Beckenham
BECKENHAM: Balloon launching site (Aka CROYDON ROAD RECREATION GROUND)
NOTE: This location is probably best known for two balloon ascents pioneering British Air Mail experiments.
The local view was obtained from Google Earth ©. The local area and area views are from my Google Earth © derived database.
Please note that not all the locations listed in this 'Guide' are pinned in the database.
Operated by: In 1902, The French aeronaut M. Auguste Eugine Gaudron whose main base for many years was ALEXANDRA PALACE in north London.
In 1905, possibly also by M. Gaudron?
Location: Just E of the A222 Croydon Road, SW of Beckenham town centre
Period of operation: It appears, 9th August 1902 and July 1905
NOTES: We have Mr Graham Frost, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for providing source information about this location.
So, dusting off my patented Sherlock Holmes detection kit, complete with spyglass and 12 inch metric converter, I set to work. It appears that on the 9th August 1902, M. Gaudron ascended, (almost certainly from here?), to conduct the first experiment in delivering air mail - well, after a fashion. Flying east over Kent and carrying three packets each containing 100 postcards. It is recorded that he dropped the first package on Leeds Castle, (east of Maidstone), the second on Lenham on the A20, and finally onto St Margarets Bay in Dover. Where perhaps he also landed nearby? Go any further east and there is a long stretch of sea.
Information concerning the second air mail experiment is sketchy. To date, (early 2025), it appears that an ascent was made in July 1905, durng the Beckenham Flower Show. This being in a navigable airship invented by Dr Barton. It was not until powered aeroplanes arrived on the scene, after 1909 in the U.K., that more reliable means of delivering air mail slowly began to emerge. In those days mainly as publicity stunts.
Another delivery of mail by air using a balloon was made in 1907. See the listing for CRYSTAL PALACE.
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