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"In 1909 a civilian experimenter named Horatio Barber, obtained permission from the War Office (as it was called then) to use a piece of land on Knighton Down, known to the locals as the Hill of the Larks. This improbable stretch of rough downland turf at Larkhill certainly would not be selected as a suitable flying ground for aircraft of today, even with advanced technology. Pilots of that era were incredibly brave but somewhat foolhardy as they did not know how to fly, let alone if their aircraft themselves were capable of flight. In June 1910 the newly established British and Colonial Aeroplane Company gained permission to use the area to test their new Box kites and as a school to train pilots. Sited to the south of the Government hangar the three unit shed had to be built so that it would not block the view of the sunrise during the Summer Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, the gap between the hangars became to be known as the 'Sungap'. Today the spot is marked by a small concrete plinth and a brass plaque. The location of the plaque is in Wood Road Larkhill at grid reference SU143436. The text reads as follows, 'On this site the First Aerodrome for the Army was founded in 1910 by Capt J D B Fulton RFA and Mr G B Cockburn. This later became 2 Coy Air BN RE. The British and Colonial Aeroplane Company forerunners of the Bristol Aeroplane Company established their Flying School here in 1910. The First Military Air Trials were held here in 1912'." Editor's Note: These paragraphs was excerpted from a page on the website of the Amesbury Rotary Club. . You can read the whole story by clicking on: |
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by Horatio Barber, 1917 Captain, Royal Flying Corp. To access and read this online book, which is on the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library just click on: Horatio Barber You can choose to download either the text form or the illistrated HTML form. |
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From The Early Birds of Aviation Roster, 1996 |
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