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| An artist impression of the Pioneer running the Edgehil Ridge |
Beautiful blue skies set the perfect scene for our 70th Anniversary Whittle Jet Open Day. It is with pride that we remembered this element of the secret history of aviation and the part our airfield played in it.
The Gloster E28/39 Pioneer W4041 - the Whittle jet - had first flown at Cranwell in 1941. Edgehill was then selected as the base for secret flight tests due to its proximity to the manufacturer's Gloster and Power jets. It is interesting to note that the first flight tests of jet engines were conducted by attaching the jet to the rear fuselage of a Wellington bomber - strapped to the tail cone. A hanger was built to house the jet in secrecy on the aerodrome perimeter between Christmas Corner and Shenington turn (near where the John Deere buildings are now). The jet made its first trial taxi on February 4th 1942. Flight testing began and it flew successfully until March 24th when part of a turbine blade broke away in flight and an emergency landing was made on the airfield. Flight trials of the Gloster were resumed in June 1942.
As well as the open day events we had our busiest club flying day so far this year. Duty Instructors were by Paul N & Derrick S with Tez as LPC and Dave G tugging. Lots of club members were out and enjoying the fine weather, getting current and some even managed a bit of soaring! Refreshments were on hand all day, splendidly run by Mary and Jane.
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| Sir Frank Whittle |
We also had a fine 10 minute display from Tony Hooper with his model jet aircraft (the only other jet to date to fly from the airfield) to everones delight. There was also interest from the press with a visit from the Stratford Herold. A big thanks must also go to Jan A, Mark H, Tess W and all the other club members who organised the event.
It was to our delight that we had a clubhouse full of interested visitors the whole day ranging from interested locals to long established aviation buffs. We are particularly indebted to the representatives of The Jet Age Museum and The Midland Air Museum who both brought excellent displays and exhibits to our event and to Barry Jones for his excellent lecture this evening. We are also much indebted to Eric Kaye, life-long local resident and author of the book 'THE STORY OF RAF EDGEHILL', who was just a small boy when the RAF appeared at Edgehill, for all his expert assistance and unstinting enthusiasm.