Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day display fleet delighted airshow crowds all over the country in the early Thirties. In 1934 audience participation, in the form of a flip in a Mongoose-engined Avro 504, cost 3s 6d (17 1/2 p).

Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day display fleet delighted airshow crowds all over the country in the early Thirties. In 1934 audience participation, in the form of a flip in a Mongoose-engined Avro 504, cost 3s 6d (17 1/2 p).

Cobham circus pilot Martin Hearn on the top wing of Avro 504K G-ABHI. A piece of wire from the leading edge to his tightly-clenched right hand was all that stopped him being blown away.

The National Aviation Day display invariably opened with a Grand Flypast. This one consisted of, from top to bottom: de Havilland D.H.82 Tiger Moth G-ABUL; D.H.83 Fox Moth Youth of Newfoundland; Airspeed Ferry G-ABSI; Handley Page Clive G-ABYX Youth of Australia; Cierva C.19 Autogiro G-ABGB; Airspeed Ferry G-ABSJ; Fox Moth G-ACEX Youth of Ireland and Tiger Moth G-ACEZ.