect), says they landed near the Royal Mausoleum at FROGMORE where a temporary Post Office had been set up. FROGMORE is at the eastern end of Windsor High Street close to the start of ‘The Long Walk’
The flight time, (it is claimed), took just fifteen minutes in his Blériot, whilst other sources say he used a Farman type and yet others an ASL Valkyrie. A picture I have seen seems to support the latter type being used, but, if a variety of aircraft were used then who knows what type Hamel used - as it may well indeed have been more than one type.
WINDSOR: Temporary Landing Ground - but not used
This was the planned 86th venue for Alan Cobham’s 1929 Municipal Aerodrome Campaign. Starting in May and ending in October, one hundred and seven venues were intended to be visited. Mostly in England, two were in South Wales and eight in Scotland. Without any doubt this tour resulted in the inspiration for several aerodromes/regional airports being constructed. But not in Windsor.
Quite why Cobham and his team envisaged that an an aerodrome/regional airport close to the Royal residence of Windsor Castle remains a mystery? But of course, we need to remember that the Prince of Wales was a very keen pilot, and had his own airfield on SMITHS LAWN in Windsor Great Park. Even so, we might well doubt he would have welcomed a commercial concern cropping up nearby.
The aircraft Cobham mostly used for this Tour was the ten-seater de Havilland DH61 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV named 'Youth of Britain'. The punishing schedule he set himself seems astonishing today. Also highly recommended reading are his memoirs in 'A Time To Fly'.
Just why two destinations were chosen so close to each other appears a mystery. This was of course long before the concept of a major airport at HEATHROW existed. In the end, due to a couple of crashes and other setbacks, Cobham managed to visit 96 venues, Maidenhead being his 90th venue. This was of course still a magnificent acheivement
WINDSOR GREAT PARK see SMITH'S LAWN
WINDSOR MODEL AEROPLANE CLUB
NOTES: The Chief Designer at Hawkers from the 1930s until the 1960s (at least), Sir Sydney Camm, helped to found this club in 1912. Some of the clubs models were exhibited at a model show held in Olympia (LONDON) in 1913. As pointed out elsewhere, the existence of models was crucial in the development of virtually all forms of heavier-than-air aviation – and still is.
And, some models were as big as, if not bigger than some piloted aircraft. Indeed, in 1913 in was reported in Flight magazine that Sydney Camm had designed and built a glider model with a 30 foot wingspan. It appears that they built models that could take-off and land from the ground and other types that used water, such as a river or a lake. I wonder if any record still exists of the locations used by this club?
A PRESIDENTIAL VISIT
In April 2016 President Obama and his wife, flew in for a visit to Windsor Castle from the U.S. Ambassadors residence in Regent's Park, central London. (See seperate listing for that site, often used in recent years by U.S. Presidents). They landed at the north end of The Mile Walk. Film coverage can easily be found on the inter-web.
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