Page 26 • The HERALD • 25th June 2026 v SAY YOU SAW IT IN THE HERALD v EXPERT DOMESTICS APPLIANCE SERVICES Sales and Repairs to All Makes and Models 169-171 LONG LANE, HOLBURY • TEL (023) 8089 0054 POSSIBLY THE ONLY INDEPENDENT MAIN DEALER IN THE NEW FOREST For Bosch, Belling, Britannia, Candy, Ebac, Hotpoint, Hoover, Indesit, Ice King, LG, LEC, Liebherr, Miele, Neff, Sebo, Siemens, Stoves, Whirlpool, Zanussi and more... Free Standing & Built In Sales Centre Over 300 appliances in stock www.expertdomestics.co.uk HANDY HANDS HANDYMAN SERVICES Your Local Handyman For ALL Your Small Jobs • Gutter Clearance & Clearing • PVCu Fascias, Gutters, Soffits & Conservatory Cleaning • Pressure Cleaning of Paths & Patios • Window Cleaning • Interior & Exterior Painting • Grass Cutting, Strimming • Hedge Trimming • Shed Re-treated/ Roofs Re-felted • Flat Pack Assembly Fully Insured Free Estimates Work Guaranteed References on Request T: 023 8084 0096 M: 07840 860202 The Mystery Of The ‘Insect Plane’ Built In The New Forest by Marc Heighway Marc is available as a guest speaker to deliver local history talks. Find out more at: marcheighway.co.uk In a clearing near Ringwood in 1934 stood one of the strangest ying machines ever built in the New Forest. It wasn’t an aeroplane. It wasn’t a helicopter. Instead, it looked more like something you might expect to see in a science ction comic. And its creator? He wasn’t an aircra engineer or military scientist but actually a retired local government o cial approaching his 79th birthday. omas Augustus Dring believed he had discovered the secret of ight. I rst discovered his story when I saw a remarkable photograph in an old newspaper. It showed a bizarre aircra standing beside its inventor. e machine’s appearance was so unusual that it immediately raised questions. Who was this man, and what exactly was he trying to achieve? I needed to know more. Dring was born in Wiltshire in 1855 and spent much of his working life as County Treasurer for Wiltshire County Council. A er retiring in 1921, he settled at High eld Cottage near Poulner, just outside Ringwood. Most retirees might have been content with gardening or leisurely walks. But Dring was di erent. He dedicated himself to a problem that had fascinated him for decades: how insects y. For more than 25 years he studied hovering insects, and particularly drone ies. He became convinced that conventional aircra designers had misunderstood the principles of ight. Rather than relying on wings in the traditional sense, Dring believed insects generated li through streams of compressed air created by the motion of their wings. It was a theory that most aviation experts would have viewed with considerable scepticism. Yet Dring was so convinced he was right that he set about building a full-sized ying machine to prove it. Newspapers across Britain became intrigued by the elderly inventor working away in his New Forest workshop. One report I read from January 1934 described his invention as a “ ying motor car” and reported on Dring’s claim that it would rise vertically from the ground without the need for a runway. e machine itself was unlike anything else ying at the time. It had no conventional wings and was neither an autogyro nor a helicopter. Dring described it as an entirely new method of ight. Journalists who visited Poulner reported on his quiet con dence, although some reports do feel a little mocking in their coverage. But Dring remained media coverage increased. Reports announced that trials were imminent and how Dring claimed the aircra would soon make its rst unmanned ight from a secluded location in the New Forest. And then came the day of the test. But a er that? e story simply disappeared. I found no further records of Dring’s insect plane in news archives. ere were no triumphant headlines announced of a successful test ight. Equally, no reports appeared describing a spectacular failure. It is as if the story vanished from history. I suspect the machine never le the ground. Perhaps a test was carried out and quietly abandoned when the results proved disappointing and embarrassing for Dring. What I did nd though, was that he continued living in the area for the remainder of his life. e last trace I could nd was a small newspaper advertisement placed in 1942 seeking a housekeeper and companion. A year later, on 1st October 1943, omas Augustus Dring died aged 87. With his death, the dream of the insect plane appears to have died too. convinced that success was only weeks away. One newspaper quoted him as saying: “I have not the least doubt she will fly.” As the months passed, Dring’s insect plane ‘Chat About’ Social Club Join Hythe Library on Wednesday mornings 10am to 12noon to meet and socialise with new friends who are also retired. Feel free to take along existing friends or get to know their regulars and enjoy a free hot drink and maybe even a biscuit. No need to book, they look forward to seeing you there.
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