2015

TL1902 : Salisbury Hall, de Havilland base

taken 8 years ago, near to Shenleybury, Hertfordshire, England

Salisbury Hall, de Havilland base
Salisbury Hall, de Havilland base
Built around 1668 by the London Banker James Hoare, bringing with it associations with Charles II and Nell Gwynne, who lived in a cottage by the bridge to the Hall. The Hall subsequently passed through various hands, and during the latter part of the 19th century was occupied by a succession of farmers. However, about 1905 Lady Randolph Churchill as Mrs Cornwallis West, came here to live. During the 1930s Sir Nigel Gresley, of the London and North Eastern Railway, was in residence.

In September 1939 the de Havilland Aircraft Company established the Mosquito design team in the Hall, the prototype Mosquito, E0234/W4050, subsequently being built in the adjacent buildings. Walter Goldsmith, a retired army major, after 1945 purchased Salisbury Hall, he soon came to realise that it had been used by de Havilland during the war. On contacting Bill Baird, then in charge of PR at de Havilland at Hatfield, he discovered that the company had used it as the design centre for the Mosquito, and that Baird had squirrelled the original prototype away in the Fiddlebridge stores, just off the airfield at Hatfield. Baird was delighted to find someone who could offer the old aircraft a home. de Havilland carried out basic restoration work at Hatfield, and Goldsmith accepted the aircraft back at Salisbury Hall in 1959. The prototype Mosquito became the first aircraft to be displayed at Salisbury Hall, and was followed by examples that constitute the de Havilland Aircraft Museum on the adjacent grounds.

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Colin D Brooking and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Aircraft Museum at Salisbury Hall [9] · Prototype Mosquito [8] · Buildings [7] · Walter Goldsmith [3] ·
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TL1902, 48 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Colin D Brooking   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Friday, 27 November, 2015   (more nearby)
Submitted
Monday, 13 February, 2017
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 195 028 [100m precision]
WGS84: 51:42.6887N 0:16.2812W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 194 028
View Direction
Southeast (about 135 degrees)
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Image Type (about): geograph 
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