Page 483 - Reading Mercury

Mr Clark asked for the names of the persons to whom danger was caused. Supt. C
Goddard said danger must have been caused to hundreds of people but he would give
the names of himself and four constables.
Supt. Goddard produced the Order which stated that trick-flying must not be carried
out over any city or town area or any populous district, nor must aeroplanes be flown
at such a low altitude as to cause unnecessary danger to persons or property. At 2.30
th
pm on Wednesday, November 8 , he said, he was in the police station, when an
aeroplane went over at such a low altitude that it seemed to skim Mr Barry’s house. It
made a tremendous noise and had there been a timid horse in the street it was more
than probable that it would have been alarmed. He had heard that some sort of trick-
flying was to be carried out having seen bills to that effect in shop windows. He went
towards the meadow where he understood the landing was to be, and at All Saints
Church he noticed that another flight was taking place. The aeroplane came over him
and was lower than the tower of All Saints’ Church. Finding that the meadow was
rather further away than he thought he turned back to send a constable on a bicycle.
He returned to the Market Place at 3.00 pm and again heard a tremendous noise and
looking up he saw the aeroplane come over Barclay’s Bank. Until it came over those
premises he could not see it. It turned and after rising a little nosed down into a
vertical position and turning again returned in the direction from which it came,
namely Buckhurst Farm. Later it returned over Broad Street at an exceedingly low
altitude and when it had travelled over a shop he could not see it. At the time when it
was over Palmer Schools the children were dispersing and had it crashed two or three
hundred children would have been in danger.
Cross-examined by Mr. Clark Supt. Goddard would not agree that it was a difficult
matter to estimate the height at which an aeroplane was flying
. Defendant was flying at the height of the weather vane at the top of the Town Hall.
He did not know that defendant was carrying an altimeter neither has he asked to
inspect it. Defendant was unable to show his licence but he was not charged with that.
Mr. John B Holmes, a director of the company, who was commissioned as a pilot
th
during the war in 1918 said he was with the Defendant on December 6 . His company
had been taking the public for flights during the past four years. The defendant did not
perform any trick-flying that afternoon but had turned vertically or “banked” – a
necessary operation. It was extremely difficult to judge the height of an operation but
they were carrying an altimeter which never registered below 1,600 feet a height at
which, should the engine fail, it would give ample scope to reach a safe landing.
The chairman said that the Bench were of the opinion that there was no trick-flying
and that the case would therefore be dismissed. The Bench thought, however, that the
defendant was flying too low and the punishment which could be inflicted for that
offence was a fine of £200 and six months imprisonment. For this the defendant
would be fined £1.

1923

Sat 24th March
DEATH OF MR. HOWARD PALMER
It is with the greatest regret that we have to record the death of Mr. W. Howard
Palmer, which took place at his residence, Heathlands, Wokingham, on Saturday. He
had been ill for a considerable period, and last week he took a turn for the worse,
when it became known that he could not last many days.

481