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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1340.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 25, 1931 LORD WAKEFIELD AT la FORUM CLUB ADIES are showing an ever increasing interest inaviation, and on Tuesday evening, December 15, they paid tribute to the great work of LordWakefield for those who fly, by holding a dinner in his honour at the Forum Club. This dinner wascertainly the best which the Aviation Group of this club have so far held. They were fortunately able tomuster a large number of prominent guests, including, besides Lord and Lady Wakefield; Mrs. Bruce, Sqd.Ldr. H. J. Hinkler, Fit. Lt. G. Stainforth, Capt. de Havil- land, Mr. Handley Page, Mr. J. D. Siddeley, Miss AmyJohnson, Miss Peggy Salaman, and Mr. Kaye Don. MRS. SHELMERDINE, as Chairman of the Group, presidedat the dinner, and in introducing their guest of honour she said that it was an auspicious occasion, as he was 72 lastSaturday. Lord Wakefield was, she said, a wonderful benefactor to British aviation and a great optimist, andonly last Saturday at a public gathering he announced the fact that he believed the passing of 1931 would see theend of the present wave of economic and financial depres- sion. Mrs. Shelmerdine sketched in brief the career ofLord Wakefield in so far as it was connected with aviation. He started, she said, in 1910, when he spoke on theimperial aspects of aviation, and she followed with a brief description of the help which he had given such pilots asSir Alan Cobham, Miss Amy Johnson, Sqd. Ldr. Hinkler and many others, thus enabling them to start on andsuccessfully finish their wonderful flights. She recalled, when four years ago her husband had asked for helpin establishing private and club flying in India, that help was immediately given by Lord Wakefield in a verygenerous manner. She referred also to the many other ways, mostly unknown to the general public, in whichLord Wakefield had been a benefactor to mankind ; in fact, she said no appeal which had for its object the better-ment of British aviation had as yet ever met with a re- fusal. Lord Wakefield had held, she said, the highestcivil office of the country, as he was Lord Mayor of London in 1915, and it was at that time he opened the recruitingdepot in the Mansion House. He also supported the London hospitals generously, fostered boxing in the R.N.and K.A.F., endowed many scholarships, such as that at the R.A.F. cadet college at Cranwell, and last, but notleast, was always ready to support attempts for speed records, whether with cars, motor-boats or aircraft. Hehad been the means of enabling Sir Malcolm Campbell to win back the record for us on land. He had supported SirHenry Segrave and also Mr. Kaye Don in regaining for Britain the world's water-speed record in Miss England II. LORD WAKEFIELD, in replying, adopted his typicallyoptimistic, but somewhat whimsical, attitude, and said that he had been very pleased to listen to Mrs. Shelmer-dine's kind speech, for he realised that it was good to praise men in public life, for thus (after a pause) willthey be stimulated to do better! Lord Wakefield referred to the occasion in 1910 when he spoke upon Britishaviation. He said that it was at the Drapers' Hall, and the Duke of Argyll was in the chair; moreover, thespeeches on that occasion were reprinted in pamphlet form, a copy of which he still possessed, thereby enablinghim to confute the critics who might question his early association with aviation. He stressed the fact that hegets much pleasure out of helping youth, for he said the present generation still has iron in its blood and is madeof the same stuff as the generation which laid the founda- tions of our Empire. With regard to his optimism, hemade reference to the fact that he had recently been asked what he thought about the £, and quoted his reply,in which he said that next February, or thereabouts, should see the turn of the tide for the better. In con-clusion, Lord Wakefield paid tribute to the part Lady Wakefield had played in his success in life, and he saidthat behind us all was the inspiration of a mother or a wife, and he personally was a great believer in the goodwhich women were going to do in aviation. MRS. VICTOR BRUCE said she was proud to pay tributeto Lord Wakefield, for he always believed in those who wished to do things in aviation, long before other peopledid. She then read a list of the prominent people who were present that evening, and introduced each in turn tothe guests. Referring to Sqd. Ldr. Hinkler's flight, Mrs. Bruce stressed the fact that during his long trip acrossthe South Atlantic he had seen the water on very few occasions, and this must therefore have made it very muchmore terrifying than it would have otherwise been, but in any case such a long flight over water was a very mar-vellous one. Mrs. Bruce went back to the beginnings of her own flight, when she always hated the idea of flying,but was gradually converted by the exploits of other people and of Miss Amy Johnson in particular. She recountedlittle incidents which she had noticed during her flight, and in particular one amusing one where she was told that inAmerica one could always tell if one was flying off a recognised air route, as then the chickens and cows wouldstart to dash about, for there they were not used to air- craft. One interesting point she brought out was thathouses, where they are within easy access of an aerodrome, sell and let for a very much better price than those whichare not. Mrs. Bruce bemoaned the fact that, over there, there was little private and club flying, the lack of whichmade things very dull, particularly when she arrived after a long and possibly hazardous flight. SQD. LDR. HINKLER, in rising to address the gathering,remarked that he felt a regrettable weakness in his under- carriage, particularly as he was facing such a distinguishedgathering. He referred with gratitude to the support which Lord Wakefield had given British aviation, thusenabling British aircraft to go all over the world, and so show the flag in places where they would not have beenseen. Flying, he said, was a wonderful education and an extremely interesting one. By way of example, he quotedthat, before arriving at Jamaica, that island had meant rum to him, but now it meant bananas! He deprecatedthe fact that he, as one of the chorus of pilots of the British Aviation Revue," should have to talk, for hesaid the real heavy weights of the front bench of the " Aviation Parliament " were to follow, and they knewfar more about speaking than he did. MR. J. D. SIDDELEY said that he was not quite surethat he agreed with the previous speaker that women were the means of inspiration, for he himself well recollectedhow he had had to wait until his wife was out of the country before he had been able to make his first flight.He stressed the enormous amount of good which Lord Wakefield had done, and said that he was an example whomwe should ail follow. Very few of the record flights there had been in recent years, he said, would have takenplace but for him, and those who secured his help were fortunate in that enterprises helped by him nearly alwayshad a happy and successful ending. Mr. Siddeley referred to the fact that Lord Wakefield also, as he himself had,had come from Lancashire, and quoted a very old saying to the effect that it was always a good thing to put oneof the younger boys in the oil trade, as the living was good and came of its own accord. That, however, hesaid, was not the case with Lord Wakefield ; he had had to work hard to gain his success. MR. KAYE DON said that he felt diffidence in speak-ing before so many aviation experts, for he himself had not flown for a very long time. He referred chiefly to hisrecent success in Miss England II, which was entirely due to the help of Lord Wakefield. It was unofficiallyannounced, he said, that Mr. Gar Wood had already equalled that record, but he was not worrying, as LordWakefield had decided to build Miss England III, with which they were quite confident of raising and retainingthe record. MR. HANDLEY PAGE, in his usual humorous manner,took Sqd. Ldr. Hinkler's remarks as to the heavy weights of aviation to refer to himself ; " but, he said, the bestthings are not always done up in small parcels ; in fact, the elephant is one of the most sagacious of all animals."Nevertheless, he said, the flea was a great stimulant, and therefore both probably had their uses. He referred tothe fact that a very dear lady friend of his had already flown in a well-known large aircraft carrying 40 passen-gers, but he himself had not done so. He had no doubt, however, that he would now be inspired to make thisflight since having learnt that women were the inspirers behind the great flights made by most men. He askedthe assembly to call Hinkler " Bert," and not " Sqd. Ldr. H. J.," etc., as it was much more endearing and more inkeeping with this marvellous little pilot as they knew him. He was glad to hear Lord Wakefield say he dreameddreams and saw visions, he said, for he seemed to remem- ber a text saying that young men should see visions and 1262
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