Totnes racecourse
TOTNES RACECOURSE: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: Bentfield C Hucks
Location: Just N to NE of Totnes town centre
Period of operation: 20th and 21st May 1914
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for both discovering this venue, and providing the following items.
The advert was published in the Western Morning News on the 19th May 1914.
These three pictures were published in the Brixham Western Gazette on the 21st May 1914. By this time Hucks had so much confidence in his Blériot, that he would think nothing of performing several loops in quick succession, and, time and time again at the same venue.. Amazing progress I would like to think considering that B C Hucks had performed the first loop in the UK at HENDON in September 1913.
The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
NOTES: Over the years my admiration for those early aviators, (as pilots were then called), keeps on growing. I have never considered myself as being a rather timid pilot - but - my comparison I most certainly am. For example, I can still remember during training, my first solo flight in a Cessna 152, out into the local area. Along the way it occurred to me that, with nobody watching, why not do some basic aerobatics? It wasn't an Aerobat version, but more than strong enough. Indeed, I had seen a film of a four-seat Cessna 172 doing aerobatics in the USA.
However, I had already experienced several aerobatic flights, so decided that, as I knew so little about the potential pitfalls, best to ignore the temptation. But, it did bring home to me how it must have felt in those early days to perform, for the first time ever, a loop! It was all so different then of course. life in general was full of risks of all kinds. And, of course, it was a period in time when the pioneering spirit was much applauded, and indeed, those that succeeded were given huge exposure in the press.
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