Teignmouth&Shaldon Museum

Any account of the flying activities at Teignmouth’s long disused Haldon Aerodrome would be incomplete without firstly examining the background of its far-sighted and ingenious founder, William Richard Parkhouse.

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William or “Bill” Parkhouse was born at Chumleigh on 15th August 1891 and subsequent to serving an apprenticeship with the Bath Engineering Company, a motor engineering firm, he joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915 and qualified as a leading mechanic. He later joined the Seaplane Carrier HMS Ark Royal in the Aegean Sea. As well as undertaking engineering duties he also crewed as an unofficial observer flying over Turkish positions in both Wight and Sopwith Schneider seaplanes. He later transferred to another Seaplane Carrier, HMS Empress and further exploits included participating in bombing raids while flying from a land base on the island of Thasos.

Selected to train as an observer and following training at Great Yarmouth Air Station he crewed on DH4s and DH9s taking part in antisubmarine patrols over the North Sea. He was then selected for pilot training and reported to the airfield at Yatesbury on Salisbury Plain during 1918, where he received instruction on the DH6. On 30th July 1918 he flew solo for the first time on the DH6 543. His next posting was to Gosport where he trained as an instructor, before returning to Yatesbury and instructing with No.36 Training depot Squadron until returning to civilian life in April 1919.

The following month he formed the Agra Engineering Company in Teignmouth, where he manufactured and marketed an artificial manure distributor that he had designed in conjunction with an equally ingenious member of the farming community. Despite his business interests his enthusiasm for flying saw him join the Reserve of Air Force Officers in 1923 as a Pilot Officer. Signing up in the first instance for five years he agreed to undertake 12 hours flying training a year with the Filton-based reserve school. Operated by the Bristol Aeroplane Company the school provided instruction on a variety of Bristol types including the ubiquitous Bristol Fighter.

During 1928 in an effort to realise an ambition to operate his own flying school he acquired the use of land at Little Haldon, some 770ft. above sea level, at a peppercorn rent. Finding that the Westcountry agency for the de Havilland Aircraft Company had already been acquired by an Exeter garage owner, Bill Parkhouse turned to Manchester-based A.V. Roe and Co. Ltd., and purchased two Avro Avian G-EBXO, which he collected from the company’s Woodford works on 28th April 1928. With his airfield still incomplete he landed safely on the adjoining Teignmouth Golf Course on 6th May and utilising his works truck towed the biplane, with wings folded, down the hill into Teignmouth, where it was placed on display in the Agra showroom in Bank Street. The showroom is currently the shop of F.W. Woolworth PLC.

By the end of the following month the 2,700ft. by 1,140ft. landing area at 5034N and 0331W was seeded, a shed acquired from the Anglo-American Oil Company provided hangarage and aviation spirit was dispensed from a petrol tank and pump. As June drew to a close Haldon received its first visiting aircraft in the shape of a DH Cirrus Moth from the London Aeroplane Club at Stag Lane, which delivered Peter Hoare whose parents lived at nearby Luscombe Castle. The Hoare family were no strangers to the country’s growing aviation movement. During 1923 Hubert Broad, de Havilland’s Chief Test Pilot, had collected company chairman Alan Butler from a field close to Luscombe Castle following a visit to the Hoare family. The company’s large DH9C biplane G-EBCZ provided considerable interest to the residents of Dawlish.

During 1928 the Hon. Richard Westenra and his wife moved to nearby Bishopsteignton. The Hon. Richard’s sister was Lady Bailey (1909 – 1963), daughter of the fifth Lord Rossmore. Married to Sir Abe Bailey she had obtained her pilot’s licence in 1927 and subsequently flew solo from Croydon to Cape Town. Undoubtedly it was his sister’s influence that motivated Sir Richard to undertake flying tuition at Haldon as Bill Parkhouse’s first student. The Hon. Richard’s wife “Florrie” joined her husband as a student and both were to become prominent figures as the aerodrome developed.

Meanwhile Bill Parkhouse was undertaking the roles of ground engineer and instructor and as 1928 grew to a close there were some thirteen student pilots under instruction. Following the turn of the year, Hubert Broad and de Havilland executive C.N. Thorn visited Haldon and appointed Bill Parkhouse as the new de Havilland agent for the Westcountry. As they winged their way back to Stag Lane with orders for the two brand new Gipsy Moths, they must surely have held considerable admiration for the man who had established the first privately owned licensed aerodrome west of both Bristol and Yeovil. In addition Haldon provided retail facilities for new de Havilland aircraft and at the same time provided tuition, hangar and maintenance facilities. It seems likely that Haldon was one of the first aerodromes in the country to provide these combined services.

The two Gipsy Moth aircraft ordered at the time of Haldon’s appointment as a de Havilland agency had been purchased by the Hon. Richard Westenra and his wife. In due course the two Stag Lane built aircraft materialized at Haldon as the DH60G Gipsy Moth G-AAFC (c/n 1037) with a new C of A issued on 17th April for the Hon. Richard. The second aircraft, G-AAJZ (c/n 1134) also a DH60G Gipsy Moth was registered to Mrs. A.P. Westenra with a C of A dated 19th July 1929. Both aircraft would be based and maintained at Haldon. The Westenras’ aircraft were normally finished in a special colour scheme of blue fuselage and gold painted wings.

A figure that would acquire even greater prominence in the pre-war flying movement arrived at Haldon during the course of a Saturday morning. The ancient motor cycle ridden by the sixteen year old apparently concealed the immense wealth of his family. The youth identified himself as Whitney Straight (1912 – 1979) and, holding out a £1 note, asked that Bill Parkhouse should take him flying for as long as his money lasted. The Avian G-EBXO was quickly prepared and young Whitney was provided with a bird’s eye view of his home at nearby Dartington Hall. Parkhouse quickly recognising Straight’s enthusiasm ensured that reality was maintained by delegating the task of flattening the flints on the aerodrome surface to Whitney, who was provided with an ancient agricultural tractor and heavy concrete roller for the purpose. Meanwhile he disclosed that his interest in flying had been motivated by his first cousin, C.V. Whitney, a former chairman of Pan American Airways. Continuing his flying training at Haldon he went on to take his “A” Licence a few days after his 17th birthday. Later, in an effort to steer him away from his motor racing activities, his parents sought the advice of Bill Parkhouse. The advice culminated in the formation of the Straight Corporation with its nation-wide operation of flying clubs, airlines and management of municipally-owned airports.

Following the sale of his Avian to Whitney Straight, Bill Parkhouse purchased a DH60G Gipsy Moth G-AAJG from de Havilland’s Stag Lane. The aircraft was used at Haldon for both instructional and general duties. Subsequently Straight would purchase a Gipsy Moth and later a Puss Moth from the Haldon agency.

In 1929 an interesting visiting aircraft appeared at Haldon, a Westland 1V prototype G-EBXK. A three-engine high wing monoplane built at Yeovil, the design evolved into the Westland Wessex that would be operated by GWR Air Services through Haldon in the summer of 1933.