Haldon Aerodrome was the first airfield in Devon. Established in the 1920s as a private flying field, it developed into an airport with scheduled airline service, and was used by the Navy during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The airport has also been known as Teignmouth Airport, Little Haldon Airfield and, in its military days, RNAS Haldon and HMS Heron II.
History
Development
William Richard "Bill" Parkhouse, an ex
Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) pilot, established the Agra Engineering Company as a motor company in
Teignmouth
Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at th ...
after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He had hoped to expand by becoming the
West Country
The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...
dealer for
De Havilland aircraft, and wanted a flying field for himself.
In 1928 he rented of
heath
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...
land to the north-west of Teignmouth. There are not many flat areas in the region, and despite the rough ground and the altitude of the field leading to regular high winds and low cloud, he established an airfield. The land was rolled as flat as possible with a concrete roller pulled by an ancient tractor, and boundaries were marked with some white-painted rocks. By this time the local De Havilland dealership had been awarded to another company, and Parkhouse gained a concession from the
Avro company
buying an
Avro Avian
The Avro Avian was a series of British light aircraft designed and built by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s. While the various versions of the Avian were sound aircraft, they were comprehensively outsold by the de Havilland Moth and its descendant ...
III, G-EBXO. This was the first aircraft to land on the new airfield – Parkhouse flew it in on 6 May 1928.
As there was no hangar on the airfield he folded the wings and towed the aircraft into town, placing it in his car showroom.
A small corrugated iron hangar was built, capable of holding two light aircraft, and a fuel tank and pump installed. A landing circle was marked out and also the name "Haldon" in high letters.
Parkhouse started giving flying lessons, and one of his first pupils was
Whitney Straight
Air Commodore Whitney Willard Straight, (6 November 1912 – 5 April 1979) was a Grand Prix motor racing driver, aviator, businessman, and a member of the prominent Whitney family of the United States.
Early life
Born in New York City, Whitn ...
, who lived at nearby
Dartington Hall
Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...
, who offset some of the cost of the lessons by driving the tractor to help level the field. With Parkhouse's tuition Straight gained his "A" licence a few days after his 17th birthday with 50 hours in his logbook.
By the end of 1928, the airfield was quite busy, with 13 student pilots.
The De Havilland dealership in Teignmouth had not gone well, having not sold any aircraft at all, so in 1929, Parkhouse succeeded in taking it over. He bought one himself, selling the Avian to Whitney Straight, who subsequently bought two more De Havillands, a Gipsy Moth and a Puss Moth, from Parkhouse's agency. Parkhouse also sold aircraft to his friends, and others, and several of them provided him with good business by often upgrading to the latest models. Several also based their aircraft on the airfield. He was proud to boast that his was the only garage in the country that also sold aeroplanes.
Parkhouse's ground engineer around 1929 was
Howard Pixton
Howard Pixton (14 December 1885 – 7 February 1972) was an early British aviator who won the 1914 Schneider Trophy air race held in Monaco flying a Sopwith Tabloid seaplane powered by a 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine, completing th ...
who had been
A V Roe's first test pilot before winning the 1914
Schneider Trophy
The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded annually (and later, biennially) to the winner of a race for seaplanes and flyin ...
races at
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
. He had recently come from
Windermere
Windermere (sometimes tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in length, and almost 1 mile (1.5 km) at its wides ...
in the
Lake District where he had run a small
floatplane operation for Avro.
The official opening of the airport took place on 21 September 1929, which Sir
Sefton Brancker, the Director of Civil Aviation attended, arriving in his Moth appropriately registered G-EDCA. A flying display was held, but a planned air race was abandoned due to poor weather conditions.
The South Devon Flying Club was formed here in 1933,
and the airfield became popular with horse jockeys and trainers visiting local racecourses at
Exeter,
Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the So ...
and
Totnes
Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and abo ...
.
On 1 January 1937 Whitney Straight's
Straight Corporation formed Haldon Airport Ltd which took over the management of the airport from Parkhouse, and the following year it bought the freehold of the land. Parkhouse was at that time involved with establishing airports at
Plymouth and
Exeter, both of which projects the Straight Corporation took over, and Parkhouse went on to be the director of Exeter Airport Ltd, and also a member of the board of Airways Union, the Straight Corporation's holding company. The flying club at Haldon became a branch of the Plymouth and District Aero Club, also run by the Straight Corporation.
In the summer of 1937 the Devon Gliding Club started, and Whitney Straight was an active member.
At the end of 1938 the government's
Civil Air Guard
The Civil Air Guard (C.A.G.) was established by the UK Government in July 1938 to encourage and subsidise pilot training as the prospect of another war loomed. Subsidised tuition for members of participating civilian flying clubs was offered in ex ...
subsidised pilot training scheme was started, and 19 applications were received for training at the flying club.
Scheduled services
GWR Air Services set up the first scheduled service at Haldon. It started on 12 April 1933 as a stop on their twice-daily
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
— Plymouth service. It used
Westland Wessex
The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main chang ...
airliners leased from
Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...
, and a suitably timed bus service connected their passengers with Teignmouth and
Torquay
Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...
.
The service only lasted until the end of the year, when the airline was merged into the new Railway Air Services.
Provincial Airways ran a West Country Air Service between
Croydon Airport and Plymouth, with intermediate stops at Southampton and Haldon, which they called Torquay. Starting in November 1933 they used
De Havilland Fox Moth
The DH.83 Fox Moth was a successful small biplane passenger aircraft from the 1930s powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Major I inline inverted engine, manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.
The aircraft was designed late in 1 ...
s, which in May 1934 were replaced by
De Havilland Dragon
The de Havilland DH.84 Dragon is a successful small commercial aircraft that was designed and built by the de Havilland company.
Design and construction
Following the commercial success of its single-engined de Havilland Fox Moth that had fi ...
s.
During 1935 the service ran twice daily,
but ended when the airline closed at the end of the year.
Railway Air Services
Railway Air Services (RAS) was a British airline formed in March 1934 by the Big Four railway companies (the GWR, LMS, LNER and SR) and Imperial Airways. The airline was a domestic airline operating routes within the United Kingdom linking up ...
started a service on 7 May 1934 linking
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
with Plymouth via
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, Cardiff and Haldon (which they often called Teignmouth). They promoted links with
Western Airways
Western Airways was an airline based in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England between 1932 and 1978. Before World War II, for a short period, it was the world's busiest airline. It survived WWII by using its aircraft engineering expertise.
Hist ...
for connecting flights to
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and
Bournemouth.
Air Dispatch Ltd during 1934 operated a service from their base in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
via Portsmouth and Haldon to Plymouth.
The company was founded in 1934, one of several airlines founded by
the Hon. Mrs Victor Bruce.
Scheduled services moved to Exeter when that airport opened on 31 May 1937.
Events
After the gathering on the opening day in 1929, annual events were organised at the airport, named the Haldon Air Rallye
ic These were very popular events, with participation from the RAF, and including air races, with the Teignmouth Air Trophy being hotly contested. The Rallyes were held on 21 June 1930 and 5 September 1931.
![Percival Mew Gull in flight](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Percival_Mew_Gull_in_flight.jpg)
After a break, the next Rallye was held as part of the Devon Air Day, on 27 July 1937. Now in the hands of the Straight Corporation the other local Straight airports at Exeter and Plymouth held shows on the same day, and Parkhouse himself did the commentary at Haldon. A formation of three
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
Saunders-Roe London flying boats and another of three
Gloster Gauntlet
The Gloster Gauntlet was a single-seat biplane fighter designed and produced by the British aeroplane manufacturer Gloster Aircraft in the 1930s. It was the last fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to have an open cockpit, and ...
s
did low flypasts at all three airports. An air race started and finished at Plymouth, with turning points at Haldon and Exeter. It attracted several of the famous aviators of the time such as
Geoffrey De Havilland
Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. The aircraft company he founded produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built, ...
in his
TK.2 and
Alex Henshaw
Alexander Adolphus Dumphries Henshaw, (7 November 1912 – 24 February 2007) was a British air racer in the 1930s and a test pilot for Vickers Armstrong during the Second World War.
Early life
Henshaw was born in Peterborough, the eldest son of ...
in his
Percival Mew Gull
The Percival Mew Gull was a British racing aircraft of the 1930s. It was a small, single-engine, single-seat, low-wing monoplane of wooden construction, normally powered by a six-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Six piston engine. During its racin ...
. These two were the fastest, but as it was a handicap race, they came fifth and sixth respectively, with Percival Phillips winning in an
Avro 504
The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...
N. All visiting pilots were invited back to Haldon for a party and prize-giving at a Teignmouth hotel.
Other notable events at Haldon were the famous shows put on by
Alan Cobham
Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC (6 May 1894 – 21 October 1973) was an English aviation pioneer.
Early life and family
As a child he attended Wilson's School, then in Camberwell, London. The school relocated to the former site of Croydo ...
. His first tour, called the Municipal Aerodrome Campaign, involved free flights to local dignitaries and children, followed by as many paid-for pleasure flights as could be managed for the public. The tour visited 110 venues between May and October 1929 using a ten-passenger
de Havilland DH.61 Giant Moth
The de Havilland DH.61 Giant Moth was a 1920s United Kingdom, British large single-engined biplane transport built by de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware. Intended primarily for use in Australia, a number were also shipped to Canada.
...
G-AAEV named Youth of Britain.
The tour called at Haldon on 27 August.
After this, Cobham formed a team, known as the Cobham Air Circus, or Cobham's Flying Circus, who staged National Aviation Days around Britain. These extremely popular tours lasted for four seasons, visiting Haldon on the following dates: 15 August 1932, 25 August 1933 (No 1 Tour), 11 August 1934 and 17 August 1935 (Astra Show).
There were also visits from
C D Barnard's Air Circus (13 August 1931) and the British Hospitals Air Pageant (8 June 1933).
World War II
![Blackburn Skua](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Blackburn_Skua.png)
On 3 September 1939 all civilian flying in the UK was prohibited. The airfield lay unused for a while, before being requisitioned by the
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
and occasionally used by communications aircraft during armament testing at a nearby range. The Research Development Flight used the airfield to help develop balloon cable cutters and airfield rocket defences. It was then transferred to the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
as
RNAS
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...
Haldon, and as an outpost of
RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron)
Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, or RNAS Yeovilton, (HMS ''Heron'') is an airfield of the Royal Navy and British Army, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases (the other being RNAS Culdrose) ...
, was named HMS Heron II on 18 August 1941. It was used by the
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
for Admiralty target towing by detachments of
Blackburn Skua
The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single- radial engine aircraft by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft. It was the first Royal Navy carrier-borne all-metal cantilever monoplane aircraft, as well as t ...
s of
794 Squadron and
Miles Master
The Miles M.9 Master was a British two-seat monoplane advanced trainer designed and built by aviation company Miles Aircraft Ltd. It was inducted in large numbers into both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) during the Second W ...
s of
761 Squadron.
No 84 Gliding School of the
Air Training Corps
The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...
also moved in, leaving for Exeter in June 1946.
Being too small for larger aircraft, more land was requisitioned, some from a neighbouring golf course, and the runways were extended. A few hardstandings were also built, and some
Sommerfield steel tracking was laid and land drainage work undertaken, enabling larger aircraft such as
Boulton Paul Defiant
The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns ...
s and
Miles Martinet
The Miles M.25 Martinet was a target tug aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) that was in service during the Second World War. It was the first British aircraft to be designed specifically for target towing.
Work o ...
s to use the airfield. Nearby accommodation was also requisitioned.
In January 1943 HMS Heron II moved to
RNAS Charlton Horethorne which had opened 10 July 1942, and by May 1943 the admiralty had grown tired of the high winds and low cloud that so often hampered operations, and the airfield was reduced to a Care and Maintenance status. There was very little activity at the airfield for the remainder of the war.
Post-war
![Haldon aerodrome toposcope (geograph 6126389)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Haldon_aerodrome_toposcope_%28geograph_6126389%29.jpg)
In 1946 some efforts were made to re-establish the airfield, but without success. The land requisitioned from the golf club was returned to them, and the rest of the land reverted to rough moorland. All that remains of the airfield are a few patches of hardstanding, and a
toposcope
A toposcope, topograph, or orientation table is a kind of graphic display erected at viewing points on hills, mountains or other high places which indicates the direction, and usually the distance, to notable landscape features which can be seen ...
plaque set up by the Teignmouth Museum and Historical Society in 1998.
The last time an aircraft used the site was in 1968 when a
Piper Tri-Pacer 160 owned by a member of the landowner's family flew in.
Accidents and Incidents
* At the airport's opening airshow held on 21 September 1929, Cierva C.19 Mk I G-AAGL was touching down when it was caught by a gust of wind and blown backwards, cartwheeling, fortunately ending up on its undercarriage. It was written off, but the pilot, Mr A. H. C. Rowson, Cierva's test pilot, was unharmed.
The accident was filmed.
* RAF
de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth
The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...
R5148 was blown over on take-off on 11 February 1945 and struck off that month.
Footnotes
References
Further reading
*{{cite book, last=Saunders, first=Keith A., title=Teignmouth's Haldon Aerodrome, series=Monograph Series, volume=5, year=1999, publisher=Teignmouth Museum & Historical Society
Airports established in 1928
Airports in Devon
Defunct airports in England