Another little remembered fact from Folkestone’s past is the series of Air Races that were an annual event over the town during the 1930’s and late 1940’s. Organised by the Cinque Ports Flying Club based at Lympne Airport these races were very well reported in Flight Magazine and other national periodicals.The fact that Sir Philip Sasson, the owner of Port Lympne House and Member of Parliament for Hythe, was under Secretary for Air in the Government had his own aeroplanes take part raised the profiles as well. His most successful plane was a Percival Gull, a famous type of anehedral monoplane flown on record-breaking flights to Australia and other places by Sir C Kingsford-Smith and the aviatrix Amy Johnson.
To travel by air in the 1926 was extremely expensive and potentially dangerous. Aircraft were made of wood with a canvas covering, the seats were woven cane, the pilot and engineer may have sat in an open cockpit. The engines were of a smaller capacity and less reliable than a modern motorcycle engine. Radio communications were abysmal, Air/Sea rescue non-existent and the only safety equipment a heavy cork life jacket that if used incorrectly would kill you anyway.
At a meeting in a pub near London Bridge Station in the 1840s, Edward Agar, stock market speculator, forger and cracksman, and William Pearce, ticket printer working for the South Eastern Railway, discussed a plan to steal bullion from a train carrying regular shipments of gold between London Bridge and Folkestone Station. If they had instigated the plan, it would have created history it was believed impossible to steal from a moving train. The plan was never instigated as Edward Agar had an important mission in the USA.
Caroline and Maria Back were two pretty sisters living at Albion Place, Dover, with their parents John & Mary. The sisters, 18 and 16 respectively, were admired by many of the young men of Dover, including the military, stationed nearby.
