Vennaway Lane
VENNAWAY LANE: Temporary aerodrome
(Aka PARKMILL, PENNARD, FAIRFIELD COMMON and FAIRWOOD COMMON)
The first picture is from Mike Holder. The other two are from my Google Earth © derived database.
Operated by:
Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day Tour, 28th August 1932
Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day, No.2 Tour, on the 9th September 1933
Jubilee Air Displays 1935 Tour 8th June 1935
Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day, No.2 Tour, on the 26th September 1935
Location: Just W of Vennaway Lane (B4436), S of the A4118, about 6nm SW of Swansea city centre
Period of operation: From 1933 (?) until 1944?
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Here once again we have to thank Mike Holder, a long term much valued friend of this 'Guide', for providing the following items. When I started this project in 2000, bit by bit I started adding flying sites in this area without realising that some, like this example, were actually the same location! It was just that different addresses were often given and it wasn't until 2025 that I finally decided, with much help from Mike of course, (plus see 'Comment' below), that this needed sorting out. As with most listings, (now over 7,000 in 2025), it is invariably a "work in progress". New information keeps cropping up all the time, (has done for most of the last twenty five years), so we tend to doubt that we have finally nailed the history here?
The advert was placed in the South Wales Daily Post on the 7th September 1933.
AN ARTICLE IN THE SOUTH WALES EVENING POST, 9th SEPTEMBER 1933
Note the reference to the Airspeed AS.4 Ferry, G-ABSJ, being a "Giant airliner". It was nothing of the sort, but possibly the largest aircraft most had ever seen, close up, in this region.
Only four were built, the design being commissioned by Cobham, also a director of the Airspeed company, specifically for two being used on his National Aviation Day tours. There is a saying in aviation circles that, if it looks right, it is right. But, every rule must have exceptions. In this respect I would like to compare two types, the Ferry and the Handley Page H.P.42 and H.P.45. Both being designs that were far from being 'pretty', but very capable performers fulfulling their intended roles admirably. And indeed, both flying at that time. The first flight of the H.P.42 being on the 14th November 1930 and the AS.4 Ferry on the 5th April 1932.
DOES SIZE MATTER?
Leaving aside any debates of a sexual matter, never to be resolved of course, then yes it does. Far from being a "Giant" the ten-seater Ferry had quite modest dimensions: Wingspan = 55ft, Length = 39ft 8ins. By comparison the H.P.42/H.P.45, being specified to fly with Imperial Airways across Europe and into India, had a wingspan of 130ft and a length of 92ft 2ins. Eight were built in two versions, four to fly European routes, the other four from Egypt to India,
ANOTHER ASPECT OF SIZE
One aspect that I did not foresee was how the agricultural field sizes have developed over time - well, in the last century or so. In many parts of the U.K. it appears that, for a long time, their size has not varied much, the farmers respecting long established hedgerows etc. Much the case for this location.
NOTES: In 2019 I was kindly contacted by Roger Winser who pointed out that the Cobham 1933 and 1935 venues were on a field behind Pennard Church in Vennaway Lane. This site also being used by 70 Squadron of the Air Training Corps for gliding between 1942 and 1944.
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