Ant Harrington,
Its a replica of a 1910 Hanriot from France.
The fuselage was built along the same principle of a racing skiff, which results in it being strong and light.
Old Rhinebecks excellent repro does not leave the confines of the runway, it just gets airborne for a few seconds then lands again before it runs out of grass.

The Hanriot’s normally flown by Bill King, one of Rhinebeck’s pilots from the very beginning. He’s restricted to short hops at Rhinebeck, because its completely surrounded by trees, therefore not engine failure-friendly, but a couple of years ago he took it down to Australia for the centenary of flight celebrations and pulled of some pretty extended circuits!

Blue Max and I had the pleasure of spending some time with Bill earlier this year. You’ve got to almost pinch yourself when you’re listening to a guy who can tell you what is really like to fly a Wright Flyer! (Pretty horrible apparently, not half as good as the Curtiss!)

Answering the original query, all that remains of the Bristol Whitchurch Aerodrome is a stretch of runway. The Aero Club building was demolished,and a sports track is now in its place. There is some more info on the Bristol Lulsgate website at http://www.eggd.co.uk, include a small aerial photo of the present layout. Click on ‘Old Bristol Whitchurch Airport’ to get to the right page. The Bristol Aviation’ website at http://www.chew76.fsnet.co.uk also has details.

Andy

I think there was a BBC West and Wales documentary on Whitchurch made some years ago and later shown on Discovery Wings. If you missed it, I’m sure that as DW’s a bit like a number 12 bus…… …..it’ll be along again soon!

Back to Sywell. For those that don’t know what it looks like, a couple of pictures of the art-deco Aviator building, now the bar/restaurant. Formerly the flying school and club house, it’s a lot more pretty now than it ever was in the 1940s!

OK, I know one’s got the Luton in front, but I had to get there somehow!

An aerial photo attached too, for those who hanker for proper grass aerodromes.

Sounds like an interesting field research project – suggest in depth article on the use of excessive Amaretto consumption in the Regia Aeronautica c.1939-1945!

Didn’t the ‘Messerschmitts to Malta’ contingent have to delay their trip due to o/d-ing on Italian ice cream en-route?

More seriously, I’m pretty sure that RAF bomber crews routinely used a ‘wakey’ pill – as many were later used to keep racing and rally drivers awake on events like the Monte Carlo and Liege-Rome-Liege Rallies in the 1950s (the latter event ran 96 hours non-stop).

Certainly Sir Stirling Moss admitted that the ‘wakey’ pills he was issued on the 1955 Mille Miglia worked particularly well. He drove the entire 1000 miles non-stop, took part in the Awards Party, then he drove from Italy to Stuttgart for a celebration dinner with the Mercedes Benz management, before eventually deciding he neede a night’s sleep!

Hope to see you’all there!