Hunmanby
HUNMANBY: Private aerodrome (aka HUNMANBY GAP and HUNMANBY MOOR)
Note: This listing has been named HUNMANBY to differentiate it from the FILEY listing, from where Robert Blackburn had been conducting flying experiments nearby in 1910 and 1911. Possibly into 1912?
Operated by: Filey Aeroplane School
Location: Roughly 1nm E of Hunmanby village, about 2nm SSE of Filey town centre
Period of operation: 1912 only?
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for both finding this location and providing the maps and newspaper articles etc.
The short article was published in the Yorkshire Evening Post on the 27th May 1912.
The article in two parts was published in the Yorkshire Evening Post on the 29th May 1912. The local area view is from my Google Earth © derived database, as is the area view below.
The aerial photo shows the sea front at Filey where John Brereton performed many displays in 1912. The newspaper article was published in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph in the 28th May 1912.
NOTES: John (Jack) Brereton gained his Royal Aero Club Certificate, (No.136), on the 19th September 1911. He must have had a close relationship with Blackburn, as it appears he built the Blackburn Mercury III he was flying with the Filey Aeroplane School, with which he was heavily involved.
It is purely conjecture on my part, but it does seem likely perhaps (?), that as Blackburn was losing interest in flying from Filey, he and a couple of others, saw a possible opportunity to establish a business here offering flying training? No doubt his frequent flights around the seafront at Filey in 1912 were intended to generate interest?
Good intentions no doubt, but I suppose doomed to failure at that time. Filey was well away from where the major centres of flying were happening, being just a seaside resort. So hardly appealing to those living a long distance away and needing weeks if not months of flying training.
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