Page 22 • The HERALD • 12th September 2024 v SAY YOU SAW IT IN THE HERALD v Kitchen & Bathroom Showroom with free design service Tel: 023 8084 3787 Email: showroom@pcbuildingsupplies.co.uk Web: www.pcbuildingsupplies.co.uk S H PLASTERING Contact Sam on 07896 830160 No Job is Too Small! Local • Reliable Service New Forest Scaffolding All aspects of scaffolding undertaken • Extensions • Chimneys • Re-Roofing • New Builds etc For a friendly, local, reliable service and a free quotation Telephone: 07734 476855 www.newforestscaffolding.co.uk Full Liability Insurance Lychette Cottage, Roughdown, Blackfield SO45 1XG How Fire, Flight, & Fate Struck Southampton Marc hosts monthly local history talks, visit: nfhwa.org/events for details. In 1931, Britain was in the grip of the Great Depression. e Wall Street Crash two years earlier had triggered a chain of events that were felt globally, including in Britain, where exports fell by half and unemployment soared to unprecedented levels. Life in the New Forest and Waterside area would have undoubtedly been tough (depending on one’s social class, of course). But unlike many others across the country a ected by the Great Depression, people in the local area had something very special on their doorstep: the water. Southampton Water, along with stretches of the Solent’s beaches at Calshot, Lepe, and the shoreline in the Hythe area, became popular spots for days out, fun, picnics, and leisure. launching from the Calshot slipways, reaching speeds of over three hundred miles per hour in preparation for the 1931 Schneider Trophy race. One can only imagine the excitement and awe inspired by all this activity. However, in August of 1931, these scenes of innovation quickly took a tragic turn when bad luck struck three times in the span of een days. e sequence of events began at 7am on Monday 3rd August, when ames were seen rising from the roof of a building at the British Power Boat Company. Firemen rushed to Shore Road, but within minutes, the re had engulfed large parts of the site, including y racing boats belonging to the company owner, Hubert Scott-Paine. e damage was estimated at £100,000 to £160,000 - equivalent to £5.7 to £9.1 million today. ankfully, there was no loss of life in the re, and the business would eventually recover and resume manufacturing. However, two hundred men lost their jobs overnight - a devastating blow at any time, and especially during a recession. But the misfortune didn’t end there. Just een days later, on Tuesday 18th August, tragedy struck local waters again. Lieutenant Gerald Lewis “Jerry” Brinton, a pilot practicing at Calshot in preparation for the Schneider Trophy, was conducting high-speed trials in a Supermarine S6 seaplane when witnesses saw the machine take o and then dive into the water at high speed. It bounced three times on the surface, reaching a height of y feet on the nal bounce. Brinton is believed to have been killed instantly. As a mark of respect for the fallen pilot, practice was cancelled for a day. e RAF Calshot ag was own at half-mast, and as ships passed through Southampton Water, they dipped their ensigns in tribute to the young o cer. A journalist reporting on the accident provided a poignant reminder of the catastrophe, noting how he found Lieutenant Brinton’s car standing empty and neglected in the pouring rain, still parked where the pilot had le it outside the o cers’ mess before his tragic ight. Tragically, another incident occurred that same day. Supermarine S6 N247 that Jerry Brinton died whilst testing Not much has changed in that respect. And if you had been alive in 1931, you would have had the privilege of witnessing something extraordinary: breathtaking scenes of innovation and technology being tested and developed in and over the local waters. e Vickers-Supermarine Aviation Company was assembling ying boats at their Shore Road premises in Hythe. Watching those magnificent machines take o from Southampton Water must have been an incredible sight. Also on Shore Road, the British Power Boat Company was manufacturing highend speedboats. The company had recently won a tender to develop rescue boats for the RAF a er T.E. Shaw (better known as Lawrence of Arabia) had successfully tested a prototype vessel earlier in the year. Just ve miles down the shoreline, Supermarine S6 seaplanes, powered by Rolls-Royce engines, were Continued on page 23 by Marc Heighway
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