Tollgate Field
TOLLGATE FIELD: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: Berkshire Aviation Company
Location: Just S of the A418, about 1nm SW of Linslade railway station
Period of operation: 10th to 13th July 1919
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Here once again we have Mike Holder, a long term friend of this 'Guide', to thank for discovering this little known venue and providing us with the following items.
The advert was placed in the Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle on the 10th July 1919.
The local area and area views are from my Google Earth© derived database.
NOTES: I found it interesting to see that in the advert above, the name Alan Cobham is featured. After leaving the RAF he soon became involved in founding the Berkshire Aviation Company, based at EAST HANNEY near Wantage, but resigned in 1920. His later career is of course well known, not least for his pioneering work to establish routes for Imperial Airways down to South Africa, across the Middle East and through to the Far East, for which he was knighted.
In the UK, arguably he is renowned for undertaking a tour in 1929, from May to October, called the Municipal Aerodrome Campaign of 107 planned destinations exhorting town and city councils to establish aerodromes, not least for providing regional air services to become established. Although getting involved a tad late, in 1932, his 'Flying Circus' tours arranged from 1932 to 1935, called the National Aviation Day tours, far exceeded in scope any of the competition.
A COUPLE MORE ITEMS
Later, Mike Holder found these two excerpts from A Time to Fly, the autobiography of Sir Alan Cobham. A book which I can certainly recommend.
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