Book Review – Essex and its Race for the Skies

This small but heavily illustrated book is loaded with facts about aviation in Essex. It attempts to show the influence of the county on the development of aviation prior to the Second World War. There are several themes; the introduction of balloon flights; the early days of the manufacture of aircraft (some of which flew) following the Wright Brothers visit to Europe and prior to World War I; the airborne contest with the Zeppelins in that war; the setting up of the RFC and RAF; the use and allocation of the 'flying grounds' or airfields throughout the county; the amazing growth in leisure flying, joy riding and the travelling air circuses; Hillman Airways and the first steps in commercial flying; the military preparation for World War II; and the colourful personalities that were involved in flying throughout the period, and so on.

And that is the problem with the book! There are fascinating stories here, all of which deserve a fuller consideration. Worse, the ordering of the material is chronological so all these themes are run together making the text at best hard to follow, at worst confusing. Unfortunately, because the author has sought to make the book comprehensive, and include all necessary details, the book reads rather as a catalogue. This may be acceptable if references lead the reader to other sources, or if comprehensive indexing allows details to be recovered, but both are sadly missing.

There is a further difficulty. In general, flying is not constrained by county boundaries. What was the actual relevance of Essex to a flying circus that happened to visit the county, or to a celebrity who just crossed the county boundary? How did this assist Essex in its race for the skies? The inclusion of such details expands the scope of the book without the book really having time to add to the reader's understanding.

There might be further concern over the reliability of some of the facts. For example, again referring to Piggott Brothers as one of the few Essex manufacturers:

"The small and sleepy village of Stanford Rivers, to the south of Chipping Ongar, might be considered to be one of the more unlikely places in the county to be the site of manufacture of several aeroplanes during 1910 to 1912 but it was at this village that Piggott Brothers and Co Ltd of Bishopsgate Street, London decided to enter the world of aviation."

Unlikely, definitely, since their current premises functioned as the Ongar Union Workhouse until 1930!

So the author has tried to write a short, popular introduction to the subject. It is not a comfortable read but it will enable the reader to narrow his search further into Essex aviation books, focusing on just one of the interesting themes introduced; Zeppelins, landing grounds, etc. As suggested at the outset of this review, the many illustrations form the most entertaining part of the book. They are well chosen to support the text.