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Flying for All Not everyone wanted to break records, or race other pilots. Some just wanted to "sell the air" to the wider British public. |
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Joy-riding
After WWI, there were huge numbers of surplus aeroplanes, and enormous numbers of surplus pilots, who simply wanted to carry on flying - or perhaps couldn't think of any other way to make a living - and some of them went on to set up 'joy-riding' firms. These companies, (none of which, I suspect, ever made much money) gave thousands of people their first taste of flight, significantly changing the public attitude towards flying.
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Imperial Airways
The forerunner of British Airways came about in 1924, and they ploughed their stately (but, generally, fairly safe) furrow until the outbreak of WWII. Their pilots were amongst the best in the world.
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Aerial Tours
The 1930 Heston Spring Flying Cruise to Germany, and the Rallye Aerien at the Chateau d'Ardenne on May 17-18, provide a fascinating snapshot of the sort of thing that rich and/or air-minded Brits did in 1930.
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Cobham's Air Circus 1932-35
Stories from the most famous and successful air circus in the UK, including a complete list of the 'National Aviation Day' and the 'British Hospitals Air Pageant' displays in the UK and South Africa for 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1935.
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More Circuses!
There were other, less well-known, aerial circuses, which tried to "sell the air to their countrymen"; in particular, the British Hospitals Air Pageant, and those set up by pioneering aviators C D Barnard and CWA Scott
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