Yeading Lane
YEADING LANE: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: British Hospitals Air Pageant
Location: Without too much doubt, just E of Yeading Lane on a field just N Warren Park. This being just N of the Uxbridge Road, (then the A40), and roughly 1nm N of Hayes town centre
Period of operation: 8th & 9th April 1933
NOTES: I had this venue listed, under HAYES FLYING SITES, for a long time, with only the most basic of information. In September 2022, Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', took it upon himself to investigate further - and as the gallery below amply illustrates - he came up with a great deal of information. None of which describes the exact location. However, having spent hours looking at maps and period photographs, he is fairly certain that the field just north of the Warren Park location is the most likely, and I agree. It turned out to be so bumpy that some of the promised aircraft could not land, including the airliner which was most probably the Handley Page HP W.8B, G-EBBI.
All the notes in the gallery are mine, so you know who to bIame if any mistakes are made. If anybody can kindly offer more advice, this will be much appreciated.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Note: The newspaper article was published in the West Middlesex Gazette on the 25th March 1933. In the event, the venue was far from suitable to host some of the attractions promised. This is certainly of interest in as much as all such venues had to be licensed by the Ministry of Aviation, although by that time, the more reputable operaters could be self-licensed. Presumably Messrs Barker and McEwen King, who organised the British Hospitals Air Pageant tour that year, were considered to be proficient? But clearly they had failed to make even basic checks to ascertain the suitability of this venue.
The picture of Miss Evelyn Laye, then a famous actress, was published in the Leeds Mercury on the 10th April 1933. She had been invited as the major celebrity for the occasion and also went for a short flight with C W A Scott, the leader of the tour. He was then famous for breaking the England to Australia record in 1931, the Australia to England record in 1932, and again in that year, setting another England to Australia record. However, the year after this tour, in 1934, along with Tom Campbell Black, they won the MacRobertson England to Australia Air Race flying the de Havilland DH88 Comet G-ACSS, Grosvenor House, making them both world famous.
The newspaper article was published in the Uxbridge and West Drayton Gazette on the 7th April. It states that this was the first British Hospitals Air Pageant display, but without too much doubt it wasn't - that being held at Luton on the 1st & 2nd April. It was also claimed that 200 venues would be visited that year, but, it now appears, they actually visited 150 venues, ending at WOOLWICH, south east London on the 8th October.
The article in two parts was published in The Times on the 10th April 1933. The picture was published in the Daily Mirror, also on the 10th April.
The newspaper article was published in the Uxbridge and West Drayton Gazette on the 14th April 1933.
A LUXURY AIR TOURS INVOLVEMENT
I cannot provide an exlpanation but the newspaper articles above tend to imply that both the Miles M1 Satyr piloted by Flt Lt John Pugh AFC and the Fairey Fox piloted by The Hon. Mrs Victor Bruce, were owned by them. They weren't as such, both being registered to Luxury Air Tours, with an office address at 56 Fleet Street, London WC2, but based at HANWORTH AIR PARK. We do not know if either of them had a financial interest in the company.
However, both of these aircraft are of great interest. The Miles M1 Satyr G-ABVG was the only one of its kind. Actually built by Parnall at YATE near Bristol. It was registered to Luxury Air Tours from 24.04.33 to September 1936 when it was written off. This might also explain, in the photo above, why it does not bear any registration markings! Note the fencing - typical of those erected around temporary flying venues to prevent non-paying visitors from getting a good view of the proceedings at ground level.
The Fairey Fox 1, G-ACAS, was the only example on the British Civil register, and it really was a 'hot ship', easily much faster although being a 'light bomber' than the fighters of the day in the 1920s. This was registered to Luxury Air Tours from 24.11.32 to 14.07.33, when it caught fire in the air and destroyed landing at Littlehampton. Mrs Victor Bruce was quite a character, well worth looking up, but her main claim to fame was flying around the world, albiet shipping her aircraft across the Pacific and the Atlantic by sea.
Despite it being very fast, it appears only 28 were ordered by the RAF, serving with 12 Squadron. It was also sold to the air forces in Belgium, Peru and Switzerland. Yet another example of a type that, despite 'ticking all the boxes' failed to make significant sales. As the newspaper reports tell us, she flew G-ACAS across from HANWORTH to display, but declined to attempt landing here.
AND FINALLY
The unusual 'mirror' picture of Miss Pauline Gower was published in The Tatler on the 26th April 1933. Another female aviator whose history is well worth looking into. The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
It must be mentioned, as elsewhere in this 'Guide', that this tour arranged by Messrs Barker and McEwen, ostensibly to raise funds for hospitals, resulted in something of a scandal, implying as we would call it today - a scam. After all their expenses for the tour had been deducted it appears that only paltry sums reached hospitals.
Today of course we have no idea about how to judge how fair this assessment is. Was it designed as a scam from the outset? Or, did it have honourable intentions, only to find that the commercial realities along the way made it untenable? Probably we will never know.
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