By: vampiredave - 30th March 2015 at 14:50
I used “Haldon Moor” as a contemporary name for the landing place. I think that I read somewhere it was actually “Haldon Heath”.
By: daveg4otu - 30th March 2015 at 14:37
Salmet certainly visited Exeter in June 1912(see photo on my site – scroll down to Paignton)- never seen anywhere that he visited Haldon Moor(the 1928-1950s aerodrome). However , the idea that Haldon might mean Exeter racecourse is viable as the Racecourse is in Haldon Forest.
The aircraft shown in my Paignton entry is very similar to the one shown above.
FWIW he later did come to Paignton with a “waterplane”
By: vampiredave - 30th March 2015 at 13:52
I think that the French aviator, Henri Salmet, visited Haldon Moor in a 50hp Gnome-powered Bleriot monoplane during his tour of the West Country in June (?) 1912?
By: Tonk - 30th March 2015 at 13:47
I’d say the attire is contemporaneous with the a/c which looks like a Bleriot. It could be an early use of the Haldon site, but might also be Exeter Racecourse, which was a mere 3.8 miles to the north and which was long in use as an aerodrome as well as for horse-racing and is sometimes also referred to as Haldon.
By: Malcolm McKay - 30th March 2015 at 12:10
Looks definitely pre-WW1 to me also. That’s a Bleriot or a reasonable facsimile of and Adrian spot on about the hats.
By: adrian_gray - 30th March 2015 at 11:53
The aircraft looks Bleriot-esque. If it was 1928 I’d expect a collection of cloche hats to be in evidence – https://www.pinterest.com/barbara1923/i-love-cloche-hats-deal-with-it/
There is one shaped a bit like that but the two enormous hats say pre-WW1 to me, as does the aircraft. I think your instinct is right on this.
Adrian
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March 30, 2015 at 11:37 am
