Wing Walker on Auro 504K Aircraft
Date1930s
Object NameNegative
Mediumglass
ClassificationsTransport
DimensionsOverall: Height: 8.8 cm, Width: 6.2 cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1992.
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDMS022369.12
About MeWing walker (possibly Martin Hearn) on an Avro 504K biplane over Seaton, 1930s. This "barnstorming" spectacle was probably part of Alan Cobham's Aviation Display Day team. Cobham's team also used Tiger Moths, Gipsy Moths and Desoutters. This was a time when flight was very much a novelty and still a pioneering way of travelling. At shows such as this spectators were given the opportunity to take short flights. One can imagine the sense of wonder as few people could afford to fly. Commercial aviation came to Aberdeen in the 1930s. For a short while the Seaton site, where the photograph was taken, was used as an aerodrome by E.E.Fresson. But it was Eric Gandar Dower not Fresson who successfully developed Dyce Airport. His company's first flight taking off in September 1934. Dyce had four grass runways, offices and a clubhouse. Under the banner of Aberdeen Airways Gandar Dower established links with Glasgow, Orkney and Shetland. In 1937 he pioneered an air link with Stavanger in Norway but this was not commercially successful.
