Aviators of special interest at the airfield over the years

Sir Alan Cobham

Sir Alan J. Cobham, in full Sir Alan John Cobham (born on the 6th of May 1894, London, died on the 21st of Oct 1973, Bournemouth, Dorset), British aviator and pioneer of long-distance flight who promoted "air-mindedness" in the British public. Cobham entered the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and in 1921 joined Geoffrey de Havilland's new aircraft company, for which he undertook a succession of long-distance flights: 5,000 miles (8,000 km) around Europe; 8,000 miles (12,800 km) across Europe and North Africa; 12,000 miles (19,300 km) through Europe to Palestine, Egypt, along the North African coast, and back through Spain; to the Cape of Good Hope and back; to Australia and back. From 1926, the year in which he was knighted, he operated his own firm. For Imperial Airways he flew 23,000 miles (37,000 km) around Africa in 1927, and in 1931 he made a survey flight up the Nile River and across the Belgian Congo (now Congo [Kinshasa]) for the Air Ministry. During the next four years his flying circus team of pilots toured Britain and gave many their first thrills of aerial display. He worked out a system for refueling aircraft from aerial tankers that was first used off Ireland in 1939. He wrote a number of books about his activities, including My Flight to the Cape and Back (1926) and Twenty Thousand Miles in a Flying Boat (1930). His memoirs, A Time to Fly, were edited by C. Derrick and published in 1978.

Alan Cobham. Left in the RFC.  Right airline pilot

(Below) Flight to India and back in 1925.

(below) Flight to Cape Town and back of 20,000 miles leaving on November the 16th 1925. In his DH50 with two companions aboard (mechanic and photographer).

In 1932 he started the National Aviation Day displays – a combination of barnstorming and joyriding. This consisted of a team of up to fourteen aircraft, ranging from single-seaters to modern airliners, and many skilled pilots. It toured the country, calling at hundreds of sites, some of them regular airfields and some just fields cleared for the occasion. Generally known as "Cobham's Flying Circus", it was hugely popular, giving thousands of people their first experience of flying, and bringing "air-mindedness" to the population. These continued until the end of the 1935 season. In the British winter of 1932–33, Cobham took his aerial circus to South Africa

Cobham Air Routes Limited was formed on the 3rd of May 1935 by Sir Alan Cobham to operate services between Croydon and Guernsey. The twice daily service started on the 6th of May 1935, the first sector from Croydon to Bournemouth via Portsmouth was flown by an Airspeed Envoy with the Bournemouth to Guernsey sector flown by a six-passenger Westland Wessex.