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Boxfields Model Aircraft Club Richard Pinker Photographs Richard Pinker October 2021 I read Rosie McNamara's book about Boxfields Bungalows with great interest and fond memories. However, I realised that there has been no mention anywhere of the Boxfields Model Aircraft Club that used to meet in the Community centre on Box Hill. My memories of this are vague as it operated around the early 1950s. My recollection is that the club used to meet in the end of the right-hand wing of the centre with access through the side door. I joined with my friend, Mike Betteridge who had somehow had found out about it. There were about four grown-ups and also Denis Edgell who was about the same age as us and his older brothers. They lived at 53 Southlands and their father distributed newspapers. |
Richard and his cousins with one of the gliders in about 1952
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Aircraft Modelling Club
The club existed from at least 1949 when it was the centrepiece of the August fete of the Box Hill Community Association.[1] The event was held on the Box Hill Sports Ground, opened by Arthur Adams, the new headmaster of Box School. It had the usual array of flower, vegetable and handicraft stalls along with a bonny baby and skittle competition (the latter won by Mr A Stanley of Southlands and Mrs Hemmings of Corsham).
What made it different was a model aircraft exhibition by the Boxfield Model Aircraft Club which included a jet aircraft (then a novelty), a 1-in-12 scale model of a Lysander and sailplanes with 10-foot-wide wingspan. A competition for the best models was organised by Ronald Webb which awarded prizes: solid scale models to Philip Feeney; sail planes B Matthews; and powered models B Newton.
The members of the club repeated their feats later that year when they exhibited in the November Bath Hobbies Exhibition.[2] The newspaper described a Lilliputian atmosphere of a world of scientific achievement and human creation shown in miniature. A wooden model plane powered by a jet engine capable of 50 mph was one of the outstanding displays together with the Boxfield Modellers display.
As well as stamp collecting, tropical fish and bookbinding exhibits, there were unusual stalls such as tin soldiers through the ages and matchbox labels. An example of how different the exhibition was can be seen by the existence of an Esperanto stall, demonstrating the importance of having a common European language – now how many local people can still speak this strange language concoction?
The club existed from at least 1949 when it was the centrepiece of the August fete of the Box Hill Community Association.[1] The event was held on the Box Hill Sports Ground, opened by Arthur Adams, the new headmaster of Box School. It had the usual array of flower, vegetable and handicraft stalls along with a bonny baby and skittle competition (the latter won by Mr A Stanley of Southlands and Mrs Hemmings of Corsham).
What made it different was a model aircraft exhibition by the Boxfield Model Aircraft Club which included a jet aircraft (then a novelty), a 1-in-12 scale model of a Lysander and sailplanes with 10-foot-wide wingspan. A competition for the best models was organised by Ronald Webb which awarded prizes: solid scale models to Philip Feeney; sail planes B Matthews; and powered models B Newton.
The members of the club repeated their feats later that year when they exhibited in the November Bath Hobbies Exhibition.[2] The newspaper described a Lilliputian atmosphere of a world of scientific achievement and human creation shown in miniature. A wooden model plane powered by a jet engine capable of 50 mph was one of the outstanding displays together with the Boxfield Modellers display.
As well as stamp collecting, tropical fish and bookbinding exhibits, there were unusual stalls such as tin soldiers through the ages and matchbox labels. An example of how different the exhibition was can be seen by the existence of an Esperanto stall, demonstrating the importance of having a common European language – now how many local people can still speak this strange language concoction?
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Tragic Accident
The main activity of the club was building model aircraft out of balsa wood to fly and display. However, visits were also arranged to the Farnborough Air Show. The first show I went on was in 1951 where the two attached photos were taken. The club was run by a man called Ron (surname forgotten). He organised the first trip to Farnborough that I went on with the Edgell boys. It was a special hire as we went in a converted hearse. The second visit on 6 September 1952 was more memorable for the wrong reasons. It was the year of the Air Show disaster when the prototype DH110 broke up over the crowd resulting in one of the two engines landing in the crowd and killing over twenty people. I clearly remember watching the two engines, still working and spirally towards us and the crowd around me dropping flat on the ground. After the impact there was local confusion as people rushed both towards and away from the casualties. Rosie McNamara added that her brother Philip Feeney was also involved. He was very keen on Airfix models and making things with balsa wood. He was friendly with Eddy Edgell and is pictured, far right, in the picture. His brother Ken is on the left holding the camera. |
Richard Pinker and club members on a visit to the Farnborough air show in 1952
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When we eventually got back to the coach, we found that the driver had been injured in the crash. Fortunately, it was only some shrapnel in his backside but it necessitated getting a relief driver sent out from Bath. This took ages and we eventually got home in the early hours where my anxious parents were overjoyed at our safe return as there were no easy access to phones in those days.
I don't know what eventually happened to the Boxfields Model Aircraft Club as eventually I went to Chippenham Grammar School and had to give up due to homework pressures. My friend Mike Betteridge moved from Box Hill to Barn Piece, Box. |
The Portsmouth Evening News, 6 September 1952 carried the following report on the same day:
One of Britain’s new fighter jets, the DH110, broke up in mid-air after beating the sound barrier at Farnborough air display this afternoon… A crowd of over 120,000 people saw pieces of the plane hurtle across the aerodrome… Some of the wreckage landed in the crowd… Some spectators were believed injured… later reported dead… The pilot was believed dead.
It would be surprising if no other photographs of the Boxfields Model Aircraft models have been kept. So, please dig in your archives for any more details or photos . This article was originally published in the Rudloe Scene website, to who many thanks. for allowing us to reproduce it. If you haven't caught up with this site, give it a go now at rudloescene.co.uk - Homepage.
There's plenty of information about the Rudloe area to enjoy.
One of Britain’s new fighter jets, the DH110, broke up in mid-air after beating the sound barrier at Farnborough air display this afternoon… A crowd of over 120,000 people saw pieces of the plane hurtle across the aerodrome… Some of the wreckage landed in the crowd… Some spectators were believed injured… later reported dead… The pilot was believed dead.
It would be surprising if no other photographs of the Boxfields Model Aircraft models have been kept. So, please dig in your archives for any more details or photos . This article was originally published in the Rudloe Scene website, to who many thanks. for allowing us to reproduce it. If you haven't caught up with this site, give it a go now at rudloescene.co.uk - Homepage.
There's plenty of information about the Rudloe area to enjoy.
References
[1] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 5 August 1949
[2] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 26 November 1949
[1] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 5 August 1949
[2] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 26 November 1949