Page 134 - KBHA Bulletin 10

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snapped off, the propeller blades were smashed as the plane swung around the pipe,
capsized, and crashed to the ground where the petrol ignited enveloping the plane and

its occupants in an impenetrable wall of fire. It was believed that they all died on
impact. (Figs. 3.32 & 3.33). The three passengers were buried at Maitland Cemetery

two days later, and Capt. Hemming the day after that at Glencairn Cemetery. Hemming

had roots in Simon’s Town having joined the Standard Bank there before the War and
his step-father, Mr. G. Millar, was principal of the High School. The service was

conducted by the Rev. W. E. Slingsby, rector of Simon’s Town, and attended by large
numbers of the general public and seventy RAF officers.

The company now had only one aircraft and the public were extremely wary of “flips”.

They therefore tried to diversify into aerial photography and produced some fine shots,

some of which were later reproduced as postcards. (Fig. 3.34 - 3.36). A further mishap
in early 1922 finally ended their operations. In January Frank ran out of fuel and landed

in the dunes around Muizenberg. Although the plane was soon back in the air, engine

failure a month later forced it down in the same dunes and the south-easter flipped it
onto its back. Only the wings of “Hercules” have survived - preserved in the SAAF

Museum at Ysterplaat.

Another short-lived enterprise was that of Lt. Col. G. L. P. Henderson who had a flying
school at Brooklands, England. In 1927 he brought four aircraft to Cape Town with the

intention of opening a branch of his school here, and also run business and pleasure

flights. He lived at Cogill’s Hotel, Wynberg, and operated from Young’s Field. The
Council gave him permission to land on a specific section of Muizenberg beach and he

flew regularly between Muizenberg, Strand and Hermanus. But the business was not a
success and closed down. One of the aircraft, a Boulton & Paul, was sold to John

Williamson of Kalk Bay.

At about this time, in 1928, Strand Aviation Ltd. also started up flying between Strand,

Muizenberg, Wynberg, Hermanus and Saldanha Bay. But the company had only one