Cleaned up Photo.

Cleaned up Photo from Bounty Pub.

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After cleaning up the photo which hangs in the Bounty Pub, I have done some research on British light aircraft of the 1930's and have come to the conclusion that it is most likely to be a deHavilland Moth Minor Coupe. The Moth Minor became very popular with Aero Clubs as this aircraft could be purchased for £575.0.0. Its forerunner was the experimental DH Swallow, of which only one was built in 1931.

As I mentioned before, it was well known that open spaces like Cockmarsh and Widbrook were used for practice landings and take-offs.



Fly in at Cockmarsh 1930's

The Miles Majester 1930's vintage.

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Thanks to "Jabber." bringing up the subject in an old photo that now hangs in The Bounty Public house. I do recognise the Miles Majester two seater trainer in the background. In the 1930's The Miles Aircraft Company was very busy producing these aircraft for the Royal Air Force and many of the newly formed Aero Clubs like White Waltham and Booker. It was quite common for these club aircraft to land on a big open area like Cockmarsh, and of course pull up behind "The Quarry Hotel". Which by the way burnt down in the late 1930's. Not only Cockmarsh as it was quite a regular seen in the summer for pilots to use Widbrook Common as well to practice landings and take-offs. Because of the reflected glare of your photo I can't make out the plane in the foreground. As you may have found out there were a great many aircraft companies in existence in the UK in the 1930's. But most that did not amalgamate for the war effort went into other things. After the war The Miles Aircraft Company was bought out by Handley Page, who just happened to be in Woodley Aerodrome as well. They in turn went into making the Biro Pen under license. I have mentioned this before in this Blog that in 1937. The Alan Cobbam Airshow came to Cookham Rise, where all those houses now stand and The Alfred Major playing field is located.

One of the Astor fleet of cars.

One of the Astor fleet of cars.

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Having just returned from a holiday in the South Seas, one of the things in my e-mail box was a photo of a very young Lady Nancy Astor beside her new Rolls Royce. That then got me thinking of the 1930’s when the garages at Cliveden held a total of twenty cars, of which a great number were American left hand drive models. One of these cars was a silver grey Cord tourer, which had been given to the then Hon. William Waldorf Astor as a 21^st birthday present. By 1936 this car had found its way down to White Place Farm, there the front bumper was removed by the farm engineer Ernie Holland and a frame was attached to the chassis so a hay sweep could be attached. This of course would speed up the hay making process of bringing the hay into the hayrick elevator. Previous to this, horse pulled sweeps had been used. As little boys we enjoyed perched up on the back seat as Ernie drove around the field sweeping the hay. The car was then put in a barn and covered up until the next season. This practice carried on until the war and the car went back to Cliveden. I have no idea what happened to all those cars, most likely sitting in a museum somewhere, as today they would be a collector’s item.