Airman’s PR push on flying visit to Stirling

A famous British aviator touched down in Stirling in July 1929 to promote air, travel, meet civic leaders and provide free flights.

Sir Alan Cobham was a member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War One and after the conflict he became a test pilot for the de Havilland aircraft company.

He undertook several long-distance, route-proving flights to India, Burma, South Africa and Australia which gained him international fame.

Following his landing on the

Thames upon returning from the Antipodes in front of an estimated one million sightseers, he received a knighthood.

After forming his own company

Alan Cobham Aviation, he embarked on a crusade to make the government and the general public ‘air minded’.

He toured the country in a 10-seater airliner visiting 110 towns and cities and undertaking 5000 local flights carrying 50,000 passengers which included 10,000 schoolchildren - all within a 21-week period.

His aim was to convince civic leaders authorities that the time had come to build local airports, and it is thought his visit to Scotland was part of this crusade.

And he was certainly welcomed enthusiastically in Stirling. A civic lunch to welcome Sir Alan had been laid on at the Golden Lion Hotel.

The great aviator had been due to arrive at 11am but it was four hours later before his plane, the ‘Youth of Britain’ , emerged from the mist, circled Stirling Castle and made a perfect landing at Falleninch Field.

Sir Alan immediately climbed out of the plane, which was powered by a 500 horsepower Jaguar Armstrong

Siddley engine, and apologised to Provost Barker and his council colleagues for his late arrival.

Weather conditions, he said, ‘had been most extraordinary. ’

Sir Alan said he would have started out earlier but his manager had told him: ‘Don’t leave yet, you will hit the castle.’

Welcoming him, Provost Barker said the airman had been right to name his plane ‘Youth of Britain’ because it was the younger members of the population who he would be trying to interest in aviation ‘and not old fogies like us’.

In an editorial, the Observer endorsed Sir Alan’s view that there was no reason why Stirling could not establish an airport.

‘If we don’t take the chance some other town will for air transport is going to be a big factor in the near future,’ added the paper.

‘A flying club in Stirling is a good start but it is not enough. The Town Council should make up its mind to secure for Stirling the reputation of having the finest aerodrome in central Scotland.’