The Leysdown
Aviation Memorial
Stone
Unveiled By
Lord Brabazon Of
Tara
To Commemorate The 90th
Anniversary Of The First Flight By A
Briton In Britain Which Was Made
On 2nd May 1909 By
Mr J.T.C. Moore-Brabazon
THE HISTORY OF SHELLBEACH AIRFIELD. LEYSDOWN
In 1908, some four and a half years after they achieved the first controlled
flight by a heavier-than-air craft, the Wright Brothers brought their aeroplane
to France in the hope of, at last, achieving commercial sales of their invention.
Soon after their arrival there the Short Brothers, who were balloon
manufacturers and aeronautical engineers to the Aero Club of Great Britain,
decided to embark on the construction of heavier-than-air machines. They
negotiated with the Wright Brothers in France and won agreement to build
Wright Flyer Machines in Britain. Following the selection of a suitable site by
Griffith Brewer, the Wrights patent agent in Britain, the Short Brothers leased
400 acres of land adjacent to Shellbeach and set up the first aircraft factory in
this country. It was agreed that the site be made available to all Aero Club
members and Mr Frank McClean (later Sir Francis) paid for the preparation of
the landing ground, previously golf links. The site was opened in February
1909 and Mr John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon brought his Voisin
aircraft “Bird of Passage”, that he had purchased in France, to the new field.
Over the weekend of April 30th – May 2nd Moore-Brabazon made
three sustained flights of 150 yards, 200 yards and 500 yards and
thus achieved the honour of being officially recorded as the first
Briton to fly in Britain.
On 4th May 1909 the Wright Brothers came to Leysdown to
see the new facilities. Their visit was recorded in the famous
photograph reproduced on the back of this leaflet. This was
taken outside Muswell Manor, which still stands today and is
privately owned.
On October 30th of the same year, flying Shorts No 2 Aeroplane, MooreBrabazon completed the first circular mile ever flown in a British Aircraft thus
winning a £1,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail. The time taken was 2
minutes 36.2 seconds at an average height 0f 20 feet. Moore-Brabazon was
awarded Pilot’s Certificate No.1, by The Royal Aero Club, on 10th March 1910.
In November 1909 Mr Frank McClean purchased Stonepitts Farm
at Eastchurch and gave it to the Aero Club. Flying activities and
Shorts factory, started at Shellbeach, were immediately relocated
and the Eastchurch airfield went on to become the most
important site in the country for the early development of British
Aviation.
The Memorial Stone at Leysdown
The memorial stone is placed alongside a public footpath at a point close to
Muswell Manor and the Shellbeach landing ground to remind passers-by of
the historic events that took place in the vicinity in 1909.
The inscription records the first flight by a Briton, J.T.C.
Moore-Brabazon, in Britain that took place at Shellbeach.
The present Lord Brabazon of Tara, grandson of the aviation
pioneer, unveiled the stone.
The stone, made of granite with a Kentish Ragstone finish,
was made by Gordon Newton of Burslem Memorials and
was funded by the Medway Branch of the Royal
Aeronautical Society working in association with the Medway
Aircraft Preservation Society, Sheppey Heritage Trust, Medway Heritage Trust
and the Short Brothers Commemoration Society. These organisations are
grateful for the help of Swale Borough Council in this endeavour.
The Eastchurch Memorial
The
Eastchurch
memorial
commemorates the first home of
British aviation, the first factory for
the manufacture of heavier than air
machines and the first Royal Naval
Air Service Station. Appropriately, it
is located at the corner of the High
Street, where one road leads to
Leysdown and the other to what was
Eastchurch airfield. The structure
consists of a Portland stone wall
curved in plan on one side, like the
camber of an aeroplane wing, and straight on the other. At the top of the wall
are panels carved with aeroplanes of the 1909-11 era. The central figure is
Zeus, Greek mythological God of the Heavens. At each end of the wall is a
pillar surmounted by a sphere of the heavens with a group of navigating
instruments on one side and an airman’s helmet at the other. The piers are
supporters of aeroplane landing wheels. Below the central tablets is placed a
small pond over which is inscribed a flying boat coming in to alight.
The Eastchurch memorial was the idea of a few of the older inhabitants of
Eastchurch who got together in 1949 to investigate a suitable memorial to
commemorate the events which took place in their midst during the years
1908-11. After a letter in The Times, signed by Winston Churchill, great
interest was shown in the project with Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Brabazon,
Oswald Short and Sir Francis McClean becoming patrons.
Picture taken at Muswell Manor, Leysdown on 4th May 1909. Back Row The
Manors owner, Oswald Short, Horace Short, Eustace Short, Frank McClean, Griffith
Brewer, Frank Hedges Butler, Dr Lockyer and Warwick Wright. Front Row JTC
Moore-Brabazon, Wilber Wright, Orville Wright and the Hon C.S. Rolls.
The Aviation Centenary Committee of Eastchurch Parish Council presents this
updated version of the original publication by the Patrons of the Leysdown
Memorial Stone.