Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC (May 6, 1894- October 21, 1973) was an English aviation pioneer.
A member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, Alan Cobham became famous as a pioneer of long distance aviation. After the war he became a test pilot for the de Havilland aircraft company. In 1921 he made a 5000 mile air tour of Europe, visiting 17 cities in 3 weeks. In 1924 he flew a Short Singapore flying boat around the continent of Africa landing only in British territory. In August 1926, he flew from England to Australia where 60,000 people swarmed across the grassy fields of Essendon Airport, Melbourne when he landed his DH-50 float plane (it had been converted to a wheeled undercarriage earlier, at Darwin. He was knighted the same year.
In 1932 he started the National Aviation Day displays - a combination of barnstorming and joyriding. This consisted of a team of up to fourteen aircraft, ranging ffrom single-seaters to modern airliners, and many skilled pilots. It toured the country, calling at hundreds of sites, some of them regular airfields and some just fields cleared for the occasion. Generally known as 'Cobham's Flying Circus', it was hugely popular, giving thousands of people their first experience of flying, and bringing 'air-mindedness' to the population. These continued until the end of the 1935 season. In the 1930s he pioneered inflight refueling. The company he formed is still active in the aviation industry as Cobham plc.
Aerofilms was the UK's first commercial aerial photography company, founded in 1919 by F.L. Wills and Claude Graeme-White. In its early period it had links with pioneer cinematographer Claude Friese Greene and pilot/entrepreneur Sir Alan Cobham. The company pioneered the science of photogrammetry (mapping from aerial photographs) and its staff and state-of-the-art equipment were co-opted into the war effort in 1940, forming part of the Photographic Intelligence Unit (PIU).
Aerofilms photographs have been extensively used in books relating to geography, topography and travel, and have featured in books such as The Aerofilms Book of England from the Air (1988) and Coastlines from the Air (1996). Perhaps the best known example of the company's work is the title-sequence mosaic of east London used for the BBC soap Eastenders.
As of June 2006, the company's photographic library is being moved to the company's main office in Cheddar, Somerset from its previous location in Potters Bar. It will remain open to all enquirers in its new location.
Another notable air display in Chipping Norton occurred in 1933 when Sir Alan Cobham brought his famous Flying Circus to town. Officially this company was called National Aviation Day (later Display) Limited, in practice this travelling group of aeroplanes, stunt pilots, parachutists and the like was usually called 'Cobham's Flying Circus'. The performance included wing walking, aerobatics, stunts and pleasure flights. This was still the golden age of aviation and there were few, if any restrictions, so Sir Alan Cobham was able to take locals on flights, sometimes including looping the loop.
Try getting away with that today! Sir Alan was one of the true pioneers of popular flying and also one of the ones who managed a long life. He started out in aviation at the end of the first World War and continued an active flying career including winning the King’s Cup Air race in 1924, becoming de Havilland's senior pilot, setting up sea plane routes, and travelling widely in the Middle East and Africa. Eventually he retired to the British Virgin Islands, finally returning to England and dying in 1973, aged 79. He was a very rare example of an old, bold pilot who also did much to make commercial flying popular. It being an axiom of flying that, 'there are old pilots, and bold pilots, but there are no, old, bold pilots!'
Bristol Memories of THE FLYING CIRCUS
The Flying Circus was in a field on California Farm, just off California Road. The planes took off roughly between the Waterworks Cottage and the pathway that leads to what was St Anne's Vicarage, flying towards Sally On The Barn at the top of Court Farm Road. Sir Alan Cobham's Flying Circus, which also performed in a field in Hanham. Where Hanham Abbots school is today.
The year was 1936/7. I remember walking from Victoria Parade in Redfield where we lived to see this spectacle. It was fantastic - the twin-winged planes taking off from this field where Memorial Road is now.
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Memories of Bristol over the past 100 years including 3000 photographs on-line
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