The history portal for Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, England
Friday 13th March 1964: A light aircraft recently departed from Shoreham Airport crashed into a tree and the front garden of a house, 77 Buckingham Road, Shoreham. Both occupants of the Tiger Moth aircraft died either at the scene or en route to nearby Southlands Hospital. The deceased were pilot, Colin Barrett (23) of Hove and passenger Harold Ginn (33) of Brighton.
This is the first of seven articles about the important part Shoreham plays in aviation history, written by local expert Andy Ramus.
Any aviation history of Shoreham should hardly ignore the first attempts at flight by ‘lighter than air’ machines, otherwise known as hot air balloons. Quite by accident, while researching the history of ‘heavier than air’ machines, I came across old news articles which told the story of intrepid Aeronauts from a much earlier era, beginning with a cross channel flight no less. After digging a little deeper, I found these fascinating stories which take our aviation history back another 60 years to 1850, with a certain George Burcher Gale, and various flights in between. The Swiss Gardens, where the Swiss Cottage pub now stands, were the starting point for these adventures, advertised as part of the entertainments bill provided by the hosts.
Continue reading “A Brief History of Aviation at Shoreham – in 7 parts”
While trawling the car boot sales last year, I stumbled upon an old book, ‘The History of British Aviation 1908-1914’, by R. Dallas Brett, 1933. As with so many of my car boot, book acquisitions, it took a while before I picked it up and had a decent nose through. When I did though, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many times our local airport was mentioned, and this inspired me to delve deeper in to Shoreham’s aviation history, beginning with its very own pioneer, H.H. Piffard. I hope any local history, or aviation enthusiasts will enjoy reading the results of my research. Here is the first part:-
Continue reading “A Brief History of Aviation at Shoreham – Part 1”In the summer of 1911 Piff was back in Shoreham, but this time he used a large shed on the shingle peninsula known as ‘Bungalow Town’, on the beach front, near Ferry road. Thanks to fellow local history enthusiasts, Howard Porter and Roger Bateman, the bungalow has been identified as ‘Palghar’, and the shed they used to house his hydroplane, was the old Lifeboat House.
Piff’s next designs were forerunners of the seaplane, but the challenge now was to be able to ‘unstick’ from the sea. Flight magazine of 22nd July 1911 reports:-
Returning to May 1911, the aviators based at Shoreham were keeping busy flying all across the south coast, testing their machines, honing their aviation skills, and entertaining the local populace. Of these aviators, judging by the news reports of the time, D.G. Gilmour and O.C. Morison were among the busiest of these young men. Going through the old newspaper archives, it seems barely a day goes by without one aviator or another taking up column inches in the publications around the country. Britain had aviation fever, and any news of these intrepid airmen was eagerly digested.
Continue reading “A Brief History of Aviation at Shoreham – part 3”
Hot on the heels of the Circuit of Europe air race, came the Circuit of Britain race, which had been announced by the sponsor, the Daily Mail, shortly after their famous £10,000, London to Manchester race between Claude Graham-White, and Louis Paulhan, a year earlier, during April, 1910. This epic encounter between the English and French airmen caught the imagination of the general public, virtually guaranteeing the success of any future great air race.
Continue reading “A Brief History of Aviation at Shoreham – part 4”Shoreham was becoming ever more popular with the flying fraternity, but the sisterhood were getting involved with this growing aviation lark, and on the 31st July, Horatio Barber took a young lady already gathering a reputation in the flying world, Miss Trehawke-Davies, on a flight from Hendon to Shoreham, in his own designed and built, ‘Valkyrie’ monoplane. The Belfast News-Letter, Saturday 5th August 1911 relays Barber’s story:-
Continue reading “A Brief History of Aviation at Shoreham – part 5”January 1912 at Shoreham Aerodrome saw flying schools getting established, as reported in Flight Magazine- 06-01-1912
Brighton-Shoreham Aerodrome
Last weekend has seen the successful completion of two machines, the Collyer-England tractor biplane and the Chanter monoplane. The first named made straight flights on Saturday and Monday, with Dowland in control, and was put through a fair amount of rolling by both England and Dowling. Mr M. Chanter took his new monoplane out on Monday, and was in the air with her shortly after leaving the shed. On Tuesday she was out again, under the pilotage of her owner, and gave still better results. Ross, Gattler, Kent, and Davies, were out on the Chanter school Bleriots.
This photograph was unidentified until recently. It is of a daring early aviator Louis Emile Train who designed his own aircraft and competed in a number of races. The story behind this photograph is amazing. It should have been taken at Shoreham airfield at the penultimate stage of the Calais to London Air Race of 1911.
Unfortunately after flying over the English Channel heading to Shoreham before taking the last leg to Hendon Louis was presented with a challenge – what did Shoreham look like? He knew the Adur was a landmark, with Downs all around – but he came across Newhaven first and when Louis failed to find the aerodrome he decided the best approach would be to ask a local for directions. He put down his aircraft in a sloping field to the north of Newhaven.
He executed a difficult landing on a sloping field without incident, until the aircraft came to a halt – at which point it rolled backwards down the field. Unequipped with brakes the aircraft ended up in the field fencing and the tailplane was irreparably damaged. Louis was forced out of the race and never got to Shoreham.
The photos of the hubbub that ensued once the locals learnt of the unofficial French invasion and landing can be seen here.
The location of the field at South Heighton is here.
There is a curiosity hidden deep in the plans and maps of Shoreham Airport… the previous existence of three WWII Pickett-Hamilton Defensive Forts. Are they still hidden under the grass and tarmac? Are they lost?
