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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1845.PDF
G The sign for which planning permission is sought at Lee-on-Solent Modernization of the 100-year-old Bricklayers' Arms near London Airport included re-naming with this attractive sign The wrought-iron sign of the "Air Balloon' at Birdlip, near Cheltenham, G/os and that (or so legend has it) was the origin of the phrase "cock-and-bull stories." It seems that apart from The Jet and Whittle at Gloucester(of which more in a third and final article in this series), The Leefe Robinson is the only inn to honour an airman by name. What apity, then, that this interesting pub as yet has no sign. The first public house to be built in its district since the war, this prefabri-cated building was opened in June 1954, at Brockhurst Corner, Harrow Weald, Middlesex—almost opposite the cemetery of AllSaints" Church, where Capt Leefe Robinson, vc, is buried. In spite of the absence of an appropriate sign there is a definite aviationatmosphere in the two bars, aptly titled "The Cockpit" and "Kite's Bar." In both there are splendid murals of the S.L.I l's destructionwhich followed Leefe Robinson's attack (in a B.E.2C of No 39 Sqn) in the early hours of September 3, 1916. Newspaper cuttingsabout the first enemy airship to be shot down on British soil are displayed on the walls. During 1955 new gardens were laid out at the Plough Inn,Cuffley, Herts, and named after Leefe Robinson; for at this pub was held the inquest on the S.L.I I's crew, and the landlord has analbum of pictures and cuttings of the scenes outside his premises when the night intruder crashed in flames. Incidentally, the S.L.I 1was not a Zeppelin, but a wooden-framed craft of the Schutte- Lanz tvpe. Leefe Robinson was promoted captain and flight-commander inNo 48 Sqn, then flying the Bristol F.2a. On April 5, 1917, on his first operational flight on the Western Front, his aircraft was oneof six Bristols which encountered the Richtofen Staff el. The fi\e Albatros D.llls wreaked havoc, bringing down four of the sixBristols (another returned badly damaged). Taken prisoner, Leefe Robinson was in eight different camps, escaping severaltimes and enduring solitary confinement as an habitual "offender." Eventually repatriated after the armistice, he fell to the influenzaepidemic and died on December 17, 1918. Replacing an earlier board of the Air Balloon at Birdlip, nearCheltenham, is the highly original wrought-iron sign illustrated on this page. One of the local inhabitants tells me that thenam: commemorates the first balloon "commander"—Capt Coutelle of the French Army, who, when the Dutch and Austrianarmies were besieging Mauberge in 1793, went aloft with 50 men\ Maybe another tale, that the pub is named after a Walter Powellwho ascended from Malmesbury, never to be seen again, is more acceptable ?* Few inn-signs have achieved more publicity than that of TheAir Hostess opposite London Airport. When Sir Miles Thomas, then BOAC chairman, unveiled this lovely board in May 1954,the event was reported in almost every newspapsr in Britain, and in many overseas countries. Originally called the Bricklayers'Arms (it is thought the first owner was once a "brickie") the 100- year-old pub used to cater for market-gardeners and farmers inwhat was then the rural district of Harmondsworth. Harman's Brewery, of Uxbridge, changed the name as a tribute to the hard-working stewardesses of BOAC and as a token of thanks to the airport staffs using their establishment—an idea which comparablysituated pubs could copy to advantage. Incidentally, feeling it would be invidious to select one of their own girls, BOAC calledin a young film actress, Pauline Olsen, to sit for the signboard artist, in uniform, and the 210 charmers of the airline gracefully bowedto this neutral choice. Reverting for a moment to my earlier remarks on "bull," it isworthy of remark (and not with any association of ideas!) that a recently retired RAF officer, Sqn Ldr Tony Smith, MM;, of 2ndTAF, of West Africa, and of Air Ministry, has become mine host at The Flying Bull inn at Rake, near Liss in Hampshire. Thoughwe may regret that there is no sign showing a prize animal being loaded into an air freighter, it is of interest to learn that TonySmith's new home is steeped in history—smuggling and murder (a suspect actually arrested in the bar) being only two of the itemsin the inventory. Incidentally, this pub happens to form the boundary between Hampshire and Sussex—the demarcation lineis drawn down the public and saloon-bar walls and its owner pays rates to both counties. Also in Hampshire and, most appropriately, at Lee-on-Solent,is an hotel formerly called Marine Court and now, thanks to the new "pubmaster" and his wife (bath ex-Fleet Air Arm) re-namedSwordfish. Planning permission is now awaited for the erection of an imposing sign snowing a "Stringbag" releasing a torpedo.David Conway, the managing director, educated at Gordonstoun and in HMS Conway, served in the Merchant Navies of bothBritain and New Zealand before holding a short-service commission in the Fleet Air Arm. He holds a second mate's certificate at seaand is a qualified air traffic controller on land, at Gosporl, Lossie- mouth, and Lee-on-Solent. The hotel is situated a "jink to starboard" off the end of the mainrunway at Lee-on-Solent, and its Taranto Bar overlooks the ap- proach to Runway 05. Here the decor includes a scale-modelswordfish, a picture of one over Ark Royal (presented by Fairey Aviation), original cartoons by "Chris" Wren of FAA machines,and the original scraper-board lllingworth drawing commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Fleet Air Arm. In another bar aredrawings in col'iur of all the front-line squadron badges of the 1958 FAA; and, be't;r still, a representative sprinkling of serving aircrewof 781 Sqn, with other FAA personnel, call in most evenings. Since Mrs Lorna Conway was a Wren at Plymouth before serving asquarters officer at RNAS Bramcote and at Lee-on-Solent, it is on the cards that reunions are the rule rather than exception—on both sides of the bar. Like the Leefe Robinson and other "aviation houses," this estab-lishment has that indefinable air so often missing from the non- flying pubs. Long may their barrels roll out—empty—and refuel-ling facilities flourish. "The Leefe Robinson" at Harrow Weald, Middlesex—one of the very few public houses commemorating the name of an airman [* According to Charles Gibbs-Smith's History of Flying, Capt Cou-telle was the pilot of the French company of Aerosriers, formed in 1793. They indeed used a (captive) balloon at the Mauberge action on June2, 1794, but only Coutelle and an observer, N. J. Conte, ascended in • it. This is the earliest authenticated use of a balloon in war—Ed.]
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