1931 - 1940 page 3

A detail from the previous photo showing Shute looking very young with nice chubby cheeks.

1933:

In a conversation with Arnold G. Wilson at the Yorkshire Aero Club, Shute suggests designing an aeroplane in which the pilot sits above and behind the machine. The theory was that this would make landing easier because of the pilot's improved perspective. Tiltman designs the AS 31. It was never built. Shute later uses the idea of the pilot's view of the machine from above and behind in In The Wet.

This is a model of the proposed but never built Airspeed AS31. The model is available through Unicraft Models.

September 1933

First Courier is delivered to dealers. The last Courier, GACVF, flew in 1947.

The Courier is reported in The Times of September 18, 1933

Click here to see a Player's Cigarette Card depicting a Courier in flight.

1933

The Shute Family move to a house called "Landfall" near the village of Bishops Waltham between Fareham and Winchester in Hampshire. Bishops Waltham dates from before 720AD.

This house, originally called Northleigh when it was built in 1904 was divided about 1954 into 2 houses. One half was then called Landfall. It is believed that the Shute family may have lived here in 1933 and the Landfall half was later named in Shute's honour. The couple in the photo are probably the original owners.

1933 - 1939

Shute writes In the Uttermost Parts of The Sea about a sea rescue by an aircraft carrier. It is set in 1932.

December 12^th 1933

Shute is elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS) for his work on retractable undercarriage. This experience is reflected in No Highway.

Amy Johnson. (1903 - 1941)
Between 1933 and 1938: Shute meets celebrated long distance aviatrix Amy Johnson when she visits Airspeed. In 2003 Shute's former office boy Henry Cutting remembered showing her around. Amy Johnson was an original 1931 shareholder in Airspeed having 100 shares.
To see a less posed, more charming, realistic and human, but sadly copyrighted, photo of Amy go to: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
When you view this more appealing photo of Amy looking cuddly in her flying suit it is hard not to see Amy Johnson's very marked similarities to her fictional contemporary Brenda Marshall in The Rainbow and The Rose. I believe that Brenda Marshall was based directly on Amy Johnson. Like Brenda Marshall, Johnson has short hair and looks vital and attractive in a flying suit. Also like Brenda Marshall, Johnson came from a well-off family in the North of England, learned to fly as a young woman, bought a used de Havilland Moth and named it after a mythical character, learned to fly cross country very well, had a relationship with another pilot, went through a divorce and died young while flying. Amy Johnson drowned in the Thames Estuary on January 05 1941 after parachuting at night from the Airspeed Oxford she was ferrying to London. She had run out of fuel. The connection is strengthened further when you remember that Shute met Johnson in the 1930s and that she later died flying one of Shute's planes. (OU)

1934

World Economic Depression lessens.

Shute's short story Air Circus is published in Blackwoods Magazine.

Built for The Air Ministry, Airspeed Courier K4047 stands ready for a test flight in February 1934.

July 1934

The Twin Engined Airspeed Envoy is completed and shown at the SBAC display.

Click here to see a Player's Cigarette Card depicting an AS Envoy in flight

See more information about the Airspeed Envoy in service to the Crown during WWII

This is the stylish Interior of an AS6 Envoy. Note the high quality of the interior finish with what I am certain is red leather piping on the seats. The smart clothes and the chic 1930s haircut of the very pretty woman on the right suggest that this is a posed publicity shot.
(Copyright © BAE SYSTEMS PLC)

Photo BSH

This ad in The Times of July 24 1934 advertised the 1934 Airspeed share offer for which Shute risked his reputation by valuing Airspeed's, increasingly obsolescent, unsold aircraft at their full retail price. The subsequent demand for aircraft for the Spanish Civil War proved him right.

Forester Lindsley (1915 - 2006), aged 19, at Airspeed in 1934. At 16, Forester joined Airspeed in York and moved with it to Portsmouth. Forester worked on Cobham's Air Circus planes and was a ground engineer on the first Ferry flights and was also involved in the aerial refuelling project. He met Amy Johnson several times and also said that he knew Flt Lt Colman, Airspeed's test pilot, well. Forester spoke admiringly of Shute and Tiltman. (Photo: Courtesy of Nick Lindsley 2006)

Middle 1934

In Mid 1934 Shute starts the Airspeed Aeronautical College. This prospectus cover was drawn by Concord and Cavendish Morton.

This is an illustration of the Airspeed Courier's retractable undercarriage from the Airspeed Aeronautical College Prospectus.

The Airspeed drawing office and an Airspeed Envoy in the spacious, modern and well-lit Portsmouth factory are shown in part of the Airspeed Aeronautical Academy brochure. (Copyright © BAE SYSTEMS PLC)

Autumn 1934

The DC2 appears in Europe signalling a quantum leap in aircraft design.

The Douglas DC-2 was the immediate forerunner of the perfected and soon famous DC-3 that appeared in late 1935. Like the DC-3, The DC-2 was an all-metal monoplane with tapered wings, retractable landing gear and variable pitch propellers, it carried 14 passengers.

This article from The Times of September 24 1934 tells how Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day Handley Page tanker plane crashed after refuelling Alan Cobham's Airspeed Courier for his attempt to fly non-stop to India. At least 2 aeroplanes, a Courier and this Handley Page, crashed in connection with aerial refueling research work.

The interior of the Portsmouth factory in late 1934 showing Airspeed Envoy G-ACVI. Fitted with Wolseley Aries engines it built for Lord Nuffield and won the 1934 London to Johannesburg Air Race. It was registered on October 10, 1934 and named "Miss Wolseley". Behind it is the Air Ministry's Courier K-4047.