Cobnor
COBNOR: Civil private aerodrome and adjoining seaplane station
Operated by: Wells Aviation Co Ltd
Location: On the S end of the stubby peninsular S of Childham, about 4.5nm WSW of Chichester
Period of operation: 1916 to 1918 (?)
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for providing the following items to illustrate this listing.
As can be seen, these days we can only guesstimate the exact details, so any advice will be most welcome.
The Notice appeared in the Sussex Daily News on the 10th November 1917. The local area and area views are from my Google Earth© derived database.
NOTES: The four lines of info at the top of this listing was all I had until 2011 when, yet again, Ron Smith came up trumps in his book British Built Aircraft Vol.3 from which I quote: “The Wells Aviation Co. Ltd aerodrome, seaplane station and school of flying was set up at Cobnor, near Chichester, the company being reported in Flight to be starting up as a new flying field ‘down Chichester way’ in October 1916. By February 1917, the School of Flying was active with Caudron biplanes. The origins of this company were with R.F.Wells & Co of Chelsea, which became Wells Aviation Co. Ltd in April 1916. The company was the agent for Benoist flying boats and built both Sopwith and Vickers designs. By October 1917, the company was in liquidation.”
I imagine there must be an interesting story behind this? In the public imagination it was, (still is?), a long held belief that getting a government contract is tantamount to a license for printing your own money – especially in a state of war. Surely this School of Flying must have been training military pilots during 1916/17? The harsh realities of being in business to serve the British Government obviously contains many pitfalls, some of which beset The Norman Thompson Flight Co. Ltd just along the coast to the east at MIDDLETON-on-SEA in this era.
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