Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
I learned to fly at Brooklands in the early summer of 1915, in a Maurice Farman Longhorn with a 70 hp Renault engine. Failure to take the Royal Aero Club ticket would have cost £75, but I was lucky and passed the tests in two hours and ten minutes, spread over about three weeks—no flying if it was even slightly bumpy or more than about a 15 mph wind. One had to make two figures of eight at not under 1000 ft and then land in the 50 yds circle with engine off. The sewage farm in the corner of the aerodrome, close to the railway, had a specially magnetic charm for some people, and I happily did not make that mistake.
Lecture given before the Historical Group of the Society on 10th February 1969.