THERE were thrills aplenty when Captain Charles Barnard brought his ‘Air Circus’ to Oxford.

More than 10,000 people flocked to Port Meadow on May 12, 1931 to see pilots give “breathless displays of crazy flying”.

Many of the spectators were taken on flights and got “the best view of all views of the city – from the air”.

Oxford Mail:

  •  A poster advertising the 1931 Air Pageant

The all-day pageant began with the arrival of Captain Barnard in the famous monoplane, The Spider, in which, accompanied by the Duchess of Bedford, he had made record flights to India and back in 7½ days and to the Cape and back in 20½ days. Our sister paper, The Oxford Times, reported: “A large crowd, headed by the mayor, Alderman W Stobie, and the Sheriff, Councillor G Axtell, greeted Captain and Mrs Barnard as they alighted, and the mayor opened the pageant by making the first flight of the city, accompanied by some of his colleagues.

Oxford Mail:

  • The Gipsy Moth which crashed in 1929

“One of the most interesting features of the pageant was the Auto-giro, a weird-looking machine, in which Mr R H C Brie gave startling exhibitions of flying backwards and ascending vertically.

“Another visitor was Mr John Tranum, the world’s champion parachutist, who made daring leaps into space from the planes to demonstrate the efficacy of the Irvin parachute used by the RAF.

“Captain Ayre and Captain Crossley, two of the most experienced pilots in the country, in a light aeroplane, delighted the large crowds with their looping, rolling and inverted flying.”

There was also a demonstration of the new art of gliding, with Mr Lowe-Wilde, a gliding expert, showing how, by motor towing a glider, it could rise without the aid of hilly country. The ‘Air Circus’ visited Oxford during a comprehensive tour of the country to foster public interest in the development of British aviation.

Captain Barnard had started a fund for flying scholarships, giving boys all over the country to chance to learn to fly free of charge.

Two historians, Peter Smith and Peter Wright, are researching the history of Port Meadow as an airfield between 1911 and the mid-1930s. If you have any memories or photographs from these times, call 01865 728883 or email g.smith240@ btinternet.com. Any memories of the air pageant to share with readers? Write and let me know.