Chelson Meadow
CHELSON MEADOW: Temporary flying site
Location: Just E of the River Plym, roughly 2nm E of Plymouth city centre
NOTES: Many years ago I made this note: "It does appear that on the 11th September 1911 Gustave Blondeau gave a flying demonstration from Chelson Meadow in Plymouth". Are any details known today?
This site is also close to, and just south of, RNAS LAIRA, used in 1918 for airship operations.
When Mike Holder kindly sent the information below about Plymouth racecourse, I asked him if he could find any information about Blondeau being here? The results of his investigations are, I trust you will agree, quite astonishing. Not least because Hilda Hewlett was involved, but the event was planned to be over three days, the 10th to 12th of September. The two of them coming down from BROOKLANDS.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
A full account was published in the Western Morning News on the 12th September 1911. Reproduced here in six parts to make it easier to read.
Later described as being a fiasco, it clearly shows how very little, if anything, so many people in those days, including some of the press, understood about aviation. Which of course was very much still in its infancy. Perhaps, thinking aloud, Plymouth being a naval city, which they would know, had very reliable engines in warships, had no understanding about the differences between large steam engines and small four-stroke petrol engines. There were probably very few cars around in those days.
These pictures of Gustave Blondeau and Hilda Beatrice Hewlett are from Wikipedia. The picture of Mrs Hewlett is, apparently, from her pilots licence. The short article was published in the Westerham Herald on the 16th September 1911. The illustration was published in Flight magazine on the 23rd September 1911.
The photograph of Blondeau and Mrs Hewlett at BROOKLANDS was published in The Sketch on the 23rd November 1911.
The article was published in the St Ives Weekly Summary on the 22nd September 1911. The picture of Blondeau flying at BROOKLANDS was published in Flight magazine on the 23rd September 1911.
PLYMOUTH RACECOURSE
After WW1 the Plymouth racecourse was laid out on Chelson Meadow, and in June 1922 the Berkshire Aviation Company arrived, on Friday the 16th, to commence operations with the Avro 504K, (ex H2600). They certainly displayed, and no doubt gave joy rides throughout the weekend, but, in those days they usually stayed at a promising venue like this for around a week.
Incidentally, G-EAKX survived the rigours of display and joy-riding operations for many years, being dismantled at HOOTON PARK in Cheshire, during September 1934. During the inter-war years, the Avro 504, mainly 504K and 504N versions, were highly favoured for this sort of work, not least because, after WW1 the Avro company offered conversions to three-seaters, at competitive prices. Indeed, the company had their own quite major joy-riding operation set up, including using them as floatplanes, for at least a couple of years.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
The article was published in The Aeroplane on the 28th June 1922.
Note: The local area and area views are from my Google Earth © derived database.
NOTES: We have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for discovering this venue. And, he has many more in store.
Without any doubt whatsover, as I hope this 'Guide' is proving, in the U.K. we have an aviation heritage unequalled by any other country, especially with regards to its size and population. I have been working on this project for over twenty years, and, even now, am adding new sites pretty much every week of the year.
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