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1930s Air Shows in Birmingham

ChrisM

ChrisM

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This is a leaflet advertising one of Sir Alan Cobham’s Air Displays which took place on Wednesday August 2nd 1933 at “Kings Standing, Queslett Road, Great Barr”.

Does anyone have memories of these events? Were they a regular occurrence in the Birmingham area? Would one recognise exactly where this one took place?

(Acknowledgements to T. Madden, USA - who had a ride that day - and The Editor, OV News Vol. 143)

Chris

PS Image can now be seen in post #7
 
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IMG_2724.JPGWent for a couple of days to Lincolnshire. This lancaster was built at Longbridge. We seem to talk a lot about spitfires being buily at Castle Bromwich but ignore the Lancs built at Austin Motors. They fired up the four Merlins and it bought a lump to my throat.
 
Thanks for reviving this long dead thread, leonardjob. In the next week or so I'll try and dig out and re-upload the original image which was the victim of the Forum hacking.

Lancs were of course also built at Castle Bromwich. I have an image and the story of one of them HERE.

Chris
 
Re: ChrisM's original post, my dad used to tell us about a Sir Alan Cobham air-display he saw well before WW2. I always thought that his memory was wonky when he said he stood somewhere near Banners Gate to watch it. If ChrisM can re-post the advertising leaflet I'd be very interested. If the aircraft actually took off from and landed back on land on or near Queslett Road, maybe this was prior to this long road being developed. There still is a large expanse of open farm-land along the north side of Queslett Road between Doe Bank Lane and Aldridge Road, but I wouldn't know if this was suitable for use as an airstrip. I'd love to have seen a Cobham air-display.

G
 
Will do, G, but it can't be until the end of next week unfortunately.

Chris
 
I look forward to that, Chris. I also meant to add that the nearest 'proper' airstrip to Queslett Road area was Walsall Airport, now known as Aldridge Airport at Bosty Lane, so maybe it's possible that Cobham's aircraft used that. I'd love to know.

G
 
Here is the revived image of the leaflet advertising the Cobham Air Display at "Kings Standing".

I quote a written comment from 2007 by a satisfied customer:

So-called "flying circuses" were extremely popular during my school years, the planes flown by aces of the Great War - who also pioneered modern civil aviation. A group of us took a flight with Sir Alan, truly a "heavier than air" craft which lumbered up to the takeoff, circled the fields and brought us back. No safety belts! No parachutes!​


Chris
 

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Chris, how fascinating. I was wondering how on earth there could've been an air display in Kingstanding. But of course at the time, this would have been mostly farmland. The Display would have been held just before the first houses were completed, with the bulk of housing being built a few years later. Love the strapline "Make the skyways Britains highways". I imagine my dad would have been to this as he was living in Perry Barr at the time and loved aeroplanes. Interesting. Viv.
 
The Lancs factory was on the otherside of the factory opposite Elmdon Airfield. A concrete bridge was built over the railway to get the aircraft from the factory on to the airfield. It was largely demolished in the 1960s when the railway was electrified but you can still see the concrete foundations at the side of the railway.
 
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