A-fn, .., w~:+:j T\t..,e wt., .. J to oif- ~u ~ f( '1 Js 0 '\ +~ ~ 5 ~ tld k i ~ . S .ie.'2] I;tke. of- ~.rt-o t'Jt . THE SOLENT SKY ~Jc PETER TfNEW PRINTED BY SOUTHAMPTON PRINTERS - 1976 CHAPTER 4 covered with the Union Jack, to the cemeter'j chapel . The band from the R?yal Garriso, SOUTHAMPTON'S MARINE AIRPORT Artillery, Portsmouth, played Chopin's FunerEI '. ,-..... AND HAMBlE March and the ceremony was attended by GALLANT CAREER ENDS-SOUTHAMPTON RAF detachments from Calshot and Felixstowe AIR OFFICER KILLED IN FLYING BOAT and included a survivor of the crash. Lt. CRASH c ~..;.: . Pakenham Walsh. The chaplain to the RAF, . .... -: ,.. ... Those were the headlines in April 1920. the Rev . G. H. Collier. officiated. and so ~-::: ' .... ~ : : ..~ ... which shocked the people of Southampton Squadron Leader Major Edwin Rowland Moon, when the death of Sqd .-Ldr. Moon was re­ DSO and bar. and Chevalier of the Legion of ported. What began as a routine training Honour. was buried with full military honours. flight from Felixstowe ended in disaster when At the beginning of April a development, a flying boat from No. 230 Squadron which that was looked upon with much interest, took at the time was carrying five officers and one place when Avro's and Supermarines, together airman. suddenly spu'n into the sea from a with the Beardmore Aero Engine Company and '" <­ height of 1700 ft. The flying boat was air­ Furness Withy Limited, discussed and imple­ borne for about one hour and members of the mented the beginning of an aviation enterprise crew. under the supervision of Major Moon. in the Bermudas. It was envisaged that from as he was affectionately known by Sotonians. the interest created by the giving of joy rides, had been practising landing on the sea . that a flying school would develop and even­ Sqd.-Ldr. Moon. who was now the Command­ tually, the more serious business of charter ing Officer at Fel ixstowe. then took over the flying and photographic survey work. There controls to demonstrate the aircraft's gliding were already two 504 L Avro seaplanes in the ability. A sudden bump was felt on the tail islands and these were joined by a 160 hp and the flying boat became unmanageable. Supermarine flying boat shipped from South­ ..... '.. Moon did all he could to control the machine's ampton via New York. and plans were in hand .. descent but insufficient height prevented a to send more aeroplanes if the venture suc­ full recovery. and even though the machine ceeded. This undertaking was short-lived, struck the water on a fa irly even keel, the but the type of Avro seaplane mentioned was force of the impact 'submerged the craft and inspected by a delegation of Japanese naval she instantly broke up on partially re -surfacing. officers at Hamble in May. Twelve months Four of the crew, including Moon, were later the outcome resulted in the sending to drowned and so tragically ended the life and Japan ten of these machines to train naval career of Southampton 's first pioneer aviator. pilots and the building of this type of aero­ His body was brought to his home at plane. under licence, by the Nakajima Aircraft Bassett and then taken on a gun carriage • Company, Tokyo. ..:. (,0 "':--'- 0~ . __'0..e-. .:.., >' C'o (,c '-~. 0'; ,.___ .:.. 0..e-. C' ( Supermarine Sea Eagle 35 ck', to the cemete:y the R?yal Garrison ed Chopin's Funeral , was attended by shot and Felixstowe of the crash, Lt. laplain to the RAF officiated, and s~ Nin Rowland' Moon, ier of the Legion of JII military honours. )ril a development, much interest. took ·ermarines, together ngine Company and ;cussed and imple­ aviation enterprise !nvisaged that from giving of joy rides, The Bris tol Figh ter ' the Bristol Tourer men tioned on the nex t page was a de velopmen t of this aircraft. develop and even­ lusiness of charter Also in May, two other visitors to South­ eleven months Civil Aviation had made 37,282 rvey work. There "mpton were the South Africans, Colonel Van flights, carrying 67,496 passengers and ro seaplanes in the Ryneveld and Major Brand, who returned to 102,777Ib. 01 freight with the loss of only ned by a 160' hp England to be knighted by King George V . one passenger killed and twelve who were pped from South­ Earlier in the year they left Brooklands for injured, ns were in hand S o ~'~" Africa in a Vickers Vimy called the As anticipated, the local aircraft firms were the venture suc. 'Si. ~ I ' Queen', but crashed on reaching Egypt. experiencing difficult times and every effort was short-lived, They continued their marathon in a RAF Vimy was made to sell their products, and the mentioned was which took them to Rhodesia. and eventually resulting publicity from aeroplane races and Japanese naval ended up by flying a borrowed DH 9 into Cape trials was most welcome. The Hamble-built Twelve months Town. It was the Colonel who, ten years Avro 'Baby' secured second place in the July in the sending to later, suggested the name 'Vildebeesf for the 1920 Air Derby, piloted by Capt. H. A . to train naval Vickers torpedo bomber which was test flown Hamersley, and the 350 hp R.R. Eagle engined type of aero­ from Southampton Water and Stokes Bay. amphibious aircraft (G-EAVE) from Super­ jima Aircrah Mi:;(j r Brand was to become Air Vice Marshal marine Aviation Works at Woolston, also came Si r Guintin Brand, the Air Officer Commanding second in the Air Ministry's seagoing and No. 10 Air Defence Group during the Battle mooring out trials on the east coast in of Britain, whose fighter stations included the October. The ' Eagle' was the only aircraft in Hampshire one at Middle Wallop. the competition to complete all the tests During 1920 the British Aircraft Con­ without requiring any replacement parts. A structors held an exhibition in London with the prize of £8000 was awarded. The winner object of impressing upon the public that of the trials was the Vickers Viking (G-EAUK). flying had now progressed beyond the experi ­ In the IW, S. E. Saunders were constructing me ntal stage and could now be accepted as a a 'monster' flying boat. the Vickers designed sa f e mode of transport. 'Aerial Motoring' 'Valentia N126', which was to carry a crew of Was mentioned and figures quoted of 30,000 eight. and J . Samuel White were building passengers being carried in . flight between 'Wasp' aero engines, 1 May and 1 November 1919 without accident. In July 1920, Lord John Sanger, Roya I Whilst spectacular flights were being made, Circus, Lymington, advertised in the Hamp­ such as Alcock and Brown's trans-Atlantic shire Advertiser and Southampton Times for aChievement. the purpose of the B.A.C. was an aviation ground within reasonable distance to get the British public air minded, and this of Southampton and suitable to land his aero­ Was helped by lecturers who toured the plane on Tuesday 27 July. country giving talks on aviation. At the start The Hampshire A dvertiser and Southampton of one of these tours, Major W. T . Blake gave Times in 1921 publ ished a series of excellent a talk at the Coliseum, Southampton, entitled aerial photographs showing many different 'Flying For Pleasure and Profit' and stated that views of Southampton taken by the Central during 1920 the US air mail service delivered Aerophoto Company. Later, Arthur W. Hobart, 100 million letters compared with the three­ of Kenley, Surrey, in 1923 and Surrey Flying c;..!a rters of a million delivered in the UK. Services of Croydon in 1926, a Iso had their 2 meeting was considered to be of import­ excellent work published in the same news­ ~:::: e and the Mayor took the chair. paper. The aeroplanes used for this work Figures issued in July 1920, by the Con­ were based at the Eastleigh or Hamble troller General showed that .during the last airfields. 36 The RAF were also busy in this field of before the meeting of his friends, N"r. work, and pilots from the School of Photo­ Pinckney and his pilot, T . l. Tebbitt, and graphy, Farnbor-ough, flew over Old Win­ passenger intended to fly to the Avro Aero. chester Hill and elsewhere in 1922 at 2500 ft plane Works at Hamble. They left Lymington, with their cameras busily clicking. This led flew over Southampton Water and tragicaHy to a number of archaelogical finds, and in the owner and pilot lost their lives when the 1924 an Avro biplane and later a better aircraft crashed at Hamble. The butler 0(1 equipped de Haviland DH 9, flown by Capt. Sydney Lodge and the coachman from Hamble Gaskell, photographed Teg Down, Farley Cliff witnessed the accident and Mr. C. C. Mount, and other sites in the Test Valley be­ Perrin from the Avro Works, together with a sides extensively covering the whole of nurse, rendered first aid. However, aviatio.l Wessex: thus continuing Major Eskdale's accidents did not always end in disaster and pioneering work with the British Army which many successful forced landings were accom· culminated in the photographing of Stone­ plished. '. henge from a war balloon in 1906 by Lt. P. H. The 1920's continued the 'barn storming' Sharpe. It is interesting to note that in 1927 era of exhibition flying, and a M iss Sylvia the Ordnance Office staff carried out a series Boyden, a parachutist from Woolston, narrowly of air photography experiments for map­ escaped injury on landing when giving a making near Eastbourne, and some ten years demonstration in Paris, later this method of map-making was con­ Details of Supermarine's new 'air battleship' tinued from Southampton Airport.