EPW031093 ENGLAND (1929). Farmland between Ecchinswell House and Kisby's Farm including parked aircraft, Ecchinswell, 1929. This image has been produced from a damaged negative.

I do believe I've cracked this set. This is Ecchinswell, near Newbury, where Alan Muntz lived.

Hurrah!

Dear all,



I've been doing some more digging into this set of glass plates that show these parked aircraft, and the nearby house/farm buildings.



The original Aerofilms Ltd Register entries are confused, as you might have gathered from the duplicated numbering that muddle these rural scenes with a group of images of White City (also damaged glass plates).



Nevertheless, it may be that these unlocated images are something to do with a property owned by F. "Alan" I. Muntz, Nigel Norman's business partner. This starts to make sense of the aircraft and their illustrious owners that we can identify - and also the Aerofilms Ltd connection, at the time that Airwork was in control of the majority shareholding.



Can we identify all the owners at this time and deduce the nature of the gathering? Board meeting or private party?



Furthermore, the location may be "Newbury". The handwriting is difficult, and if "Newbury" is correct there is no indication which Newbury is meant - although Berkshire would be most likely given the topography of the images. I've had a go but can't yet make anywhere around Newbury (Berks) fit.



Another tack is to research Muntz, although my attempts to locate him in Berkshire Directories and Census returns have drawn a blank thus far. Of course, he's just as likely to have owned the agricultural property whilst living elsewhere?



Finally, there may be some use in reading through the Private Flying reports in Flight magazine for/around October 1929.



Yours, Katy

Britain from Above Cataloguing Team Leader

Some thoughts on this series of photos.

This is a deeply rural area with no evidence of large settlements. We can't see any railways but we can see some minor roads and a small stream. There are some manor houses to be seen but these are not stately homes which are easily recognised. The area is well watered and well wooded. There is no evidence of hills or valleys. The land is fairly flat. We suspect that this is a visit by wealthy individuals perhaps to a weekend house party.

How do we find the location? I suspect it is within 50 miles of central London ie within the Home Counties. Hertfordshire, Kent or Sussex are my hot favourites based on the terrain in those counties and proximity to London. I may be proven badly wrong. I just wish we could locate the pictures.

Clearly the same farm as in EPW031087A as the ball-topiary shrubs and house frontage are identical, plus the silo and outbuildings.

One of a series of 10 photos, EPW031086A, EPW031087A, EPW031088-EPW031091 and EPW031093-EPW031096.



Manor House 2 appears to be the focus as it is featured in three closeups (EPW031086A, EPW031087A, EPW031088) so this may have been where the air meet was based.