Melksham Probus Club held their monthly lunch meeting on Tuesday 7th May at the Kings Arms Hotel.
The after lunch speaker was Mr Peter Donovan, who gave a most interesting talk on London’s first airfield which was built on agricultural land at Hounslow Heath in Middlesex in 1911.
In those days, flying machines were a novelty and mainly owned by the rich and privileged. The public would visit Hounslow to witness these contraptions and marvel at the skill of the pilots. By 1912, monoplanes were introduced to replace some of the biplanes, but the landing strips were still grass and flying on Sundays was prohibited.
The outbreak of World War One in 1914 saw a rapid development of the aeroplane, with the introduction of bombers and fighters. The cockpits of these planes were still open and these aeroplanes brought a new dimension to warfare.
After World War One, Hounslow became a centre for goods flown in from overseas. From here, goods were flown to all parts of the British Isles and because of the speed of the operation, were causing major competition to the railways.
A passenger service flying to Paris was introduced in 1919, but because of the lack of navigational aids, the pilots had to rely on visual landmarks. By March 1920 air travel was expanding rapidly and due to lack of space, Hounslow was closed.
After this excellent talk there were many questions and a vote of thanks to Mr Donovan was given on behalf of the members by Keith Parker.
The afternoon ended with an extremely interesting visit to the Air Ambulance Headquarters organised by Probus member Geoff Grant. The members were very impressed with all the facilities and appreciative of the hard work and dedication of the staff.
Probus lunches are held on the first Tuesday of the month at the Kings Arms Hotel.
New members are always welcome. Please contact the secretary Kevin Hayes on 01225 360052.
