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Air-route development in Africa was a result of Sir Alan Cobham's
1929 flight through and round Africa in a flying-boat. Lady Cobham
accompanied her husband throughout the journey. This work features
Sir Alan Cobham's account of his journey. First published in 1930,
it is illustrated with over 50 photographs from the trip, from the
family archive.
In 1911, Larkhill, near Durrington Down on Salisbury Plain, became
Britain's first military airfield. Along with similar flying
training bases constructed at nearby Upavon and Netheravon, it was
to occupy a cornerstone position in Wiltshire's early aviation
history. It was these establishments, in addition to those at
Gosport, Eastchurch, Farnborough and Montrose, that formed the only
Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service aerodromes in the
British Isles when war was declared in August 1914. During a
century of powered flight (1903-2003), some forty airfields and
landing grounds have provided a useful, indeed significant, service
within the county boundaries. Several are still in operation today
and one need look no further than Boscombe Down to find a site
which, though first occupied in 1917, is currently home to a
testing establishment (QinetiQ) which serves at the forefront of
the aerospace industry. In Wiltshire's Skies throws a wide net over
the locations, events and many colourful personalities which have
shaped the county's aeronautical heritage. It now joins the
author's previously published volumes on neighbouring counties,
Dorset and Hampshire, to complete a personal trilogy in the History
Press Images of Aviation series.
Flying in the years between the two world wars was the preserve of
the powerful and the wealthy, or so it was until Sir Alan Cobham's
'Flying Circus' began to tour Britain. A former pilot with the
Royal Flying Corps in the First World War, Alan Cobham continued to
fly, establishing air routes to the Empire countries. He also
involved himself in aerial photography and survey work, undertook
charter flights and pioneered the 'Air to Air' refuelling technique
still in use today. Yet it was his National Aviation Day displays
for which Sir Alan Cobham's name is best remembered. Affectionally
known as 'Cobham's Flying Circus', his team of up to fourteen
aircraft toured the United Kingdom, visiting hundreds of municipal
locations, allowing 'ordinary' people to have their first taste of
flying. So extensively did Cobham travel with his displays, and so
popular did they become, that after war broke out in 1939, some 75
per cent of Britain's young men volunteering for aircrew duties
claimed that their first experience of flying had been with 'the
Circus'. Sir Alan's name still lives on in the aviation world. The
creation of Flight Refuelling Limited in 1934 eventually led to the
formation of what is today a major international aerospace and
defence organisation-Cobham PLC.
Many books have been produced which detail the lives and thoughts
of famous individuals. A View from the Wings is unique, recalling a
wartime boyhood in which aircraft flying constantly overhead played
a large part. This experience led to a lifetime career in the
aviation industry both in the UK and overseas such as the US and
South Africa. Mixed with events of a more personal nature often
coated with whimsical humour, the author has evocatively captured
the rise and demise of Britain's aircraft industry in the post-war
period. In setting out to be non-technical, A View from the Wings
will appeal to those whose memories embrace the sound
barrier-breaking years and the leap of faith and technology that
saw Concorde defeat the Americans in the race to produce a
practical supersonic airliner. All too often political procurement
and technical failures have made for dramatic headlines and these
too are subjected to much critical comments. Think of the
critically acclaimed Empire of the Clouds (Faber and Faber, 2010),
but instead of a boyhood observer, the author was an active part of
the British aviation industry in its former prime and eventual
implosion.
Hampshire is a county unsurpassed in aviation history and
reputation. From the relocation of the Army balloon factory to
Aldershot at the end of the nineteenth century to the present day
development of the Farnborough F1 air-taxi, Hampshire has witnessed
many innovations in British aeronautical research. 'Colonel' Samuel
Franklin Cody made the first manned powered flight in Britain from
Farnborough; Geoffrey de Havilland, later to become one of the most
famous names in aviation, also made his first flight in Hampshire.
The county hosted the Schneider Trophy races in 1929 and 1931, and
is still home to the Society of British Aerospace Companies air
spectacular, held every two years. In Hampshire's Skies is a
resourceful and knowledgeable account of the county's aviation
record, complemented by over 200 photographs, many previously
unpublished.
Dorset, a county of outstanding natural beauty, can rightly lay
claim to another exceptional feature - its aeronautical heritage.
Some purists would say that such a claim owes much to the county
boundary changes that, in 1974, brought significant parts of
Hampshire into Dorset's fold. To a new generation however this
distinction borders on the academic and a look at the broader
course of history reveals that such changes always have and
presumably always will take place. There is no doubt that
Bournemouth and its immediate environs have contributed greatly to
the county's aviation history and the many previously unpublished
images of this major centre and of other locations throughout the
region within In Dorset's Skies provide a fascinating overview of
Dorset's aerial heritage.
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