Ken’s Address: “ Honoured Guests for the Evening ~ Lady Nadine Cobham

escorted by Michael Bryer-Ash, also Capt. James Peers and

Brian Grinter (both formerly with BOAC’s Flying Boats),

this Event is to celebrate The Century of British Aviation,

in a year when Poole Flying Boats Celebration has already

marked the Diamond Jubilee of the last Flying Boat services

from Poole and the Marine Terminal of BOAC.

From the brave early ‘zoomers’, especially the experiments

of Samuel Franklin Cody, through to aviation’s pioneers

such as the great Sir Alan Cobham with his return flight to

Australia and his 20,000 miles around Africa by Flying Boat;

then the heroes of the War years to jet propulsion & rocket

power and the marvels of Supersonic Flight - Concorde era;

now the Super Jumbos of today - with up to 850 passengers

(hopefully not all standing) !? Contrast that with 2 paying passengers on the world’s first scheduled (seasonal) Flying

Boat Service in 1919 ~ from Bournemouth, over Poole Bay

to the Isle of Wight…or the two dozen carried in wonderful

luxury by the great Empire C-Class for Imperial Airways

(doubled in the austerity years with the Shuttle to Foynes) as Poole Harbour became famously the birthplace of BOAC.

Future generations will see C20th. as the Century of Flight !”

Details of The Evening’s Auction (by Davey & Davey):

Flight around Poole Harbour in a Cessna Courtesy of FRAviation £ 80 =

A Case of very fine French Champagne Courtesy of SG Hambros £160 =

2 Premiership Football Tickets: WH v MC Courtesy of Barclays Wealth £ 80 =

Lunch for 2 at the Harbour Heights Hotel Courtesy of FJB Hotels £ 75 =

Round of Golf for 4 at Parkstone Golf Course Courtesy of Steele Raymond £140 =

Lunch for 5 at Coutts Bank in The Strand Courtesy of Coutts & Co. £210 =

Afternoon Tea at the Chewton Glen Hotel Courtesy of Chewton Glen Hotel £ 65 =

Limited Ed. Framed Photo. of Lewis Hamilton Courtesy of Connells £300 =

A Half-Case of splendid Italian Wine Courtesy of Prof. John Newton £ 65 =

A Red Ferrari (Model as Radio-Operated) Courtesy of Harry & Aimée £100 = ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Trustees take this opportunity to thank all those who supported

the Evening’s Auction, from Neil Davey as auctioneer - through to

those who realised £1,275 in successfully bidding for Auction Gifts.

Harry Alexander in overall charge of the Evening however remarks

than none of this would have been possible without the vital support

of those Event Sponsors ~ SG Hambros, Barclays, and Close Bros.;

- also all those who attended the Event to make it a splendid evening.

‘So please receive our wholehearted gratitude for your generosity !’

Poole Flying Boats Celebration No 1123274

THE PFBC TRUSTEES…. Who Welcome You All Commodore: Ken Sanson (also Chair of the Trustees) V Commodore: Harry Alexander R Commodores: Adrian Borrill Bertie Bowman Flag Officer: Aimée Alexander (our PFBC Archivist) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Also invited to Trustees’ Meetings are:

Hon. President: Jack Harris Vice President: Leslie Dawson Committee Chair: John Newton Hon.Life Member: Ian Andrews (Represents our HLMs)

Also present until recent times was Peter Steer (now a PFBC HLM) Peter is congratulated for all his ongoing and invaluable support !

Celebrating 100 Years of British Aviation

On Thursday 18th. September, 96 people attended this special Event

to mark the Centennial, and Poole Harbour’s contribution to this…

The venue of the ‘Edinburgh Suite’ at the Royal Motor Yacht Club

had been festooned with bunting by Peter Steer and Adrian Borrill.

PFBC Commodore Ken Sanson welcomed Lady Nadine Cobham

as our honoured guest in representing the achievements of a family

which is famed for pioneering & developing innovations in aviation.

Sir Alan and Lady Gladys Cobham are buried at Tarrant Rushton’s

Churchyard by the former airfield - where many of the experiments

for flight refuelling were conducted, including over Poole Harbour.

We were delighted that Capt. James Peers and Brian Grinter formerly

of BOAC and its Flying Boats joined us on this wonderful occasion,

- which was captured for us by Graham New with his photography.

Bertie Bowman gave a special toast for our Centennial Celebration.

Dinner followed a polished Presentation by Leslie Dawson PFBC’s

Vice President, excellently assisted by Kevin Patience who had also

prepared several Display Boards with much supporting information.

The 4-Course Meal was served with wine, all of which was enjoyed !

Celebrations continued apace into the night with a Charity Auction

organised by Harry Alexander, and so professionally delivered by

Auctioneer Neil Davey of Davey & Davey, inspiring generous bids.

The ten Auction Gifts all realised much-needed funds for PFBC: →

Then James Brown - a magician with national acclaim, provided his

spell-binding performance to delight our guests before they retired.

The Trustees recognise the significant input to make this evening a great success by Nick Snook, Simon & Anna Howard, Barbara Cobb, and Wendy Harney; along with RMYC staff and Peninsula Catering; also Sarah Austin of BoP Leisure Services for the projector & screen.

Lady Nadine Cobham with Mr. Michael Bryer Ash

and PFBC Commodore Ken Sanson

Julie Pelton, Peter Steer, Alison Sepping, Ken, Bertie & Marion Bowman

Royal Motor Yacht Club

as the RNAS Sandbanks:

HMS Daedalus II (WW2)

** A highly significant part of the purpose of PFBC is

to provide an Archive available for public access… **

This takes in many aspects of the history of the Flying Boats,

both civil & military, and the Seaplanes which were based in

Poole Harbour & its surrounds. It focuses on the era 1939-48

which includes WW2, and a time before transfer to The Solent.

Yet, our PFBC Archive is not exclusive to just these years:

Poole Bay featured earlier in the world’s very first scheduled

passenger Flying Boat services (- seasonal), and in 1919 the

Schneider Trophy was contested, with the Italians based here.

Even prior to WW1, French aviation pioneer Henri Farman

(of English descent) in 1912 flew his hydro-airplane to the

beachfront at Bournemouth where spectators gathered as a

vast crowd to marvel at this uniquely compelling occasion !

Post 1948, Poole/Hamworthy became a resting place for some

of BOAC’s Flying Boats awaiting disposal (most scrapped). In doing so, these left memories for those who grew up here

in the 1950s and early 60s, to vividly remember even today !

Our Archive views much of this record through those accounts

and photos which express a human story. This encompasses

much potential for research which extends from the personal

experiences of approximately 600 families directly involved

in the Flying Boats services of BOAC where these formed

the worldwide network. Poole was the birthplace of BOAC ! Further, an equivalent number was based at RAF Hamworthy

and also at the Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Sandbanks;

together with all those providing support services for these -

in ranging from the Oil Depot at Lake, to transport facilities.

A great deal of Research for our Archive considers various

topics previously not accounted for by in-depth information:

For example the ‘Airways Specials’ of British Railways;

the airmail services involved with BOAC’s Flying Boats...

also the ‘French Connection’ of General de Gaulle’s flights; and those wreck sites in-and-around Poole Harbour of the

Flying Boats & Seaplanes, some tragically marking loss of life

including the famous Maia when destroyed by enemy action; furthermore the remarkable story of returning prisoners of

war from the Far East to Poole, then onwards to hospital…

Our Archive is being made freely accessible, appropriately

within copyright & financial constraints. This is based upon

PFBC’s comprehensive framework of more than 100 cross-

referenced specific categories ~ which takes the form of a

variety of formats, inc. PFBC’s website, occasional papers,

personal accounts, photos, essays, literature, artefacts such as

logbooks etc., + information-sharing with other organisations.

Aimée PFBC Flag Officer ~ Founding Trustee & Archivist Á

A significant, wonderful recent addition by the Honan Family

to our PFBC Archive has been an exclusive set of photographs.

These were taken prewar when Val’s father Percy J. Douglas

was at IAL’s Hythe base, before transferring to Poole Harbour.

Subsequently, we learned from BOAC’s 1940 Speedbird mag.

that Percy was highly popular amongst Marine Terminal Staff

for he ran a band ‘The Melody Makers’ often playing there !

Since then we have had contact with Val’s sister in the USA

+ we have welcomed the Honan Family as Friends of PFBC !

Poole Flying Boats Celebration Charity No. 1123274

Trustee Newsletter: Autumn 2008

Welcome to our Newsletter with Articles on Current Events, News and Views ~ for PFBC Members, Friends & Supporters www.pooleflyingboats.com (THE ' OPUS in colour)

By its title, the keynote of PFBC as a Charity is ‘Celebration’:

Celebrations take various forms from marking Special Events,

through to the records compiled from our ongoing Research.

This was carefully formulated by those who founded PFBC

and became Trustees, or provide support in other capacities.

Within PFBC, celebration is regarded as a dynamic meaning

which involves the gifting of skills, enthusiasm, time & effort,

towards achieving the main object of a public-access Archive.

Recently PFBC celebrated the Centennial of British Aviation

with our fund-raising Dinner held at the RMYC, Sandbanks.

We are now prospecting a range of ‘Celebrations’ as events,

as our objectives for the remainder of the year + through 2009.

On the horizon, is the Schneider Trophy competition of 1919

which was held in Poole Bay, focussed off Bournemouth Pier.

The Anniversary of this is on 10th. September. It also includes

the first confirmed recording of Seaplanes in Poole Harbour,

assembled and prepared for the race, and with the Italian team

based at Harbour Heights just prior to its inception as a hotel.

Our celebrations take many guises and formats, all aimed at

increasing global public awareness of the significance that

our local history has made to a first century of powered-flight !

The Trustees readily recognise the efforts made by so many in

supporting & encouraging PFBC as a Charity to grow further.

As our Commodore Ken Sanson remarked in a recent speech

“ PFBC as a Charity is going from strength-to-strength…”

This is denoted by contributions to our public-access Archive,

Storyboards, History Days, and the popularity of our Events.

This is also a 2-way process as there is plenty of opportunity

for those actively participating in the organisation to benefit

in turn - gaining from marvellous information and new friends. For News about The Celebrations of PFBC please read on...

THE

' OPUS

©

** Also we will use Gift Aid to maximise assistance to PFBC **

CANOPUS

Join Friends of PFBC: There is a modest fee of £5 p.a. to become a PFBC Founder Friend.

~ Membership entitles you attend meetings of PFBC Friends Group, to receive Newsletters, and to have the earliest opportunity for tickets to enjoy Celebrations !

~ s.a.e. to Ken Sanson 113 Banks Road, Poole BH13 7QQ for a form, or ksanson@onetel.net

The Finishing Touches:

Kevin’s Display Boards

are now set up ~ with

places laid for ‘Dinner’

and menus to the fore !

Each table was named

after a class of British

Flying Boat or Seaplane

associated with Poole...

Ken & Harry thanking helpers for the evening

Sylvia Taylor & Susan

Dismorr - who ensured

everything went to plan.

Photo. of ‘Composite Pair’ Maia~Mercury (P.Douglas).

PFBC gets more enquiries about Maia than any other Flying Boat subject matter ~ operating on the Shuttle services to Foynes in Eire, before being bombed here & destroyed in May 1941. MAIA

MERCURY