Wymering
PORTSMOUTH: Temporary Landing Ground
Note: The two maps, Google Earth detail and newspaper article were kindly provided by Mr Michael T Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide'. I added the Google Earth © area view from my database.
NOTES: I think this is interesting. Portsmouth was the planned 84th venue in 1929 for Sir Alan Cobham's Municipal Aerodrome Campaign. Starting in May and ending in October one hundred and seven venues were intended to be visited. Mostly in England but with two in South Wales and eight in Scotland. Due to a couple of crashes and other setbacks, he eventually visited 96 venues, this being the 88th. Even so, getting to 96 venues was still a magnificent achievement.
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 Cobham set himself seems astonishing today. Also highly recommended are his memoirs in 'A Time To Fly'.
From the Hampshire Telegraph and Post, published on the 27th September 1929.
Typically on this Tour, Sir Alan Cobham would first take the local worthies for a flight, and after a slap-up lunch at the town hall or a grand hotel, would take selected schoolchildren for flights, the cost being met by Lord Wakefield of Castrol fame - who it appears preferred to remain anonymous. In fact, Lord Wakefield had offered to pay Cobham for 10,000 schoolchildren's flights during this Tour.
Without any doubt this Tour resulted in inspiring several aerodromes/regional airports being constructed, and it would seem that PORTSMOUTH AIRPORT was probably one of them?
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