Tyersal
TYERSAL: Temporary aerodrome
(Serving the Yorkshire Agricultural Show and/or Great Yorkshire Show which was in a nearby location )
Note: Advertised as the very first scheduled airline service in the U.K.
Operated by: Mr Harold Blackburn (Assisted by the Avro company)
Location: Roughly 1.5nm E to ESE of Bradford city centre
Period of operation: 22nd, 23rd and 24th July 1914 (Weather permitting of course)
The two adverts were placed in the Yorkshire Evening News, as was the map detail showing the "terminal" in ROUNDHAY PARK at Military Field. The route view is from my Google Earth © derived database and superimposed.
NOTES: We have Mr Steven Langfield to thank for both pointing out this event, the location and three of the items above. However, after providing the initial information, thankfully he did not give up the quest, spending many hours looking for more evidence, especially regarding the location. This listing was originally called THORNBURY, and the first evidence appeared to support this. As you can now see, Steven has finally got it sorted out.
These three items being provided by Steven Langfield.
Steven also provided the first picture. The local area and area views are from my Google Earth © derived database.
SOME OBSERVATIONS
Civil aircraft carrying passengers for various reasons, especially for joy rides, had been taking place for a few years in the U.K., probably since around 1910/11? As mentioned above, this dedicated and scheduled 'airline' service was claimed to be the very first of its kind. Operations started from ROUNDHAY PARK at 10 a.m., and departed on the hour until 5 p.m. The flight time over the roughly 8nm route would have been quite short of course, roughly between five and ten minutes depending on the wind speed and direction, but, the very idea of flying passengers to and from a venue on a scheduled basis was, at that time, revolutionary.
For younger visitors to this 'Guide', probably quite used to flying in airliners with many more than one hundred passengers, these very basic "airliners" carried just one passenger! And, they needed to be well rugged up, even in July, as they were sitting in an open cockpit.
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