I think the the. Short Scion was part of Tom Campbell Black’s British Empire Air Display which did visit Hayling aerodrome on July 18th 1936 according to The Aeroplane of the 22nd July. Did they have an Avro 504 as well? The weather was not great that day and I don’t think there was much flying according to the following:
1936 July – Tom Campbell Black’s British Empire Air Display came to Hayling Aerodrome.
They arrived on the 18th of July from Southampton to give an afternoon performance.
Unfortunately, due extremely strong winds the whole display was grounded, nothing could be done. At the end of the day, aircraft were made secure for the night and log-books filled in. Then, early the next morning, the whole circus had to move on again, this time to Dartford.
With this particular display team were two pioneering women pilots, Miss Dorothy Spicer and Miss Pauline Gower. Pauline was Chief Pilot and Dorothy was Senior Engineer.
“Women with Wings”
By Pauline Gower and Dorothy Spicer (1938)
Extracts from Pauline Gower’s diary about T. Campbell Black’s “British Empire Air display”.
“…..the weather we experienced during the tour was anything but pleasant. Hardly a day went by without rain and we seemed to chase the bad weather round. Often we left one place in brilliant sunshine and arrived at the next town about seventy or eighty miles away in a rainstorm. These bad meteorological conditions made the flights from town to town very difficult and on most occasions visibility was poor…..”
The Aeroplane, July 22nd, 1936.
“The Portsmouth Party”
Portsmouth’s Aero Club its annual garden party at the municipal Airport on July 18. The two air races for the Peters Challenge Cup and the Portsmouth Air trophy were flown in a steady gale from the South which caused the Committee wisely to cancel the race round the Isle of Wight and to substitute a shorter 62 mile course…..
Tom Campbell Black’s team at Hayling for the day was grounded by the breeze and the Scion and lesser transport-of-joy stood chocked and idle while the racing pilots crawled over them.
…..The second race was three circuits of a short course (total 33½ miles) from Portsmouth airport round Hayling and Thorney Islands…..