Aerial Tour in 1930

The Heston Spring 1930 Flying Cruise to Germany

Edith Chalmers, Adelaide Cleaver, Sir Sefton Brancker, Rosalind Norman and Connie Leathart before the start

[Sir Sefton Brancker, the Controller of Civil Aviation, was killed in the R101 crash a few months later].

"The tour, which started from Heston on Thursday morning, April 17, merits quite a large amount of thanks from the British Aircraft industry because probably there is nothing which could have been done at the present time which will so successfully bring before all those interested on the continent, the fact that our aircraft are eminently suitable for journeys of comparatively long range.

The entire party had lunch on board the Graf Zeppelin at Friedrichshafen, and were shown over the Dornier Do. X. The visit to the Wasserkuppe Gliding School had to be cut out owing to the weather."

"the Easter party from Heston... was received with the utmost cordiality and friendliness during the recent tour of Europe. Whatever may apply to the general public, the aviation folk of the different countries entertain nothing but the greatest goodwill towards each other, and that is why we welcome sincerely and enthusiastically such visits as that of the Graf Zeppelin [it appeared over Wembley Stadium, to less-than-universal acclaim], and such tours as that of the Heston party. The more we have of that sort of intercourse with each other, the less likelihood is there of any traces of unfriendly feelings remaining."

l to r: Rosalind, Harald, ?, Nora, Adelaide, John, Sefton, Ivor, Valentine, Geoffrey, Edith, ?, Harry, ?, Philip, ?, Archibald, Walter, Connie (click to enlarge)

Aeroplane		Pilot		Passenger
G-AALX	DH.60M Moth		Jack Cantrill		R. A. Williams (Mechanic)
G-EBYK	DH.60G Gipsy Moth Hubert Broad flew it in the King's Cup, 1928  This aircraft belonged to Violet Baring (so I hope Valentine asked before he borrowed it). It (and Violet, and Philip Noble) crashed at Arborfield on 18 Jul 31		Valentine Baker
G-AAKE	DH.60G Gipsy Moth		Lord Malcolm Douglas Hamilton
G-AACO	DH.60G Gipsy Moth First Reg Nov 1928 Crashed nr Malton 24.6.34		John Chalmers		Edith Chalmers
G-AAVY	DH.60G Gipsy Moth		Adelaide Cleaver		D. Cameron
G-AAVS	Klemm L26 aII		Roderick Denman		Dr. E.W. Reid
G-AAHI	DH.60G Gipsy Moth First Reg May 1929. Canc 8.1.47 pts used on G-AAWO restored 9.6.93		Nigel Norman		Rosalind Norman
G-AALV	DH.60G Gipsy Moth		Archibald Downes-Shaw
G-AASA	DH.60M Moth This is the aircraft that Oscar Garden flew to Australia in October/November 1930.		Harry Selfridge
G-AAHU	DH.60G Gipsy Moth		John Shand		Susan Slade
G-AAAA	DH.60G Gipsy Moth, registered Jul 1928. Impressed 6.2.40 Used as decoy.		Ivor McClure
G-AATK	Desoutter I First Reg Jan 1930 to National Flying Services, Hanworth. Impressed 31.8.41 Scrapped East Cowes 6.42		Alan Muntz		Mrs. Mary Muntz
G-AAUU	Blackburn L.1C Bluebird IV First Reg May 1930. Sold abroad 6.35		Harald Peake		Richard Atcherley
G-AABI	DH.60G Gipsy Moth		Geoffrey Ambler
G-AALF	DH.60M Moth		John Turner
G-AAAL	DH.60G Gipsy Moth First Reg Aug 1928 to Winifred Spooner. Crashed on takeoff Lea 21.8.39		John Bryans
G-EBOI	DH.60 Moth		Philip Wills
G-AASY	DH.60G Gipsy Moth		Robert Perkins
G-EBRT	DH.60X Moth. 'Peridot I' First Reg 31.5.27 to ACM Jackaman. Crashed into and remained in tree at Canute Air Park, Ashingdon, Essex 20.6.36. Regn cld 9.36.		Walter Macpherson		Miss Macpherson
G-EBWT	DH.60X Moth First Reg. Mar 1928 to Alan Muntz. Crashed Nazeing, Essex 24.3.34; passenger Norman Bartholemew killed.		Walter Runciman		Connie Leathart
G-AAIB	D.H.60G Gipsy Moth		Nora Trevelyan
G-EBRO	Westland Widgeon III First Reg Mar 1927. Wfu 23.3.38 scrapped		Ralph Cochrane

 The 1930 Ralleye Aerien

Susan Slade and Adelaide Cleaver, amongst the crowd. Gordon Selfridge was there, of course...

"On Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18, the Chateau d'Ardennes, near Dinant, was the scene of a very successful 'Aerial week-end,' which was organised by the Brussels Aero Club.

The aerodrome, which is rather under a mile from the chateau in an E.S.E. direction, is somewhat tricky, and even some of the  well-experienced visiting pilots were glad of the cordon of helpers who were drawn up ready to help them on landing, and prevent them running into the far hedges.

The party of about 20 machines, of which a large percentage was from England, gathered at Brussels on Saturday morning, where they were entertained to lunch by the Aero Club, after which they left for the Chateau. In the evening there was dinner, with a dance afterwards. The following morning was spent in seeing the Chateau and its beautiful grounds, and after lunch the visitors departed.

Among those who attended from this country were Lady Bailey, Mrs. Cleaver, Miss Slade, Miss Spooner, and Messrs. Norman, Muntz, McClure, Wills, and Cubitt.

Quite a wide range of machines was to be seen from a Belgian Handley-Page, down through St. Huberts, Moths, Avians and Bluebirds, to an old Caudron, of about the year 1914."

Nigel Norman's Moth, G-AAHI, on the left

The Aviators

 Geoffrey Hill Ambler CB CBE AFC LLD DL

b 23 Jun 1904, a 'worsted spinner' from Yorkshire

Inventor of the Ambler Superdraft System of Spinning, which (you'll have to trust me on this) accelerated production of worsted yarn, and a serious oarsman in his youth: Henley Royal Regatta crew member (Shrewsbury School) in 1922, and then in the 'B' crew for Cambridge (Clare College).

Geoffrey is 4th from left, shown here during practice for the 1922 University Boat Race

but he didn't quite make the final team in 1922 or 1923, briefly had to stand down in March 1924 as he "showed signs of developing a boil", but came back and helped Cambridge win a surprise victory in the 1924 Race. Oxford "completely went to pieces and were beaten very badly indeed".

He was then elected Hon. Sec. of the Cambridge University Boat Club, and rowed in two more Cambridge victories: the 1925 race (when Oxford capsized), and 1926 (when Jumbo Edwards, in the Oxford boat, stopped rowing because 'he hadn't trained properly' - The Times reckoned he was a stone overweight), later becoming President of the Club. [In 1926, both Jumbo (HRA) and ECT Edwards were in the Oxford crew].

Joined the RAFVR in 1931 (608 North Riding(Bomber) Sqn); Sqn Ldr from 1934, until Geoffrey Shaw took over on 30 October 1938. Wing Commander from January 1940.

Married Phoebe Gaunt in June 1940; they had 3 daughters.

Air Commodore until 1943, when he became Deputy Senior Air Staff Officer at HQ Fighter Command.

Retired as Air Vice Marshall and rejoined Fred Ambler Ltd, eventually becoming Chairman. Joined Martin's Bank as regional director in 1951, then Grout & Co in 1959.

d. 26 Aug 1978

 F/O (later Flt-Lt) (Sir) Richard Llewellyn Roger Atcherley KBE, CB, AFC

  photo: 1929, aged 25

 Batchy', twin brother of David, b. 12 Jan 1904

1929 Schneider pilot and later Air Marshall in the RAF and Chief of Air Staff for the Pakistan Air Force. Put on a bit of weight later on, and ended up as Sales Director for Folland Aircraft.

Died 18 Apr 1970.

http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/AtcherleyR.htm

Hon. Lady Mary Bailey

1930, aged 40

  The Hon. Mary Westenra, b. 1 December 1890 in London but brought up mainly in County Monaghan, Ireland.

Her family's home was Rossmore Castle, which was a grand affair built in the 1820s, with turrets, a vast drawing room and servants' quarters, not to mention about 20 cottages on the estate:

 www.monaghan.ie/museum

Here she is, with her brother Willie, and parents (Mittie and Derry) on a set of steps by the house, in 1913:

 Throttle Full Open

I visited County Monaghan in 2014 and asked in the local museum if they knew where the house was. 'Oh yes' they said, 'but it was demolished forty years ago'. It seems that it became severely infested with dry rot in the 1940s, was abandoned and, indeed, demolished in 1975.

Anyway, here's all that's left of it now:

Mary married South African mining magnate and white suprematist politician Sir Abe Bailey in September 1911 (so, she was 21, he was nearly 47; his first wife had died in 1902 and he already had two children). They then had five more children - 2 boys and 3 girls.

She learnt to fly at the London Aeroplane Club in 1926. She was the first woman to fly across the Irish Sea 'by the long route' from Chester to Dublin, the following August.

The following March (1928) she began a solo tour to Cape Town, via Malta and then Cairo. Here, her plane was locked away by order of the Governor-General of the Sudan to prevent her from continuing alone, so she contacted Dick Bentley (who had flown to the Cape a few weeks before) to escort her in his own aeroplane over the "dangerous area of the southern Sudan". She then crashed in Tanganyika, writing off her aeroplane (she said it was her fault), but Abe made arrangements for a replacement Moth to be delivered from Pretoria and she continued, despite having 'flu. Abe was there to meet her when she arrived at the end of April. 

The return journey was made via the western 'French' route - the Belgian Congo, Angola and the French Congo. She finally arrived back at Croydon on 16 January, 1929, 10 months after she left. It was "undoubtedly one of the finest performances ever put up by a woman pilot." 

Lady Bailey was "so modest, so vague and so charming", and was "surprised that anyone should make a fuss about her journey". 

A Director of National Flying Services in 1929, (with Frederick Guest, Colonel the Master of Sempill, Alan Cobham, etc); she was also awarded the Brittania Trophy by the Royal Aero Club, and then made a Dame of the British Empire in 1930 for "services to aviation".

At the Chateau d'Ardennes in 1930

She was a guest at Amelia Earhart's reception at the Royal Aero Club in May 1932.

In early 1933 she gave everyone a scare by disappearing for several days on another solo flight to Cape Town; thankfully, she had only got lost, run low on fuel and landed safely in the Sahara. [Bert Hinkler, who disappeared at about the same time, was killed in the Alps]. She then flew back to England and almost immediately went down with a bout of typhoid, but recovered in time to compete in the King's Cup later in the year.

After that, she concentrated on looking after their horses, giving and attending loads more balls and receptions, and marrying off their many children.

When Abe died in 1940, she settled near Cape Town (still keeping a house in Rutland) and died there 29th August 1960 aged 69.

Lady Mary's aeroplanes were:

a 1926 DH.60 Moth (G-EBPU),

a 1927 DH.60X Moth (G-EBSF, the one she crashed in Tanganyika),

the replacement DH.60X Moth (G-EBTG, which Abe bought in Nairobi);

a 1928 DH.60G Gipsy Moth (G-AABN);

a 1929 DH.60G Gipsy Moth (G-AAEE) and

a 1930 DH.80A Puss Moth, G-AAYA.

Air Transport Auxiliary in WWII

 Capt Valentine Henry Baker MC AFC

  seen here with HRH the Prince of Wales, in 1931

 b. 1888

 In 1931, chief instructor at Heston Aerodrome.

"Baker founded the air school at Heston and it became the most famous flight school in the United Kingdom.

During his career as an instructor in England, Baker personally taught many notable pupils, including Edward, Prince of Wales, Lord Londonderry of the Air Ministry, Lord Lloyd, Amy Johnson,Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay.

In 1934, Baker left Heston to join his friend James Martin to found the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company, where Baker was the company's test pilot.

Killed 12 September 1942; "during a test flight of the Martin-Baker MB 3 prototype, the engine seized and he was forced into an emergency landing, during which the aircraft struck a tree stump and he was killed. Baker's death affected his partner deeply, so much so that pilot safety became Martin's primary focus and led to the reorganisation of the company to focus on ejection seats."

 Violet Baring

Royal Aero Club Certificate 8932 (17 Dec 1929)

  1929

 b. 1900

b. Violetta Mary Archer in Reading, "A niece of Lady George Dundas, of Newmarket, and also of the Marquess of Zetland."

Married Richard Baring in Jan 1921 but 'divorced him'.

Violet was killed in July 1931 when she and her 'old friend' Philip Noble (to whom she had just sold the aeroplane) crashed in G-EBYK while attempting a forced landing near Wokingham, Berks:

"The woman pilot, who was well-known in Society, and her passenger, a director of Lloyds Bank, who was also an enthusiastic flyer, were killed instantly; both receiving terrible injuries."

John Dennis Turner (q.v.), who said he was engaged to be married to Violet, identified the body and gave evidence at the inquest.

Her house at 23 Earl's Court Square, London, was for sale 'at a low price' by the following January.

 Mr John Reginald Bryans

b. 16 Jun 1906 in Kent, a Naval Officer

Royal Navy Sub-Lt in 1928, Lt in 1929, and a (not very successful) amateur tennis player.

Left the Navy and married Dame Anne Margaret Gilmour, daughter of Sir John Gilmour, in 1932.

A Director of British Continental Airways in 1936; they operated a service between Liverpool, Doncaster and Amsterdam, and from London to Stockholm.

Resigned from the board of British Airways, rejoined the Navy and was promoted to Lt-Cmdr(Emergency) in October 1937.

Later, Chairman and MD of Bryans of Mitcham, Surrey; in 1962 he wrote to The Times: "As an exporter, I humbly submit it is high time everyone stopped talking about a fair basis for British industry to export, and got down to some action".

From 1964, a Director of Seltronic Group.

d. Jul 1990 in London

 Mrs Edith May Chalmers

 Adelaide Franklin Cleaver

b. Adelaide Pollock in Northern Ireland in c.1885, the daughter of the Minister of Finance.

Adelaide (a.k.a. Mrs Hylton Spenser Cleaver) spent 3 months in 1929 flying to India and back, in her DH60G Gispy Moth G-AAEA. She was piloted by Captain Donald Drew, of Imperial Airways, and arrived back at Croydon on June 10th.

Here they are, lunching in the desert:

They had travelled as far as Egypt with Leonard Slatter, who was flying his newly-delivered Bluebird to Cape Town.

She didn't get her RAeC Certificate until June 1930, so I suspect he did most of the flying on that trip. However in Ocotber 1930 she made probably her greatest achievement  - her flight from New York to Hollywood in her Moth, which she took with her on a steamship.

In July 1933, she was responsible for a "well-organised Flying Display which was held at Aldergrove Aerodrome, Co. Antrim. Her avowed intention was to stimulate air-mindedness in Ulster, and from the number of spectators who went to see the Display there is little doubt that she succeeded. We gather that from every point of view it was a great success."

In 1934, Mary de Bunsen wrote that "Mrs Spencer Cleaver makes the usually fatiguing journey to Northern Ireland three or four times a year in her own aeroplane, and, fitted with extra tanks to save refuelling during the day, it has many times enabled her to breakfast in London, shop in Paris from 11 to 1, and return in plenty of time for dinner at her house in London."

She owned:

a 1929 DH.60G Gipsy Moth, G-AAEA, which she sold to Venetia Montagu;

a 1930 DH.60G Gipsy Moth G-AAVY, which she sold to Lady Howard de Walden;

a 1930 DH.80A Puss Moth, G-ABFV, and

a 1933 Percival D.2 Gull Four IID, G-ACIP.

d. 14 August 1939 at Cooden, Sussex 'after a long illness', aged 54.

  1927

 b. 26 Oct 1898, Bacton, Norwich

A Farmer, of 'Bacton Abbey', Norwich

In July 1931, the owners of the Norfolk and Norwich Aero Club decided that they would like to "repay a little of the hospitality they had had from the hands of other private owners of other clubs.

Some forty aircraft arrived from all parts of the country, and were welcomed by Messrs Gough, Surtees, Brett and Cubitt, bunches of tickets were shoved into their hands, and they were told to jolly well enjoy themselves... which they did!!

On the Sunday they went over to Pat Cubitt's place at Bacton on the coast, and were treated to a picnic lunch on the sand dunes.

d. 14 Dec 1955 leaving £48,748 5s 5d (having inherited about £62,000 in 1929)

b. 1894

A descendant of William the Conqueror, apparently.

With the cast of 'The Blue Squadron' in 1934 - l to r: John Stuart, RPG Denman, 'Doc' Salomon (Studio Manager) and Greta Hansen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Squadron_%281934_film%29

A Civil Servant (Board of Education) who then worked for Airwork - by 1936, a director of Heston Airport. He seems to have specialized in wireless equipment.

M.A. (Cantab); member of the Old Etonian Flying Club; he was also a member of 'the Listeners', who won a spelling bee against the BBC in 1938. He was one of the few people who made no mistakes!

Later a Lt-Col in the Royal Corps of Signals.

Killed in WWII; 20 November 1941 in Libya, aged 46.

   Flight, 1931

 b. 1909, the third of four brothers involved in aviation before, during and after WWII.

In 1932, Flight reported that "The amphibian service between the Clyde and Belfast was opened on August 13 when the new flying-boat Cloud of Iona made the first trip. The passengers included Lord and Lady Malcolm Douglas Hamilton."

He was granted a commission as a Flying Officer in June 1932, in 603 (City of Edinburgh) (Bomber) Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force.

Later a Wing Commander / Acting Group Captain during WWII who, with his second wife Natalie Winslow, founded the American Scottish Foundation after the war.

Died 1964 in a flying accident in Cameroon.

------------

Malcolm's younger brother David was killed in WWII when he crashed just short of RAF Benson to which he was returning from a mission in a Mosquito; his elder brother George married ATA pilot Audrey Sale-Barker (q.v.), and finally his eldest brother Douglas flew over Everest and later became an Air Commodore in the RAF - it was he who handed Rudolph Hess over to the authorities.

Here is Douglas, getting ready to go on Lady Houston's Everest expedition in 1933:

 from Bristol

b. 29 Dec 1884

Chairman of the Bristol and Wessex  Aeroplane Club, Ltd; later Sir Archibald.

Served in France, Salonika and North Russsia in WWI. Member of Bristol City Council from 1931; alderman in 1936.

d. 4 Sept 1961

[His father (also called Archibald), was an Anglican clergyman and missionary in East Africa between 1881 and 1888; in 1889 he transferred to Mauritius where he was appointed as "chaplain of Vacoas and Black River". In 1882 he had married Amy Havergal [hence Archibald Jnr's interesting second name], but Amy died in Mauritius in 1890 and Archibald Snr was invalided back to England, recovering enough to marry Alice Montagu in 1893 and have 3 more children.]

 Constance Ruth Leathart

  in 1927, aged 24

b. 7 December 1903 in Low Fell, County Durham; known as 'Connie'.

"Five foot three and of generous proportions" (Lettice Curtis);

[Check]

"a very experienced pre-war racing pilot and... looked like George Robey" (Mary du Bunsen).

[I'm not so sure this is fair... here's a picture of George Robey for comparison:

Hmmm...]

"One of the first 20 British women pilots to obtain the RAeC certificate"

[Amazing - as Connie got her certificate No. 8,085 in 1927, 14 years after the first woman pilot Hilda Hewlett - but true; she was only the 12th woman to get an RAeC certificate]

l to r Edith Chalmers, Adelaide Cleaver, Sir Sefton Brancker, Rosalind Norman and Connie before the start of the 1930 Heston Spring Flying Cruise to Germany

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, with Leslie Runciman (q.v.), she ran Cramlington Aircraft, a company which repaired damaged aeroplanes. She also designed and flew her own glider.

Leslie Runciman and Connie (centre)

She was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College, and then Ethelburgas School back in Newcastle. By 1939, her mother had moved to Ottery St Mary in Devon, but Connie was still in the north-east, at Morpeth in Northumberland.

In December 1939, aged 35, working in the map department at Bristol Airport, she applied to join the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). Her experience at the time was over 700 hours, making her one of the most experienced women pilots in the UK, so she started as soon as they could sort themselves out (Pauline Gower was only allowed to take on 8 women to begin with)... which turned out to be August 1940. She was 'W.13' - the 13th woman pilot taken on by the ATA.

Air Transport Auxiliary in WWII

---

The Times wrote "She continued flying until 1958 when, reluctantly, she finally disposed of the last of her aeroplanes.

Connie Leathart remained a reserved, private person who shunned any form of publicity. In a sense this was a pity as many of her feats went unremarked. In retirement she farmed in Northumberland, where she bred Kyloe cattle [actually, it seems that "she did not breed Kyloe cattle; she did once have a couple of them, but both were bullocks"] and raised sheep. An accomplished horsewoman throughout her life, she continued into her fifties to ride regularly to hounds with the Morpeth and Tynedale hunts. She never married."

A friend of hers tells me: "I knew her for the last 20 years of her life, she was my parents' employer and my grandparents' before them. An amazing and eccentric and very kind lady."

Died 4 November 1993 in Northumberland, aged 89

...

and John G D 'Jack' Armour (q.v.), who was her first flying instructor in the ATA, was her cousin(!)

Connie owned

 RAeC

the 1922 Sopwith Grasshopper (WO 2698, G-EAIN, the only one ever built, which she acquired in 1928),

a 1927 DH.60 Moth (G-EBRX, later PH-KLG),

a 1929 Westland Widgeon IIIa (WA1776, G-AAJF), and

a 1932 Comper Swift, G-ABUU.

b. 30 Jun 1901 in London

a solicitor

d. 1991

Educated at Eton and Harrow and Oxford and Cambridge. Joined the Royal Engineers as a motorcycle despach rider in 1914; Captain in the Intelligence Corps in WWI (DSO in Jan 1918); also a playwright and performer as part of the '5WA Radio Players'. His plays include 'GHQ at Kwang-Loo', 'The Fog in the Bog', 'Disclosure (a thriller, with O Wyndham)', and 'The Man who saw the Future (a comedy)'.

He and Sidney St Barbe, in a D.H. Moth, started a tour of 14 European countries in July 1927, and flew to France, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia, Austria and Hungary. However, as they tried to take off from Budapest on 6 August, "their machine went wrong" and they crashed, "breaking the wheels of the aeroplane" but escaping unhurt.

He invented, and then became the first Director of, the Aviation branch of the Autombile Association (hence his Moth's registration G-AAAA), a Member of the Aerodromes Advisory Board, and Deputy Chairman (with Nigel Norman) of the Civil Aviation Section of the London Chamber of Commerce.

CG Grey reckoned that he had "an innate love of law, order and decency".

b. 7 Jun 1899

Co-founded Airwork Ltd with Nigel Norman in 1928; this company was instrumental in opening Heston Aerodrome the following year.

Married 3 times; firstly to Mary [Harnett] with whom he had 3 children, then in 1934 to Lady Margaret Frances Anne Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1910–1966), daughter of the 7th Marquess of Londonderry and then, in 1948, Marjorie Mary Helena Strickland.

d. 7 Mar 1985

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Muntz

Mary Lee Harnett as was, Alan Muntz's first wife, with whom he had 3 children.

She married Sydney John Folley in 1947.