Scotts Field
SCOTT’S FIELD: Civil airfield (Aka The Flying Ground, Billington Road and LEIGHTON BUZZARD)
Operated by: WW1 Morgan & Co Ltd
Location: Billington Road, Linslade, roughly1nm SE of Leighton Buzzard town centre
Period of operation: 1916 to 1919 and possibly intermittent use until WW2?
NOTES: Apparently used for test flying locally built aircraft built by Morgan & Co Ltd in WW1. It seems the company produced around five hundred aircraft.
Looked at today, the nearby Page's Park seems a likely site for flying, but of course the area has been highly developed since WW1.
THE FIRST VISIT BY A 'FLYING CIRCUS'?
It would appear probable that it was this site the the Berkshire Aviation Company used in June 1919. But, this cannot by any means be taken for granted as these operators are renowned for using alternative sites, even next door to established aerodromes, especially if they could get a better deal on price.
CAN ANYBODY HELP?
Without any doubt the history in and around this location seems to be rather complex to say the least. If anybody can kindly help sort this out, the advice will be much appreciated.
In early 2017 I was kindly contacted by Mr Rory Morrisey of the LBDAHS (Leighton Buzzard and District Archeaological and Historical Society) who added this information: "It was used (and perhaps owned by) the Morgan Company during the First World War. They built over 400 aircraft for the RFC/RAF at their works in Linslade, (then in Bucks), just to the west of Leighton Buzzard."
"They started with Sopwith 1½ Strutters A5950 - A6149, then Airco DH6 C6501 - C6700, then Avro 504K E2901 - E3050 and E6737 - E6786, and finally Vickers Vimy F3146 - F3185. (Further Vimys were cancelled). The designer of the Vimy lived just up the road in Wing so he could easily keep an eye on the construction."
He then adds that; "The Morgan firm was a long-established maker of the top of the range carriages and motor vehicle bodies." This was a common practice in WW1, to use such companies to manufacture aircraft, and indeed, it continued in WW2 with most major light vehicle manufacturers being dragooned into aircraft production, such as Austin and Morris etc.
"When Morgan finished each aircraft or small batch, they would be trundled through Leighton Buzzard High Street at dead of night to Scott's Field. In the case of the Vimy it was too big to negotiate the streets so it had to go wingless to Scott's Field and be assembled there. It is thought that RFC pilots would travel to Leighton Buzzard and lodge overnight in a nearby dormitory so as to be ready to fly the planes on delivery early the next morning."
LATER USE
"As you say, we believe that Scott's Field was used for several years after the end of WW1 and was the venue for one or more airshows in the 1920s and maybe even the 1930s." As said so often elsewhere in this 'Guide', and considering that it really is recent history, it is not astonishing that even the LBDAHS, dedicated to local history, do not have chapter and verse on exactly went on here.
Later Rory Morrisey contacted me to say that it was reported in the Northampton Mercury on the 10th October 1919 that a Vickers Vimy, parked on the "Messrs. Morgan & Co.'s aerodrome at Leighton Buzzard, was destroyed by fire. As mentioned above the Vimy was the last type to be constructed by Morgan & Co; but it is entirely possible that this Vimy was a 'War surplus' example, possibly awaiting a buyer.
A FLYING CIRCUS VISIT
Note: This picture was kindly provided by Mr Michael T Holder. The aircraft is the Handley Page W.10 'City of Pretoria', G-EBMR, and was hired in from Imperial Airways, whose main base was CROYDON.
Mr Morrisey also later confirmed that the Alan Cobham 1932 National Air Day UK Tour visited on the 25th April 1932, the venue being billed as; "The Flying Ground, Billington Road."
Incredibly Mr Morrisey tells me that a copy of a film of the event taken by the local photographer and film maker Arthur J Anderson has just resurfaced, being gifted to the LBDAHS. "There is only a couple of minutes , but the film shows various fast, low flypasts, some aerobatics, and the big formation led by the AS.4 Ferry. Details I can see from registration marks are: Avro 504K G-EBIZ, Cierva C.19 G-ABGB, Southern Martlet G-ABBN."
The Airspeed AS.4 Ferry 'airliner'was a STOL design commissioned by Alan Cobham specifically for his UK tours, which often performed from fields of marginal size. I suspect that it not often realised today that, during the late 1920s and 1930s, these fields used by the 'Flying Circus' operators, (of which there were several), and even if only used once for one day events, had to be licensed 'aerodromes'.
Indeed, in the early days of this era, a couple of men from the Ministry arrived in advance to survey each site and approve its use. It is reported that one of the 'tests' involved driving their car across and around the field to assess its suitability, which presumably led to some interesting results - as many of the light aircraft of that period were far more capable of handling fairly rough fields than a car! But the task was performed thoroughly and quite often operational restrictions imposed, such as landing runs only approved for certain types etc.
Later on, the better operators were allowed to be 'self-licensing' as confidence was gained regarding their proficiency to assess the suitability of their chosen sites. I can thoroughly recommend reading Those Fabulous Flying Years by Colin Cruddas if you would like to know more.
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