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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0963.PDF
12 July 1957 63 Sporting flying at Brooklands—for the last time. Lined up from left to right are the 1924 Hawker Cygnet, 1928 Tom- tit, 1932 Blackburn B.2 and 1925 Cirrus Moth. "Flight" photograph Brooklands Memorial Unveiling Ceremony Old Friends, Old Scenes N'"OWHERE in the world is the opportunity to savour theheady draughts of nostalgia welcomed so eagerly as inthese islands. Old memories were evoked by many heavyhearts at Weybridge last Saturday, when the Brooklands memorial —a rectangular slab of white spar-cast stone, inscribed in 2-ftbronze letters "Brooklands 1907-1939"—was unveiled by Lord Brabazon. And as an aviation and motoring pioneer who hadsampled most of those 32 Brooklands years in an active capacity, he made no bones about the dismay he felt in unveiling what hereferred to "as a tombstone ... of the rotting skeleton of one of the most imaginative projects ever undertaken." He recalled—as did many others during the afternoon—that the aeroplane, which had at first been accepted there on sufferance, was eventuallyresponsible for the demise of the motor racing circuit. "Fratricide," said Lord Brabazon, aiming at Vickers (though not without a hintof the Brab twinkle) the accusation that the erection of a memorial was "concrete evidence of a company's twinge of conscience." But more than ten years after the decision to sell had been made,and in the peace of a sultry English summer afternoon, the rancour has gone out of the old arguments: for the most part only memoriesremain. And what memories there were to be recalled, half a cen- tury to the day from when the world-famous racing track opened!About a thousand personalities associated with Brooklands aviation, motoring and motor cycling activities assembled to reminisceabout the formative years of the British aeronautical and motor industries. A. V. Roe's first aircraft flew at Brooklands in 1908,and there to remember the occasion was Sir Alliott himself. So was another pioneer, Claud Grahame-White; and there also wereDuncan Davis, who was in charge of the Brooklands School of Flying, and many others besides. Many could recall the whole line of Vickers prototypes that flewfrom the grass encompassed by the great banked track. Names like Vampire and Vixen were the products of a different manufacturerthen. Hawker prototypes, too, flew from here, and during the afternoon Flight witnessed a cameo scene—typical of the manyencounters and reunions that took place—in which George Bulman was introduced to his Hawker test pilot successors, Bill Bedford,Hugh Merryweather and Duncan Simpson. They had brought the Tomtit (frequently flown by Bulman around the "Hawker sheds"below roof level) and the Cygnet to take part in the demonstration of cars, motor cycles and aeroplanes which formed part of theceremonies. But the Cygnet's joints are suspect after so many years, and it was decided that it could not be demonstrated. Anothernon-starter from the Hawker stable was the Hart, which recently suffered an extensive ennui of the supercharger while being flownby Duncan Simpson. (He made a successful forced landing in a field, but the engine is irreparably damaged; news of a replace-ment Kestrel—blown or unblown—would be warmly welcomed by Hawkers.) As the centre of sporting flying and the undisputed hub of motorracing in England before the second world war, Brooklands held plenty of common interest between the two spheres of activity;bonds that are less closely tied today. The Vickers company started there by taking over the Itala works; the 1910 Trump-J.A.P.motor cycle used to race against an aeroplane; de Havilland built the body for the 1923 Aston Martin "razor-blade"; and MajorF. B. Halford, in the same year, established a 500 c.c. hour record with the Triumph-Ricardo motor cycle (which he had developedwith Sir Harry Ricardo) and later built the Halford Special car. Perhaps the classic examples of aeronautical and motoring com-bination were the Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang Maybach and Benz aero-engined motor cars of Count Zborowski, or the 24-litre Lion-engined Napier Railton, the car which holds for all time the lap record round the now-crumbling, built-over and overgrown circuit. Although it was largely the motorists' day, vintage-aircraftenthusiasts had their reward when a selection of machines repre- sentative of those that could be seen at Brooklands meetingsbetween the wars made individual fly-pasts. These were preceded —as with vintage machinery everywhere—by the minor anxietiesof restarting "half-hot" engines. Should he, Oliver Tapper won- dered, keep his petrol-soaked rag against the carburettor of theCirrus Moth while he swung (from behind) the L. H. propeller? He didn't, and G-EBLV started immediately for W/C. Pike tohead the demonstration with a gentle cavorting. Pike was fol- lowed by Bill Bedford in the Tomtit; David Ogilvy in the ComperSwift (not, alas, to be raced at Coventry this week-end), rocking his wings in salute before heading home to Elstree; Peter Philipsin a Moth 60G; the Blackburn B.2; and a Moth Major. Their quiet flight against the background of the summer sky was anephemeral delight. Ron Paine—himself a product of Brooklands Aviation—then recalled the racing monoplanes of the thirties withhis potent Miles Hawk Speed Six, accompanied by a contemporary and similarly spatted Hawk Major. They dived on the field, pulledup steeply and then throttled back to land; and the Golden Jubilee of Brooklands was over. The guests gathered again to enjoy Vickers hospitality beforedeparting and to examine more closely the 30ft-wide and 14ft-high memorial near the spot where the members' banking comes downon to the railway straight. Facing the railway is a bronze plaque bearing representations of a typical club aeroplane and of thebadge of the Brooklands Flying Club. It is inaccessible, and it cannot be read from the railway line; but at least it is there. And the guests, the men who had made the history of this spot,were gone from Brooklands for the last time. There remained a faint smell of dope, the tang of castor oil, and the marks of tail-skidson the parched grass. ... A. T. P. "George" Bulman—whose associations with Brooklands date back to 1924—with a Hawker group around the Cygnet. On his right is Mr. G. Bailey (who was at Brooklands in 1930) and on his left Mr. H. Haywood (1921) and Mr. A. Scott (1929). "Flight" photograph
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