Originally Posted by
eMACaRe
Hi, Forumites:
Does anybody have details/Registrations of the aircraft destroyed in a hangar fire which occurred at Brooklands, Surrey on the 24th October, 1936??
Apparently, eight aircraft were destroyed...
Tia
Andy Emacare
Perhaps it was just six! . . .Sources differ. One site mentions that::
A further 32 planes were moved to safety . . . .
However, a brisk peregrination around the early 'G-' aircraft register reveals only four of the planes destroyed . . .
G-ACLI Miles M2 Hawk -
G-ABVJ DH Fox Moth
G-EBVA Avro 594 Avian III
G-EBXE Avro 594 Avian III
Plus, a contemporary 'news' item - published 29.10.36 - from the inestimable Flight Archive says that only
SIX planes were dbf!
Business as Usual
DESPITE the fire which broke out on Saturday and caused a considerable amount of damage, the Brooklands Flying Club put in some fifteen hours' flying on Sunday. Business is, in fact, going on as usual, and, though the offices were burnt, telephonic communication has been restored. This fire started under the engine shop from a cause that is, as yet, unexplained, and spread very rapidly so that the first large hangar was ablaze within a very few minutes and the second hangar soon followed. Members, instructors and mechanics demonstrated great loyalty and courage in removing all machines save six. The rescued craft were housed, through the generosity of Mr. Maxwell Muller, the American director of Vickers, in this company's flight shed. It is more than a pity that the engine shop should have suffered, since this was one of the best in the country, outside the repair shops of manufacturers.
'BUSINESS AS USUAL' advert here
https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarch...0-%202938.html
Several sources, which I believe to be wrong, do suggest that EIGHT planes were lost but I can find nothing to back this up. One site also includes AVRO 504 - G-ADGM as being one of the 'Eight'. It WAS operated by Brooklands Aviation and might well have been there except for the small fact it was doing joyrides on Camber Sands - but did crash and catch fire that same day! 24.10.36 . . . ASN link here
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/203884
. . . so that leaves just 'two' to identify . . . the truth is out there . . . anyone else like to 'have a go' .....!