Page 30 • The HERALD • 12th March 2026 v THE HERALD - YOUR COMMUNITY MAGAZINE v • Airport & Seaport Specialists • Highly Competitive Fares • Friendly, Reliable Service • Comfortable 6 Seater MPVs • Any Distance - Minimum Fare £10 Before booking your journey please call us for a free quotation 07770 967198 or 023 8194 8754 www.kazcarz.co.uk * Digital Aerial & Satellite Installation, Re-sited & Serviced * Freesat HD / Freeview HD * TV Distribution Points * TV Wall Mounting & Installations * SMATV / IRS / Communal work * DAB / FM Aerial Installed * Wi-Fi Signal Problems Humphries Digital Aerials Keith Humphries & Son All Areas Covered • Tel: 023 8066 7362 Email: humphriesaerials@btconnect.com Website: www.humphriesdigitalaerials.co.uk A Family Firm Est 1971 CAI Company of the Year 2014 1910 and the Birth of Flying Over the New Forest by Marc Heighway Marc is available as a guest speaker to deliver local history talks. Find out more at: nfhwa.org/speakers In 1903, the Wright brothers made the rst powered ight. Just seven years later, the New Forest had its own ying school. It was only the second ying school to open in the UK. e world was shi ing fast. e New Forest Flying School opened in May 1910, encouraged by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, and founded by two very di erent characters: John Armstrong Drexel and William McArdle. McArdle was a successful businessman. He ran one of the largest garages in the south, Motor Macs, on Holdenhurst Road in Bournemouth. But by 1909 he’d tired of cars and wanted excitement. He sold the garage and threw himself into aviation at the moment ight stopped being a novelty and began to look like it could grow to be a new industry. Drexel was di erent. He was an American millionaire heir in an age when aviation was still very much a rich man’s game. His grandfather was the banker and founder behind Drexel, Morgan & Co, the rm that would evolve into the bank we know as JP Morgan. In April 1910, both men were in Pau, south of France. e French were leading the world in pilot training, issuing certi cates while other countries were still arguing about whether ight would ever be practical. McArdle quali ed as Certi cate No. 72. Drexel had engine trouble and failed to qualify in France, but he soon gained his credentials back in Britain. Within hours, they were planning their own ying school, and the following month they established the New Forest Aviation School at East Boldre. Drexel’s family wealth provided the nancial muscle, and they rented three large sheds across the road from the heathland they wanted to use as their “runway”. It seems likely Lord Montagu had pointed them towards the area as suitable ground for early ying. However, they were unable to get permission from the O ce of Woods (a primary predecessor to the Forestry Commission) to use the heathland. But they went ahead anyway, slowly clearing vegetation with help from East Boldre villagers. ey built up a small eet of six aircra . Drexel’s own Blériot plane had arrived in a wonderfully transitional way: delivered to Brockenhurst railway station, then hauled by horse and cart to East Boldre. e rst ights took place on Sunday 1st May 1910. Within a month the school was making headlines. In June 1910, Drexel set a British altitude record at East Boldre, reaching 1,070 feet. Two thousand people were present, including Lord Montagu. At the highest point, Drexel cut the engine and planed down in wide circles to the amazement of the crowd. e record only stood brie y, beaten two days later in Essex, which just tells you again how ercely competitive this brave new world was. It was not simply about records. Publicity brought pupils so in July 1910, Drexel and McArdle toured ying meetings to compete and advertise the school. One of the biggest was Bournemouth’s centenary celebrations, staged as a spectacular run of events in early July: carnivals, concerts, regattas, masquerade balls, and an international aviation meeting became one of the main attractions. Lord Montagu even appealed for prize money for British aviators. Left to right: John Armstrong Drexel and William McArdle Continued on page 31
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTIyNzI=