EARLY BRITISH AVIATORS

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26219, 16 September 1950, Page 3

EARLY BRITISH AVIATORS

Memories Recalled By Christchurch Man FARNBOROUGH COMMON IN THE 1920’S Memories of pioneering activities in British aviation were recalled in an interview with "The Press" by Mr Frederick Carpenter, of Mount Pleasant, Christchurch. Mr Carpenter’s youth was spent at Farnborough, more recently the scene of many notable displays by the Society of British Aircraft Constructors.

Mr Carpenter knew the common at Farnborough when, in his own words, “there was nothing but grass, gorse and broom.” Early this century, he saw Dorman and Long, the firm that was subsequently to buiJdt Sydney harbour bridge, erect the first building on the site of this famous air establishment. Subsequently, he was employed by the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company, of Darlington, which built some of the Farnborough installations. He was also a trainee at the balloon school.

Mr Carpenter was the son of a regular soldier in the Somerset Light Infantry. Mr Carpenter's birth was recorded in the regimental orders, because his father and mother were living at the regimental depot at Taunton. Mr Carpenter’s father was killed in action at Ladysmith. Mr Carpenter then went to live at Farnborough. Mr Carpenter and his brother received instruction in fencing from the late Earl Haig, who was then director Qf military training at Aidershot. Lord Haig would walk from his home at Farnborough to Aidershot, or to the Farnborough station to take a train to London and the War Office. Of ter on these morning walks, he met the Carpenter boys practising “singlesticks.” He demonstrated their faulty swordsmanship by disarming them with his walking stick, and tnen instructed them in the rudiments of fencing. They grew proficient under his guidance, and Lord Haig instructed his man-servant. Hall, to give them a set of foils and masks from his collection.

Experiments With Balloons

About 1905, at Farnborough, Mr Carpenter first saw balloons “like an onion upside down with a basket underneath,” and the man-carrying box kites of the Irish-American aeronautical pioneer, Colonel S. F. Cody. He was present at the first flight of the first British airship, the Null! Secundus. On this great day, he acted as telegraph messenger to the special correspondent of a London newspaper. “As soon as the airship poked her nose out of the hangar, the reporter sent out a message to his paper to the effect that she was in flight,” said Mr Carpenter. “This was at 3.30 p.m., but actually she did not take the air till 5 p.m. By this time, the correspondent’s paper, with an imaginative description of the first flight, was selling on the aviation ground. “A few days later Colonel Cody flew the Nulli Secundus to the Crystal Palace, where she was made fast. During the night a gale sprang up, and to prevent the ship being blown away, the sentries ran bayonets through the bag. She was railed back to Farnborough, and not flown again.” Mr Carpenter also recalled the flights of the Dirigible 11, which, after two or three failures, fouled some trees, and was badly damaged. About 1908, the. “Morning Post” bought an airship made by Lebandy, ih France, end presented it to ,the British Government. Disaster overtook her as she was being manoeuvred into rae hangar at Farnborough. She was all but safely in the hangar when, because of faulty instructions, the airship’s tail was allowed to strike the roof. The fabric of the envelope was split from end to end.

Flight by Aeroplane By chance, Mr Carpenter witnessed what was probably the first flight by a heavier-than-air machine in England. Taking a short cut across the training ground one summer evening, he and his brother savv a group of officials grouped about a weird contraption of bamboo. covered with canvas and held together by wire. TJtey saw Cody leave the ground in the machine, fly 200 or 300 yards, and land in a gorse bush with a loud report, as tine aircraft’s tyres burst. Cody threw his hat into the air, and ■ jumped about like a madman, so elated was he at his success. i There wCre some in official quarters', however, that looked with con-.. cern at Cody’s costly experiments, and at last he was ousted from the Government’s service at Farnborough, where the Balloon School was a section of the Royal Engineers. He moved to Laffans Plain, where Mr Carpenter was associated with him. There, Cody continued his experiments in flying. Mr Carpenter helped him to turn his aircraft around when he came to the end of the field. Eventually. in a gesture of triumph and defiance. Cody flew over the airship sheds at Farnborough, with a Union Jack attached to his aircraft. For a time Mr Carrpenter worked at Farnborough on the construction of buildings. He stiU has the pass that gave him the right to enter the field. Then he joined the balloon school as a trainee, and was a room-mate of a British air ace of World War I, James B. McCuddon, V.C. Mick Manock, perhaps the most famous British flyer of the First World War, was also at Farnborough in Mr Car- . penter’s time. Geoffrey de Havilland came to Farnborough with his first aircraft, and Mr Carpenter saw him smash off the undercarriage in mak-

ing a landing. Military Service At Farnborough. Mr Carpenter saw so many accidents that he decided to forsake flying. In 1911 he joined the 19th Hussars, with whom he went to France on the outbreak of war in 1914. As a cavalry scout he was among the first British troops to sight the Germans. In 1917 he returned to flying, and served as an air-gunner with the No. 101 Squadron of the Independent Wing. After being shot down, he returned to balloons and aerial observation. Mr Carpenter came to New Zealand in 1920. He served in the Dominion’s Territorial Forces. When he was • barred from going overseas in the Second World War because of age, he resigned a commission in the 6th Armoured Fighting Vehicle Regiment to join the Air Force. Although his principal occupation now is the growing of flowers for the Christchurch market. Mi- Carpenter still retains a keen interest in military affairs and aviation. He is a keen student of the history of British regiments, and has amassed a great collection of books and magazines on service matters. He is also an amateur artist. Recently, he prepared a fine illustrated scroll for tha Christchurch reunion of the New Zealand branches of the Old Contemptibles’ Association, of which he is a member.