Old Barn
OLD BARN: Private Landing Ground, later temporary aerodrome (Aka OLD BARN TEAHOUSE)
Operated by: Commander A W Thomlinson
Location: S of the B2027, E of the A21, just SW of Hildenborough, roughly 2 nm NW of Tonbridge town centre
Period of operation: Landing Ground: From the mid 1930s
NOTES: Commander Thomlinson purchased Stocks Green Farm in the 1920s, and converted the large barn on the B2027 into a teahouse, roughly in the late 1920s or early 1930s. It later also became a nightclub. He decided to use a large field behind the barn as a Landing Ground.
Flying Circus visit: Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day
Period of operation: 29th September 1935
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
In March 2024, upon my request, Mike Holder kindly decided to see what else he could find, and provided the items below.
The picture is courtesy of the Hildenborough History Society.
The advert was placed in the Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser on the 27th September 1935. The photo was published in the Kent & Sussex Courier on the 4th October 1935.
The local area and area views are from my Google Earth © derived database.
MORE NOTES: This was the last venue for the 1935 No.2 Tour. In total that year the Cobham UK Tour programme visited 242 venues! It was also the last year of operations for the by then nationally famous Cobham display tours which had such a profound effect for the future of British aviation.
Not least due to his fame, for which he was knighted, in pioneering Empire flying routes to South Africa and through the Middle East to the Far East, but, his astonishing Municipal Aerodrome Campaign tour in 1929, when he flew solo around the UK from May to October, visiting around 107 venues. You might be interested in seeing my article relating to this epic endeavour.
LATER NEWS
In April 2025 Mike Holder found this extraordinary picture, published in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News on the 22nd August 1932. All I can say is that I bet they wore much warmer outer clothing for the flight across. I have flown in open cockpit aircraft in the height of summer, and even after the engine has been started, the propwash makes things soon get distinctly chilly.
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