Shoreham flying sites
NOTE: Here are two flying sites which appear to close to, but not on the present SHOREHAM airfield site, This is why this map only shows the position of Shoreham town within the UK. If anybody can kindly off advice on this, it will be much appreciated.
SHOREHAM: Early seaplane flying site?
NOTES: See PAIGNTON in DEVON for some proof? It could of course easily have been that the Daily Mail Avro had been converted back to landplane configuration and this explanation would probably make better sense?
SHOREHAM: Private airstrip
Operated by: Mr Fred ‘F G’ Miles
Location: Near Shoreham
Period of operation: 1920s
NOTES: I’ll quote from an article in Light Aviation magazine (March 2009) by Francis Donaldson relating the early history of Fred F G Miles who later went on to form the Miles Aircraft Co.
“…as a young man in the 1920s he scraped together enough money to buy an old Avro, found a field to fly it from near Shoreham and persuaded an instructor to teach him to fly it. As soon as he had soloed, he started to train others to fly without worrying about such things as licenses for himself as pilot or the aeroplane."
"He managed to accumulate a rag-tag collection of aircraft by buying them at scrap prices and patching them up, set up a flying club and publicised it with an inaugural flying display – only to find the Director of Civil Aviation himself, Sir Sefton Branker, turned up to see what was going on. Reading the riot act over Miles’ complete contempt for paperwork – but not until after the display was safely over – Miles was forced to put his act in order.”
So, just like so many of our legendary pioneer figures in British aviation history Fred Miles was also largely self taught. Later on he persuaded a mathematician friend to teach both him and his new wife Blossom the rudiments of aircraft stressing. Together the two of them went on to design and build some of the most iconic aircraft of the inter-wars era – and beyond.
For example, even today designers are still struggling to design an aeroplane that can match the all-round capabilities of the Miles M38 Messenger, first flown in 1942. And that’s a fact! It could carry four, had STOL capability, a range of 258 miles and a max cruise of 124mph - and all on 140hp.
In fact the Miles company designed, and built, the first British supersonic jet. It didn’t actually fly due to lack of support from the government, who cancelled the project as soon as they realised it could indeed succeed. In those days especially, and in many regards even today, the British establishment and government are simply pawns serving the U S administration and government. This was of course all arranged during WW2.
If you compare the Miles airframe design with the American Bell X-1 that did first break the sound-barrier - the resemblance is uncanny.
THE STORY CAN GET CONFUSING
After WW2 the Americans soon realised that British designers could design bombers, such as the Vickers Valiant, the Avro Vulcan and the Handley Page Victor, which far outstripped any American designs in pursuit of the 'Cold War' against the Soviet Union. But we must never forget that these British bombers carried, almost entirely if not totally - American nuclear weapons.
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
Leave a comment ...
Copyright (c) UK Airfield Guide
