Matford Bridge
MATFORD BRIDGE: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: Berkshire Aviation Company
Location: Just N of the A379, roughly 2nm S of Exeter city centre
Period of operation: 26th June to 1st July 1931
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Once again we have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide' for many a year, to thank for both discovering this little known venue, and providing most of the following items to illustrate it.
The advert was placed in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette on the 5th June 1931.
The Notice was published, also in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, a few days later on the 9th June 1931. This part of the listing illustrates two important aspects.
One being that in Exeter at least, business has been booming in recent years. Compare the 2002 picture with the 2022 version.
The second aspect which amuses/interests me, is the 'Notice'. We are given so much duff information in the press and media by so many people who have no idea - not a clue. Including mostly utter garbage about 'Global Warming'. The weather in the UK has not changed at all over the last two hundred years, which is not to say that the base average temperatures have not risen - they have. Compare the problems in Exeter in 1931 with our summer weather during the same period in 2025. Identical, periods of very heavy rainfall.
But, we have had 11,000 years notice of this trend going on since the last ice age. It goes in cycles over centuries, sometimes warmer, sometimes colder, but the trend getting gradually warmer of course. And nothing humanity can do will stop that trend! Which is obviously not to say that human activity, along with some volcanoes erupting, (they should be banned by the U.N. obviously), may well be speeding up the process. Sorry, about having a rant, but, it is my 'Guide'.
Once again the Short article was also published in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, but on the 27th June. Please see my comments below about this as it contains a very serious reporting error.
The local area and area views are from my Google Earth © derived database. And, not every location listed in this 'Guide' is pinned.
NOTES: The reporter of the short article above was very negligent, ignoring the most basic rule - check your facts! Obviously a rule in the press by and large that since WW2 has usually been ignored. This said, I am quandrified to explain why he reported that four Avro Avians were being operated? The Berkshire Aviation Company did not operate a single Avro Avian, it was far from being a suitable type. Apart from a couple of Airco DH.6s, the fleet was made up of Avro 504K's, twenty-four being owned, plus one Avro 536.
The simple reason for operating the Avro 504K is that after WW1 the Avro company became, for a short while, heavily involved in joy-riding operations, and converted many of their 504 model to take two passengers in the front cockpit, thereby doubling revenue, and/or, offering cheaper flights to encourage customers. And, they offered this conversion to other operators, some or many of course being in competition.
One final thought, perhaps this hapless reporter, had heard of an Avro Avian being flown solo from England to Australia in 1928 by Bert Hinkler, which made the news in the global press. So assumed........
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