Bower Hinton Farm
BOWER HINTON FARM: Temporary Landing Ground
Note: These maps and pictures were kindly provided by Mr Michael T Holder
Location: Probably just SW of Bower Hinton village, SW of Martock
Period of operation: 13th April 1911
NOTES: It has to be remembered that the Daily Mail sponsored London to Manchester air race had taken place the previous year. The flight made by D G Gilmour in a Bristol Military Biplane, (mostly with Gordon England on board as both a pilot and engineer), from Salisbury Plain to, eventually Hinton St George in Somerset took two days.
For our benefit, Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide' has researched this flight, which involved several stops along the way. The straight line distance between the starting point and eventual destination is roughly 50 miles! And, this was not a sudden chance idea - arrangements has been made well in advance. For example Mike has found a reference from the British History web-site stating that: "The Martock flower show commitee in conjunction with the Countess de Belleroche raised money to build a hangar on Bower Hinton Farm for D.G. Gilmour, "The first airman to fly an aeroplane over this part of the country."
BACK TO THE START
It is not known exactly what Mr Graham Gilmour's original intentions were, but they appear to have been to fly from LARK HILL, in company with Mr Gordon England, to HINTON HOUSE in Hinton St George in SOMERSET, via EASTBURY PARK near Tarrant Gunville in DORSET, and here. Leaving LARK HILL on Salisbury Plain on a Bristol Military Biplane, (now known as a Boxkite), they got lost almost immediately and landed at FRYERN COURT in HAMPSHIRE near to Fordingbridge. Basically flying south rather than south-west.
But of course they had no compass, and, sitting out on the lower wing totally exposed, map reading was not an option either. No doubt they had studied maps beforehand, but as every student pilot since has soon learnt, once airborne it is a new and very different world that expands below.
A QUICK LEARNING CURVE
It appears that between the two of them they soon started to get the hang of things, and after an enforced overnight stop at HENSTRIDGE STATION, and routing via very obvious staging points, they made here on the second day by 07.00. It appears that despite the early hour, hundreds of local inhabitants were on the scene to inspect the machine. It needs to be remembered that in those days it is very likely that none of the people attending had ever seen an aeroplane, and quite likely not even a balloon, although they had been around for a hundred years or so before.
A DEMONSTRATION FLIGHT
It appears that in the afternoon, probably late in the afternoon when normally any winds tend to die down, Mr Gilmour gave the crowds a fifteen minute demonstration flight for which he was wildly cheered. At 1900 it seems he made yet another demonstration flight to an even larger crowd. It then seems that, foresaking Mr Gordon England, he elected to fly to Hinton St George with Mrs Millbank as a passenger.
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