Farley Farm
FARLEY FARM: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: Mr Sam Summerfield
Location: Just E of the M1 motorway, just N of the B4540, and SW of Luton town centre
Period of operation: 2nd to 7th April 1920
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have Mike Holder, a great long term friend of this 'Guide', to thank for both discovering this location and providing the following items to illustrate the listing.
The advert was placed in the Luton Reporter on the 30th March 1920.
The article in two parts was published in the Luton Reporter on the 6th April 1920.
The local area view is from my Google Earth© derived database.
NOTES: Without much if any doubt the three-seater biplane being operated by Mr Summerfield was an Avro 504 type, probably a 504K or 504N variant. The Avro 504 type which first flew just before WW1 was produced in vast numbers, reckoned to be around 11,300 in total, and not just in the U.K. After WW1, facing potential ruin, the Avro company produced a three-seater conversion for joy-riding, both for their own purposes but also available to other operators in that then rather lucrative field.
The type remained in service, mostly for joy-riding purposes up until WW2, and indeed, the RAF still had a handful flying in WW2 for radar plotting experiments based at CHRISTCHURCH in Hampshire.
SOME BACKGROUND HISTORY FOR SAMUEL SUMMERFIELD
Mike Holder found this biographical information about Sam Summerfield available on Historyfare.co.uk.
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