Sheep Bridge Farm
SHEEP BRIDGE FARM: Civil aerodrome (Aka SWALLOWFIELD)
Operated by: Berks, Bucks and Oxon Light Aeroplane Club
Location: Near and just NW of Swallowfield village, about 5nm S of Reading town centre
Period of operation: From November 1928 to ?
NOTES: We have Mr Michael T Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for looking into this location, and the results I trust you will agree, come as something of a surprise. A location it would seem, quite busy in its time, but almost forgotten about today. Efforts are being made to pinpoint the exact location, but hopefully this is correct?
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Notes: The second item was published in Britannia and Eve on the 26th October 1928: The third item, a picture, was published in the Reading Standard on the 3rd November 1928. The fourth item, from Google Earth ©, I have added from my personal database.
Notes: This fifth item is an article published in the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer on the 26th October 1928, and contained interest information regarding the emergence of private airfields at that time. The sixth item, another article, was published in Flight magazine on the 1st November 1928. The seventh item, a picture of Sqdn Ldr England, was published in the Bystander on the 7th November 1928: The last and eighth item, is an article published in The Tatler on the 7th November 1928.
NOTES:
The mid to late 1920s are often referred to as a period when the light aircraft, especially the de Havilland DH60 Moth, heralded an era when aviation, and owning an aeroplane was at last available to everybody. A complete nonsense of course. Only the wealthy could afford one and even flying clubs formed to share the expenses were very much the preserve of the better off middle classes.
Even though the popular press vaunted Amy Johnson, after flying solo to Australia, as being very much a woman of the common people, she was nothing of the kind. Her father was a wealthy fish merchant in Hull, and the expenses of her famous flight was largely underwritten by Lord Wakefield of Castrol Oil. In other words, she had important connections. Which of course does not dimish in any way her magnificent achievement as a very low hours private pilot. It is generally ignored that she had two very serious crashes along the way, needing her aeroplane to be largely rebuilt.
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