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‘Chilton’s challenge’ In April 1937, a new Berkshire aircraft manufacturer took to the air, when the Chilton monoplane made its first flight. The Chilton name came from Chilton Foliate, near Hungerford where, at the stately home of one of its designers, the aircraft had been constructed. The Hon. Andrew Dalrymple, son of the Earl of Stair, who owned Chilton Lodge, and ‘Reggie’ Ward, son of the Hon. Sir John Ward, had met as students at the de Havilland Technical School and it was there that they designed the aircraft. In May 1936, having completed their course at the School, they persuaded their woodworking instructor to join them and began construction in a wooden building specially built in the grounds of Chilton Lodge. The Chilton design can be seen to owe something to the then very popular Miles Hawks, although it was much smaller, with a wingspan of only 24ft and a 32hp engine adapted from the Ford 10 motor car engine. It was a single-seater and, although classed as an ‘ultralight’, could easily cruise at 100mph. Just four were built before the War, during which they were put in storage, and all survived to fly again. More surprisingly perhaps, following the release of the original drawings, the 1990s saw a resurgence of interest in the Chilton monoplane as a self-build aircraft, which now seems certain to grace the skies around the world well into the 21st Century. _____________________ |
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Painted in watercolours. 2007. 225mm x 275mm. |