Leighton Buzzard
LEIGHTON BUZZARD 1932: Temporary aerodrome (Aka PAGES PARK)
Operated by: Sir Alan Cobham's 1932 National Aviation Day tour
Location: Roughly 2nm ESE of Leighton Buzzard town centre
Period of operation: 25th April 1932
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have Mike Holder, a long term friend of this'Guide', to thank for investigating this location and providing the following items.
Looking at Photo One and the few clues in the background has led Mike Holder to conclude that this venue was not SCOTT'S FIELD, but another field just north and also just east of Pages Park.
The synoptic chart shows easterly winds in this area so G-EBMR is taking off towards the east, which places the houses in the background to the north. The top of a tower on the right-hand side is another clue, it being the water tower.
The venue address has been given as "The airfield" but without too much doubt it was being confused with the WW1 SCOTT's FIELD aerodrome just to the south.
The airliner seen climbing out was the Handley Page W.10, G-EBMR, (City of Pretoria), which was hired in for part of this Tour from Imperial Airways based at CROYDON.
The local area view is from my Google Earth© derived database.
NOTES: The era of the 'Flying Circus' started in the early 1930s, coinciding with the Great Depression in the UK, which was of course a reflection of economc chaos created in the USA. Sir Alan Cobham took a while to get involved in this, but when he did, his Tours outshone all the others. This 1932 Tour was his first and commenced at HANWORTH in south-west London on the 12th April, LEIGHTON BUZZARD being the 13th venue.
In all, 174 venues were planned to be visited, ending at CHINGFORD (north London), on the 16th October, with as far as I can make out, not one single day being allowed for his crews to have a break. The later schedules did allow just a very few day or so breaks. Sir Alan was of course a renowned 'work-alholic' with unbounded energy and enthusiasm. And it appears, during his four Tours until 1935, his pilots managed, despite the typically volatile British weather, to arrive at nearly every venue on time.
SOMETHING ELSE TO CONSIDER?
Later, in October 2025 Mike Holder discovered this information. It appears thar Capt. Muir of Surrey Flying Services conducted displays at PAGES PARK during the Leighton Buzzard Carnival in June 1922. Considering that PAGES PARK is of limited size, both Mike and I suspect that Capt. Muir flew from an adjacent field, and this would appear to be the obvious choice? If anybody can kindly offer advice, this will be most welcome.
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