Howard Boys - the Thirties.
The Thirties were very productive years for Howard but undoubtedly the highlight of the decade was my arrival in the world in 1937, exactly one year after Howard had married Edith Deborah, the daughter of a Northamptonshire village school headmaster. They had met as Edith was doing a temporary job waitressing in Northampton while trying to save enough money to go to teachers training college. She changed her mind, married Howard and had the joy of having me as guest of honour on her 21st birthday. I'm still wondering why he waited 45 days before photographing me.
I jest, of course, so let's go back to the year of 1930.
There were a number of activities that had interested Howard that I have not really mentioned so far. Scouting, Cycling and Camping being among them; these also appealed to Jimmy, Howards younger brother by 8 years. An opportunity arose in August of 1930 for the two young men to take a break together and a record of this appears in 1930 Holiday which is also shown on the opening page.
Early in the diary account of the holiday is a reference to Howard working to finish off a home-made camera, a hitherto unmentioned interest. Thankfully the camera was finished and used to good effect through the holiday. In the thirties Howard built another camera which can be seen at home-made camera. Scroll down the page to see the earlier attempt.
There is a very poignant paragraph at the end of that holiday account which reads "Poor Jim died of Typhoid 5 years later, soon after his 21st birthday and in this way I lost my best pal." Three years earlier their sister, Christine had died of Hodgkin's disease at the age of 16.
The holiday account references contact with a girl from the office where Howard worked, this may have been the office of Smith, Major and Stevens Ltd. (lift (elevator) makers) who amalgamated with the Express Lift Co. and dispensed with Howard's services in May 1931. In 1932 Howard was working as a "good draughtsman, and he gave every satisfaction", this was not sufficient to keep him in employment.
The 1930's saw the beginning of a wider awareness of Howard's involvement in aeromodelling. A local newspaper printed photographs of two of his models and accompanied these with a suggestion that anyone interested in a club for the Northampton district should contact him. A few follow-up letters arrived along with an invitation from E.W. Twining to visit his workshop. The upshot of all this was that June 5th 1932 was decided upon as an opening date for those interested.
The current President of the Northampton Model Aero Club, Brian Baker, has kept a pretty good record of the foundation of NMAC and its early days. Brian has a number of cuttings that I don't, so I would suggest you take a look at NMAC History. There seems little point in duplicating information although if I can get hold of Brian I'll try to get better scans than the .pdf files which are used by NMAC. My hope is that whatever I put here will be additional to what is already available.
One of those who had expressed an interest in the formation of a model flying club was Leonard Toseland and although I do not have a copy of the original picture of Howard's models (there's a hint here readers) the picture to the right was published before the event took place and was accompanied by the following article "Wonderful Model Planes of Local Enthusiast. SYWELL MEETING? GRACEFULLY performing a, circle, a miniature aeroplane sped through the air at the Wicksteed Park on Friday evening and made a perfect landing on the grass, after a flight of about a quarter of a mile. The aeroplane was a model of a Parasol type of machine and was constructed by Mr, Leonard Toseland, of 59, Avondale-road. Mr. Toseland has been interested in model aeroplanes since he was a boy, and now that he has a boy of his own he would like to give him something to take an interest in. He has constructed, besides the Parasol machine, a model of a Falcon. The motive power for these miniature machines is provided by strands of elastic, quarter-inch strips being attached to each of three gears in the case of the Falcon and two gears in the case of the Parasol. A LOCAL CLUB? As a keen enthusiast of miniature aviation, Mr. Toseland is very anxious to form some sort of club of other interested persons. Although in other parts of the country the flying of models is as popular a pastime as kite-filying on Hampstead Heath or yacht racing at the seaside ponds, Mr. Toseland is playing a solo hand in Kettering. However, his interest is shared in Northamptonshire by Mr. A. H. Boys of Weedon. The latter has been in touch with the secretary of the Northants Aero Club with a view to staging a competition for model aeroplanes at the aerodrome. This will probably be held on Sunday June 5th. The competition will be subject to the rules of the Society of Model Aeronautical Engineers."
Interest in that initial meeting had been very good and the uptake of the local press was good too, as indicated by the article below.
Further interest can be seen in the clips below.
It wasn't just the Northamptonshire press either, "The Daily Telegraph" were attracted to models at Sywell in 1935 and even "The Daily Mirror" did their best to get in on the act.
The Northampton Model Aero Club had attracted a number of members and here is a picture of Norman Fowler's elegant low-wing monoplane. I'm wondering if the 19 on the fin indicates club member 19.
As noted above model aeronautics were very well reported in Northamptonshire newspapers and reproduced here are extracts from an article in the Wellingborough paper of 21st September 1934. "MODEL PLANES' EXHIBITION" Northants Club Rally at Sywell. "quot;TRUE TO LIFE" While aeroplanes soared and stunted hundreds of feet above Sywell aerodrome on Sunday afternoon, model machines performed evolutions just above the ground. The Northants Model Aero Club had organised a rally at the headquarters of the Northants Aero Club, at the invitation of the manager and chief instructor, Flight-Lieut. T. Rose, and enthusiasts from a wide area attended to demonstrate with their machines. ..... After the visitors had enjoyed tea in the club-house several interesting flights were made, notably those of Mr. C. A. Newin, of Warwick, whose "Heron" plane stayed in the air for 49 seconds. Mr. L. Toseland, of Kettering, Mr. Howard Boys, of Weedon, Capt. Gordon Berry, of Flore, and Mr. A. E. Morrod, of Coventry. Mr. Toseland successfully flew a realistic silver and blue monoplane "The Owlet" a replica of the one he lost at Sywell some months ago and which was eventually found in pieces in a back garden. (This incident had been well reported and a child had walked off with the model which was then stamped on by a sibling!) A display of miniature parachute jumping was arranged from models, but another event, that of bomb-dropping, could not be held, as special models for this had not been finished. The meeting was arranged by Mr. A. H. Boys, the organising secretary of the Northants club.
You may have seen the composite picture above before; on the left is the picture, taken in 1932, of Howard with an early model. This picture was used to advertise the formation of the Northampton Model Aero Club. On the right is a picture, taken in 1982, of Howard holding the same model; just about distinguishable on the wings are NMAC 1 and SMAE 234.
The following two pictures appeared in print in 1940 but date back to the thirties.
Guess what? - the model on the left still exists and was photographed in May 2009 and shown here alongside a contemporary picture of Howard.
Added to the list of associated pages on the Index are references to holidays in 1938 and 1939. These two sequences show a meticulous side to Howard which stood him in good stead all his life. The expenditure on food, petrol etc. during the 1939 holiday might be of particular interest. 1938 Holiday 1939 Holiday
Before leaving the thirties, a couple more pictures. If you've already scrolled down and seen the second one I expect you realise that it is an overlay for the picture just above it. In fact, I've scanned a piece of tracing paper! While I doubt that my Dad would have applauded my organizational ability I think my powers of deduction would have pleased him. During the 25 years since Dad's death the newspaper cutting and piece of tracing paper had become separated and although I knew it must be an overlay it was not obvious for what. A clue was the brown spots in three of the corners and eventually I was able to match-up picture and overlay. I've done a bit of overlay myself to identify those in the picture. Models shown are identified below.
Models shown in the photograph are numbered in the overlay and are - 1. Harrett's "Sopwith Camel" 2. Mole's "Robin" 3. Martin's ? (birch model) 4. Elk's "Art Chester Racer" 5. Pettitt's "Percival Gull" 6. Ford's "Curtis Cyclone" 7. Ford's "Hawker Super Fury" 8. Cole's "Kinglet" 9. Newton's "Kingley" 10. Newton's ? 11. Norman Fowler's L.W. 12. Norman Fowler's H.W. (2-½" gears) 13. Olney's "Howard Ike" 14 Pettitt's "Jig" 15. Austin's new H.W. 16. Glass's "Airspeed Courier". Missing from the photograph but present at the meeting were Toseland's "S.E.5A", Ford's "Comper Swift" and Richardson's "Jig"
The information above is contained in a letter dated 16-7-36 from Norman Pettit to Howard further extracts follow -
My efforts to form a motor-coach party to Northern Heights Gala Day were rather a failure. At one time 15 people said they would go, but they dropped out for various reasons, mostley due to shortage of cash and the fact that it was nearly holiday time. In the end, four of us went. Norman Fowler and Ken Austin in Norman's Van and myself and my brother in his Austin. Ken Austin had a high wing cabin model with 2-½" gears, flying for the first time and this flew very well. Norman Fowler had his low wing model (the one shown above I believe) , which you saw at Sywell, and I had my Percival Gull & Jig Model. I had just fitted two ½" gears in the P.G. but it is still a bit tail-heavy and would not fly very well. I entered the Jig Model in the "Nearest to 45 seconds" comp. but did not win anything. On Northampton Racecourse it has done 48 seconds H.L. and 41 seconds R.O.G. . . .
The N.M.E. had an exhibition of models, about half of which were loaned by the N.M.A.C., at the Hospital Carnival in Abington Park last Saturday and Monday. We had the "S.E.5.", "Airspeed Courier", "Sopwith Camel" and "Percival Gull", various uncovered wings & fuselages, Fowler's 50" wings, Austin's part machined Grayspec engine castings and a block of Balsa, which people were able to feel the weight of (and press their finger nails into). . . .
The next meeting of N.M.A.C. will be at Sywell on August 16th and the next on Sept. 13th when we shall hold the duration contest for the larger of the two challenge cups. I think the rules should be :- (1) Any size of rubber driven plane. (2) SMAE fuselage formula. (3) the total or average (there is actually no difference is there?) of three flights, and I don't know whether HL or ROG. Ford does not agree with (2) and neither of Fowler's planes conform to this. What rules do you suggest for this competition and have you a plane you could enter?