Flying in the years between the two world wars was the preserve of the powerful and the wealthy, or so it was until Sir Alan Cobham’s ‘Flying Circus’ began to tour Britain. A former pilot with the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War, Alan Cobham continued to fly, establishing air routes to the Empire countries. He also involved himself in aerial photography and survey work, undertook charter flights and pioneered the ‘Air to Air’ refuelling technique still in use today. Yet it was his National Aviation Day displays for which Sir Alan Cobham’s name is best remembered. Affectionally known as ‘Cobham’s Flying Circus’, his team of up to fourteen aircraft toured the United Kingdom, visiting hundreds of municipal locations, allowing ‘ordinary’ people to have their first taste of flying. So extensively did Cobham travel with his displays, and so popular did they become, that after war broke out in 1939, some 75 per cent of Britain’s young men volunteering for aircrew duties claimed that their first experience of flying had been with ‘the Circus’. Sir Alan’s name still lives on in the aviation world. The creation of Flight Refuelling Limited in 1934 eventually led to the formation of what is today a major international aerospace and defence organisation – Cobham PLC.
...More
Article
Firsov, Alexander;
(2013)
B. G. Loutzkoy--Creator of the Unique Wheels for Airplanes, Automobiles and “Flying Saucers”
(/isis/citation/CBB001321273/)
Book
Bloor, David;
(2011)
The Enigma of the Aerofoil: Rival Theories in Aerodynamics, 1909--1930
(/isis/citation/CBB001221125/)
Book
Crotty, David;
(2010)
A Flying Life: John Duigan and the First Australian Aeroplane
(/isis/citation/CBB001033783/)
Book
Bruce McAllister;
Stephan Wilkinson;
(2017)
Lindbergh; A Photographic Biography of the Lone Eagle
(/isis/citation/CBB930351745/)
Book
Pirie, Gordon;
(2009)
Air Empire: British Imperial Civil Aviation, 1919--39
(/isis/citation/CBB001031286/)
Book
Millward, Liz;
(2008)
Women in British Imperial Airspace, 1922--1937
(/isis/citation/CBB000830885/)
Book
Landini, Gregory;
(2010)
Russell
(/isis/citation/CBB001500071/)
Book
Eileen A. Bjorkman;
(2017)
The Propeller under the Bed: A Personal History of Homebuilt Aircraft
(/isis/citation/CBB667002276/)
Book
Dee, Richard;
(2007)
The Man Who Discovered Flight: George Cayley and the First Airplane
(/isis/citation/CBB000830167/)
Book
Heppenheimer, T. A.;
(2003)
First Flight: The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Airplane
(/isis/citation/CBB000320225/)
Book
Douglas, Deborah G.;
Foster, Amy E.;
(2004)
American Women and Flight since 1940
(/isis/citation/CBB000830923/)
Book
Crouch, Tom D.;
(2003)
Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age
(/isis/citation/CBB000302365/)
Book
Wray R. Johnson;
(2019)
Biplanes at War: US Marine Corps Aviation in the Small Wars Era, 1915-1934
(/isis/citation/CBB736158952/)
Chapter
Connolly, Thomas J.;
(2000)
World War II
(/isis/citation/CBB000102802/)
Chapter
Brady, Tim;
(2000)
U.S. Airlines before 1930
(/isis/citation/CBB000102799/)
Book
Tise, Larry E.;
(2009)
Conquering the Sky: The Secret Flights of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk
(/isis/citation/CBB001031285/)
Article
Druzhinin, Yu. O.;
Sobolev, D. A.;
(2006)
Soviet Stratsopheric Flights of the 1930s
(/isis/citation/CBB000930316/)
Article
Kharuk, Andriy;
(2013)
On the State of the Aviation Industry of Ukraine in the First Half of the 20-ies of XX Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001321268/)
Chapter
Crehan, James E.;
Brady, Tim;
(2000)
Developments Between the Wars
(/isis/citation/CBB000102800/)
Article
González Redondo, Francisco A.;
Redondo Alvarado, María Dolores;
(2008)
Los dirigibles de Torres Quevedo en la Aeronáutica francesa: La Société de Constructions Aéronatiques “Astra”
(/isis/citation/CBB000933116/)
Be the first to comment!