Monday, February 28, 2011

Harold Willis....Velocette engineer and pilot...a brief stroll through his flying history...

Posted by car 2011 at 3:24 AM

The Vintagent ...http://thevintagent.blogspot.com/ ....  and I have discussed Harold Willis on numerous occasions and Paul has indicated his willingness to do a more elaborate story than I am planning here....
I look forward to it....
But what am I planning here....?
I've done research on HJW that I've shared with P d'O but in chasing up details of  HJW's brief flight career I felt I'd like to share this aspect with you now....
Left click on the images to enlarge.
Who was Harold John Willis....?
He was known for his initial rides in the TT on Velocette model KTT in the late 1920's and then concentrated on his role at Veloce Ltd, manufacturers of the Velocette motorcycle, as an engineer and organiser of their racing team.
Born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire in 1900 to Eliza and Sidney C Willis, he was one of four children.
He died tragically following a medical procedure on 11th June 1939. Just on the eve of the success of Stanley Woods in winning the Junior IOM TT again on a Velocette....

In the brief time he was with Veloce he took flying lessons after joining the Midland Aero Club which flew out of Castle Bromwich aerodrome near Birmingham.
Details in a "Flight" magazine of 1927 reveal on the week ending 14th May 1927 he had completed some further dual instruction and then went solo.
"Flight" magazine from August 25th 1927 in the Midland Aero Club section indicates further solo flight for Harold Willis.
On 23rd March 1931 HJW purchased a DH60X de Havilland Moth biplane....
Recorded in the log of the aircraft....G-EBTH


The aircraft was sold following his death on 11th July 1939.
In 1946 the ownership was cancelled for an unknown reason, then the Air Training Corps ( ATC ) obtained it and it was destroyed by fire in a crash in 1951.
Curiously correspondence reveals the engine was purchased at some time by Matt Holder...the Matt Holder of the Velocette Motorcycle Company who purchased the tooling , stock and name from the successful bidder at the liquidation auction of Veloce in 1971.....but his nephew can find no record of what happened to it.....
".... my uncle ended up with the engine out of Willis's Gypsy Moth(G-EBTH) but regrettably well before my time and completely untraceable since...."
Quite ironical....

This is a photo of G-EBTH landing, but I cannot ascertain if it is HJW flying it...a good chance as he owned it for some 8 years.
The above photograph shows HJW with G-EBTH...the photo taken from Ivan Rhodes book, "Technical Excellence".
Curiously the 1934 Velocette catalogue features an aviation scene with the KSS Mk.1 Velocette...the aircraft is a DH Moth....was it HJW's??
The chap in the flying kit...?? I don't think it is Harold....
From the civil aircraft register –Great Britain.








 The various owners of G-EBTH
G-EBTH         DH.60X Moth            429      G-EBTH         D Kittel 'Silvry 3' ...Sir PGJ Mostyn /Edgeware ...Aero Hire Ltd....J Rowley/ Castle Bromwich....HJ Willis /Castle Bromwich ....PHI Jones/Elmdon          08.08.27            1455   
Donated to ATC .40 Burned at Sheldon .1951

Now I chased down copies of the Midland Aero Club journal for the period 1935-1937....
Reference is made to HJW in it and of particular interest is the fact that in December 1936 the Midland Aero Club borrowed a de Havilland "Hornet" for a week from de Havillands while they awaited supply of a new Tiger Moth...
Two people are listed as flying it....HJW and Wal Handley...WH of motorcycle racing fame and who was a works rider for Veloce in 1935....

See the section above on "new machine"...
Now the reference to this aircraft....G-ADMT sent me off on a chase and to my surprise the aircraft exists today... nicely restored and flown....
So I tracked down the owner and spoke to him on the telephone....
I was amazed to find he had three Velocettes in his garage...!!!
Not only that, but as well as being a pilot he had raced a Velocette...
But he was just as amazed to find the Velocette engineer HJW had flown his plane in 1936...!!


If you'd like to see more of this aircraft and read of its restoration with photos etc...
Log on to...

www.felthorpe.net/G-ADMT.htm

So to finish up this blog, lets review a little of HJW via the obituary, written at the time by Graham Walker, editor of "MotorCycling", a TT rider himself and a friend of Harolds....

 

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