A De Havilland Giant Moth, possibly G-AAEV
(can’t quite make out the last letter but it can’t be X or Y as
they relate to the wrong kind of aircraft)
The plane crashed at Aberkinsey Farm, Dyserth and the
photo belongs to Owen Rowlands, deceased, who lived at the
farm on the dual carriageway - Rowlands the milk. It’s
thought that he is one of the boys in the photograph.
The following details come from Rhyl History Club - follow
the link for more details.
https://rhylhistoryclub.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/rhyls-
carnival-1929/
In 1929 Rhyl held a Carnival which turned out to be one of
the biggest events ever to be held in the town. Tens of
thousands of people flocked into Rhyl by road and rail for the
three day Carnival which began on Thursday, June 27th.
The sun shone on the Carnival’s opening day, the highlight of
which was the arrival of the famous aviator Sir Alan Cobham,
in his de Havilland Giant Moth which he christened “Youth of
Britain”
The Rhyl Journal reported that he was expected to arrive at
Aberkinsey Farm (between Rhyl and Dyserth) at 11a.m. and
a big crowd had gathered to welcome him. Unfortunately he
experienced mechanical problems as he left Crewe which
meant it was after 12 noon that he was first sighted over the
farm. He made a “beautiful” landing amidst great cheering
and was immediately “mobbed” by the crowd. Sir Alan then
proceeded to take members and officials of Rhyl council for a
flight over the town. Then a second party boarded the plane
but as it took off the propeller caught a tree and sustained
damage which caused abandonment of the flight.
Fortunately no-one suffered any injuries.
The Rhyl Journal published a list of children chosen to take a
flight that day, representing various schools in Rhyl. It
added that their flight would be postponed until the following
day because of the accident. It was not clear in the paper as
to whether the children ever took their flight – risk
assessment was probably quite different in 1929!
In the Rhyl Journal the following week, under the headline
“Aerodrome for Rhyl” Sir Alan assured those gathered at a
reception that there would have been no such trouble if
there had been a proper aerodrome. Sir Alan said “they had
to make use of improvised fields as they proceeded from
town to town and the field selected at Aberkinsey Farm was
the only one suitable for the purpose of such a
demonstration from Anglesey to Rhyl. There was a great
opportunity before Rhyl, so far as aviation in North Wales
was concerned, and he hoped they were that day seeing the
beginning of the laying of the foundations of a local
aerodrome.”
Image supplied by the A. J. Jackson collection at
Brooklands Museum www.ajjcollection.co.uk
Above is G-AAEV. This might or might not be the aircraft
involved in the incident above. But according to Wikipedia
and other sources this aircraft (named Youth of Britain) was
used by Alan Cobham in an aviation promotional tour of the
United Kingdom from May to October in 1929.
Wikipedia says that during the tour Alan Cobham flew 60,000
miles, visited 110 towns and carried 40,000 passengers,
including 10,000 children - free of charge.
Another source says the tour was a campaign to convince
local authorities of the need for municipal airports.
The Giant Moth had a passenger cabin with 8 seats and the
pilot was in an open cockpit behind the wings. It was 39 ft
long with a wingspan of 52 feet.
Other sources say this aircraft crashed and was written off at
Broken Hill in what is now Zambia in 1930.
Dyserth
Biplane Crash