Norfolk and Norwich Aero Club

Wow!

Thank you Frank for starting this thread, and to everybody else for their contributions.

My Grandfather Norman Harrison Bailey learned to fly at Mousehold in the 1930’s in, I believe, a Gipsy Moth, hence my interest in the airfield. He bought plans to make a Flying Flea which he started to build but thankfully for the family he never finished and he concentrated on farming instead!

My Uncle tried to find further info on the Club a few years back but was told that much of the pre-war records were destroyed by a Luftwaffe raid on the B&P works. So seeing the photos and Gordy’s info has made my day 😀

Tom

Photo of the Boulton & Paul P.64 mailplane taken at Mousehold in the early ’30’s:

Hi There,

I recently had copies of 2 family pics given to me of my Grandad, Robert Arthur Yallop who was a pilot and a member of Norfolk & Norwich Aero Club. they show him training a student in a Tiger Moth with Norfolk & Norwich Aero Club on the nose of the Plane. I dont know where or what year this was but I Thought you might like to see them.

We also have some old family Cinnefilm which was put on to DVD, which has him flying Stunts in the Magnificent men…. Which i think is pretty Special! x

I grew up in the area and actually did part of my apprenticeship in a company using 4 of the hangers shown on the north side of the plan (was Lawrence Scott and Electromotors, last I heard it was Mining Supplies, Defence Industries). Really surprised that Sprowston is shown as a row of houses! It’s all built up now and has been for as long as I can remember.

I think the hangers are listed buildings, but I might be wrong…

John C
Lurking

Boulton Paul aircraft were flown from ‘Mousehold Heath’ at one stage of the company’s history. Same place?

Edit: (Answered my own question by paying attention. Yes.)

Yep, was a army training area before its use as an Airfield. The only piece that is not built on now is a secondary school sports field on the south western corner. One thing I’ve always wondered is why the Sidestrand and Overstrand (which both did thier first flights from that airfield) were named after two small villages on the north Norfolk coast (east of Cormer).

Boulton Paul aircraft were flown from ‘Mousehold Heath’ at one stage of the company’s history. Same place?

Edit: (Answered my own question by paying attention. Yes.)

My last posting was to Swanton Morley – I left in 1986, just before Rainer Forster, my boss. He was an engineer in the PFA and was involved in the MBA Tiger Cub microlight. It was a microlight and he was hoping to have it CAA approved so our ‘team’ used to assist during lunch breaks etc. One week we helped with the wing loading tests – putting dozens of ‘calibrated’ sandbags on the wings, for a few seconds as another certified officer took notes. Thios was repeated upside down on tresseles for negative loading. Every test it passed without any cracks or noises so we all concluded it was a very strong little machine. I seem to remember a figure of -6g!
Another week I remember visiting Litle Snoring airfield, the other side of Dereham, where the poor little aircraft was tethered to a very large tie down stone, with a spring balance in between. The aircraft was then run at full throttle to check thrust figures etc. After it was untied an old chap who Rainer knew “borrowed” it for a flight. ‘Won’t be ten minutes’. After about twenty minutes of us searching the horizon it came in to view, very low. he passed us at about 50 feet with scarf flying from the pilot’s kneck and it looked wonderful. He reported it was great to fly.

Unfortunately I lost touch with this little aircraft but I have seen the one in the museum at Newark.

I did fly out of Swanton for a time in the early 80’s and I do recall seeing a couple of the little beasts – but these were at Shipdham in about ’85.

Best place for it.

:rolleyes: Not the anti microlight brigade again 😡

I never knew that there was an airfield at Mousehold (and I live on the edge of the Heath (Having checked the website, I now see its houses (and an estate that I was told to avoid at all costs, when I was buying my house 3 years back 😮 )).

Unfortunately I lost touch with this little aircraft but I have seen the one in the museum at Newark.

Best place for it.

My last posting was to Swanton Morley – I left in 1986, just before Rainer Forster, my boss. He was an engineer in the PFA and was involved in the MBA Tiger Cub microlight. It was a microlight and he was hoping to have it CAA approved so our ‘team’ used to assist during lunch breaks etc. One week we helped with the wing loading tests – putting dozens of ‘calibrated’ sandbags on the wings, for a few seconds as another certified officer took notes. Thios was repeated upside down on tresseles for negative loading. Every test it passed without any cracks or noises so we all concluded it was a very strong little machine. I seem to remember a figure of -6g!
Another week I remember visiting Litle Snoring airfield, the other side of Dereham, where the poor little aircraft was tethered to a very large tie down stone, with a spring balance in between. The aircraft was then run at full throttle to check thrust figures etc. After it was untied an old chap who Rainer knew “borrowed” it for a flight. ‘Won’t be ten minutes’. After about twenty minutes of us searching the horizon it came in to view, very low. he passed us at about 50 feet with scarf flying from the pilot’s kneck and it looked wonderful. He reported it was great to fly.

Unfortunately I lost touch with this little aircraft but I have seen the one in the museum at Newark.

Thanks for your replies. What little I have got came from Rainer Forster, a good pilot and engineer but paperwork is not his forte. A lot of stuff was lost during the move from Swanton.

For W Rob
If I come across anything significant I will pass it on to the museum.

For Auster Fan
Killer Zulu lives on.

For G-ORDY
Can I use the photos on my web page?

For AFH10
I have ordered Horsham St Faith – Airfield Focus from library.

For Dave Barrell
Sounds like interesting evening, sadly I am unable to attend.

Cheers Frank

Small world……!!!

I am going to an evening organised by Anglia Flight on March 9th. It’s being held at the Aviators Bar, Hangar10, Gambling Close, Norwich.
They are having a video presentation featuring Moushold Airfield in the 1930’s and Meteors at Norwich in the Fifties, there is a nominal charge of £2 per head to cover costs.
It sounds like it’s going to be an excellent evening, anyone and everyone is welcome, for more info or to pre-book their phone numbers are 01603 301991, 01603 412888.

Web address is www.anglia-flight.co.uk

See you there….!!

Sometime in the 1980’s it changed its name to the Norfolk and Norwich Flying Club for a few years. I seem to remember reading in the airfield focus book on Horsham St Faith that it was at Norwich Airport in 1969 with a Cessna 150 for a short while.

Photos & info from the 1930s

I have quite a stack of photos, press cuttings and the like which were given to me by the late David Bradley-Watson. He was a member at Mousehold Heath in the 1930s, moving on to Hatfield and eventually Brooklands as he took his “A” (Private) and “B” (Commercial) licences.

We published his memories in “Vintage Aircraft” magazine many years ago.

You might want to try the link HERE. Rainer Forster from memory was the owner(?) of NNAC when it was at Swanton Morley and he may well have some archive material that he can lay his hands on. They also had at least one Cessna 172 while they were there – G-AZKZ IIRC.

Museum Help

I’m a volunteer at the City of Norwich Aviation Museum and we have a few snippets in our archive about them that I will find and copy when I next get up there, in the 30’s they were quite vocal in reporting their activities to the local paper so there might be some of that too. I think that we also have an archived photograph of the aerodrome also.

The museum would always be keen to set up some sort of display about them as they are really the first general aviation activty of any size in the county.

As a bit of trivia I am sure that I recall that Douglas Bader’s niece learned to fly at Mousehold with them as did Sir Arthur Marshall of Marshall Aerospace fame.

RW