Straight Corporation

Whitney Straight

Whitney Willard Straight was a successful racing driver in the early 1930s, but his American millionaire mother and English step-father, Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst, were concerned for his safety and sought a less dangerous occupation for him, especially as he was about to marry. At a dinner at their home, Dartington Hall in Devon, they discussed this with William (Bill) Parkhouse, who was the owner of a local auto engineering company, and founder of Haldon Airfield, where Straight had learned to fly a few years earlier.[1]

Parkhouse had been concerned that smaller airports, such as Exeter and Torquay, with which he was also involved, and smaller airlines, were too small to survive on their own, and he proposed that a holding company operating many such ventures would be able to achieve economies of scale and be able to use resources much more efficiently, sharing them as needed. Straight was summoned the next day, and readily agreed to found the venture, so on 17 April 1935 Straight Corporation was born, and Straight gave up motor racing.[1]

The corporation was funded by Straight's own trust, with the objective of controlling up to 15 municipal airports, with first-class terminals, restaurants and flight training facilities.[2] The headquarters were at 17 Manchester Square, London W.1.

Straight recruited several friends as directors in his corporation. These included Bill Parkhouse; Louis Strange; Richard Seaman, a fellow racing driver whom he had met while they were both at Cambridge University;[3] and Straight's solicitor, Frederick A.S. Gwatkin.[4] Both Seaman and Gwatkin invested in the company. Company secretary was Stanley John Cox, who would also be the secretary of most of the corporation's subsidiary companies. Many of the corporation's aircraft would be initially registered in the name of Richard Seaman. Straight also recruited Mary De Bunsen who carried out public relations and was responsible for the house magazine, Straightaway, intended for staff and club members.

The progress and growth of the corporation went on unabated as detailed below, and the expansion became even faster at the airports with the demand for aircrew training in the two years before World War II. When the war came, however, all private flying, including that by clubs and airlines, was prohibited except under licence, and almost all the corporation's activities stopped.

The corporation set out to operate a large chain of civil airports. Some were bought outright, some leased, and some managed on behalf of the owners. All were run by a local operating company, and aero clubs were established or taken over at most airports. In addition to the locations listed below, attempts to lease Norwich Airport, Stoke-on-Trent Meir airfield and Cardiff's Pengam Moors airport were rejected.[4]

Aircraft were owned by the airport operating company or the associated flying clubs, and were occasionally registered in the names of officials of the local organisations. They were used for charter, pleasure, training or army co-operation support flights as required, and were also often transferred between different Straight-operated airports, clubs or airlines as needs arose.

Many airports took part in the Civil Air Guard (CAG) scheme which started 1 September 1938. When the scheme began there were 1,299 applications to train at Straight Corporation-operated CAG airports. Extra Hornet Moths were acquired for this, and Straight's CAG courses started on 1 October. In 1939 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training schools (E&RFTS) were set up at some airports, and the fleet was expanded further with aircraft including Tiger Moths, Piper J-4 Cubs, Hillson Pragas and an Avro Anson.[1]

The following list of Straight Corporation's airfields gives a brief account of their activities at each one. With the start of World War II in September 1939 all civil aviation activities stopped.

Before WWII, Straight Corporation used a wide variety of aircraft, some inherited from the airlines and flying clubs that it took over, and many bought new.

The pre-war company aircraft livery, applied to many, but not all, of the aircraft, was a dark metallic blue-grey with crimson lettering outlined in white, with rudders bearing crimson and white horizontal stripes. After the war the livery was overall silver with red lettering, retaining the horizontal rudder stripes.

Miles M.11A Whitney Straight G-AERV (never owned by Straight Corporation)

Wanting to provide a modern, comfortable and economical monoplane for his flying clubs, Straight commissioned FG Miles to design a side-by-side seating touring aircraft, which became the Miles M.11A, named the Whitney Straight.[1] This proved to be an excellent and popular aircraft, and 50 were built from April 1936 to April 1938, and Straight Corporation did buy several. A company called Whitney Straight Ltd was formed to market the aircraft.[27]

With Western Airways came a fleet of de Havilland twin-engined aircraft: Dragons and de Havilland Dragon Rapides, to which were added a Dragonfly and a four-engined DH.86 Express. Inherited aircraft were painted in Straight corporation colours, but had Western Airways marked on both sides of the nose along with a Straight Corporation S logo.

Southern Airways operated a pair of Short Scions, a pair of Percival Q.6s, a Dragon, a Rapide, and a General Aircraft ST-6 Monospar, all of which were twin-engined airliners.

The airport companies and aero clubs had a diverse range of aircraft, some registered in their own name and some to Straight Corporation Ltd, of which the most numerous were British Aircraft Swallow II, Hillson Praga, de Havilland Hornet Moth, Miles Hawk Trainer III, and in 1939, de Havilland Tiger Moth and Piper J-4A Cub Coupe. As stated above, many of these aircraft were moved between various parts of the organisation, some on a regular basis.[28]

When war was declared all civil airports were closed and civil flying banned, except under special license. This effectively stopped all Straight Corporation's activities, with the one exception of Western Airways. Their engineering activities prospered with contracts from British aircraft manufacturers, mainly for parts manufacture and repair, and British and Allied forces for repair, modification and maintenance.

Straight himself had joined the Auxiliary Air Force, and became Acting Pilot Officer in 601 Squadron, going on to have a remarkable military career despite serious injury, capture and escape, and was awarded the DFC, Military Cross, CBE and US Legion of Merit.[1]

The aviation scene was very different after the war. Airlines were restructured and nationalised, and many airports had either been closed or retained by the military. Private flying had ceased after almost all the aircraft had been impressed and many had been either wrecked or scrapped, so the activity would take a decade to recover.

Straight Corporation's head office had moved from London to Weston Airport, where Western Airways had been very busy, mainly on engineering work and aircraft production.[30]

The flying clubs were resurrected after the war, with Weston Aero Club being the first, in June 1946. Plymouth and Exeter followed, but the clubs in Suffolk and Essex were replaced by the Home Counties Flying Club, with bases at Radlett and Willingale in Essex. Willingale had been an early USAAF base, known later as RAF Chipping Ongar, built by the Americans in 1942–3, and used most recently by the RAF Technical Training Command.[31]

Western Airways and the remaining clubs were able to reclaim some of their pre-war aircraft, and some others were acquired, including Miles Magisters and ten Fairchild Argus 24Ws which were being sold off very cheaply by the RAF.[32]

Fairchild Argus 24W fleet – at first all were registered to Home Counties Aero Club at Willingale:[33]

G-AJOW ex EV790

G-AJOX ex FK352

G-AJOY ex FK358

G-AJOZ ex FK338

G-AJPA ex FK343

G-AJPB ex EV782

G-AJPC ex FK315

G-AJPD ex FK357

G-AJSA ex HM174

G-AJSB ex EV810

After WWII Neville Cumming was reappointed after his RAF service as head of Straight Aviation Training Ltd, and formed the Central Navigation School and The London Link Trainer Centre as subsidiaries. These were both based at Bush House in the Aldwych in London.[34] Other directors of Straight Aviation Training Ltd were Whitney Straight, Louis Strange, and Francis Chichester who, after his record-breaking flight from Britain to Australia and New Zealand had become a senior navigation officer at the RAF's Central Flying School. A fleet of Avro Ansons was procured, modified as navigation trainers by Western Airways at Weston and painted in the new Straight livery of overall silver with red lettering and retaining the red horizontal rudder stripes. They operated from Willingale.[31]

Avro Anson 1 navigation trainers of Straight Aviation Training Ltd:

G-AIEZ ex NK728

G-AIFA ex EF928

G-AIFB ex EG593

G-AIFC ex EG391

G-AIFD ex DJ492

G-AINZ ex MG281

G-AIOA ex NK601

G-AIOB ex NK843

The Ansons were in use from 1946 to 1948, after which they were returned to Weston Airport for refurbishing and sale. The company was wound up in 1949.[31]

Whitney Straight himself had embarked on a new path, starting a glittering career as a major figure in British aviation. He became a director, later chairman,[35] of the Royal Aero Club and, in August 1946, deputy chairman of the British European Airways Corporation. He went on to become vice chairman and chief executive of BOAC, and hold very high positions in Rolls Royce and other major British companies.

With all of these responsibilities, his activities for the corporation had to be severely reduced and in 1949 the organisation was restructured. The remaining companies were renamed to avoid the Straight name, for example Straight Aviation Training became Southern Aviation Training.[36] Western Airways' airline operations had restarted quite successfully for a while, and its engineering activities prospered, but both soon declined and were abandoned, and the organisation eventually ran down. The corporation effectively stopped its activities by 1978, when the last of the main companies, Western Airways, closed. Whitney Straight died in London in 1979, and the last vestiges of Straight Corporation were wound up in 1989.[37]

• Dudley, Roger; Johnson, Ted (2013). Weston-Super-Mare and the Aeroplane 1910-2010. Stroud, UK: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 9781445632148.