JIM CRAMPTON PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR of NORFOLK
written by
AL STOKES
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 1
RAF CAREER In these 21st century days of austerity and recession hit industry it is well to remember the drive and enthusiasm of a self made man, aviator Jim Crampton, who, with over 3000hrs flying in many different types aircraft to his credit, brought badly needed post war jobs to Norfolk. He was convinced there were air charter opportunities to be had in the county and ventured a good deal of capital to prove himself right. Jim, a Lincolnshire man born in 1918, joined the RAF and trained as a Bomber Command pilot. He made his solo flight in a twin engine Airspeed Oxford1 aircraft on October 5th 1940 an by March 1941 Jim was flying Wellington bombers with 214 Squadron. Jim’s first combat mission as co-pilot was on April 20th to bomb oil storage tanks at Rotterdam and by June 2nd he was 1st pilot on an operation to Dusseldorf, Germany. On July 14th, 1941, at 10,000-feet2 over the city of Bremen Jim’s Wellington was attacked by a German night fighter which came from above and to the side. According to Jim, rear gunner Marsh calmly announced over the intercom, “we are under attack” and promptly opened fire. The German fighter raked the forward section of BU-G, killing 2nd pilot Jenkins. The aircraft immediately exploded in flames as the rest of the crew baled out with only minor injuries although Sgt Kent’s ‘chute caught and tangled on the tail of the flaming aircraft and
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he was pulled down with it to his death. All of the surviving members of the crew were captured, two of whom were sent to a German hospital and the rest to prison camps. Jim was sent to Stalag Luft 7C3 and later Stalag Luft 34 until January 19th 1945 when the Camp Commandant warned the Kriegies5 to be ready to move west at one hour’s notice, ahead of the advancing Soviet Army, in what became known as The Long March.6
PLEASURE FLIGHTS On his return to England and de-mob from the RAF, Jim’s passion for flying saw him first with Spalding Airways, a UK air taxi service, then in the late 1940s Jim bought three Auster aircraft7 and started pleasure flights, based at the now long defunct air strip8 at Costessey, living on-site in a caravan with his brother Edward Crampton9 as engineer. According to the Clacton Gazette, ‘The modern way to do business according to Mr James Crampton is to FLY! In fact he owns a two-seater Auster and paid a literally flying visit to Clacton on Monday to do business with Mr. Andrew Smith of Wickboro Farm, St Osyth. Mr. Crampton landed in Smith’s Field off West Road. Opposite the field workmen from a local building firm were busy digging foundations for a set of new bungalows. One of them. Mr. C. Gaze, looked up as the plane loomed over his head and exclaimed: “He’s got engine trouble!” Mr. Crampton lives near Grimsby and
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only came down for a few hours. He arrived half-way through the afternoon and took off by tea time. He gave Mr. and Mrs. Smith a short trip in the plane before getting down to business. “I do most of my business like this,” he said. “I have been down here before, but in the car. And, of course, wherever I go I am inundated from curious onlookers.” Jim’s pleasure flight business expanded to include an air taxi service. The pleasure flights from Cleethorpes Beach used Austers spotter planes10 which took joyriders on an eight minute flight around the town and a signed certificate to prove they undertook the adventure. These flights are still remembered 60-years later, as local residents recall11: “I remember the pleasure flights from Cleethorpes beach. In fact my brother-inlaw and I had a trip in 1956. I had just been demobbed from the RAF and had started work at British Titan Products on the Humber Bank and asked the pilot to fly over the factory.” “This pleasure flying from the beach was fascinating but I suspect in today’s risk-averse world, it wouldn’t be allowed!” “I am one of those whose ‘First Flight Ever’ was in an Auster was from the southern end of Cleethorpes Beach. Granddad took me and my little brother for a walk into Clee and passed the site of the Auster flights. Thinking that we’d be too scared to say ‘yes,’ he offered us a flight - and he was wrong, we did say ‘yes!’ I can remember being given a ‘First Flight Certificate’
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 4
(now unfortunately long gone) signed by the pilot, and Granddad got a right flea in the ear from Mum when we returned home.” “I remember G-AMSZ at Cleethorpes in 1958. There was at least one other Auster-5 doing these flights as I remember being at a Grimsby Town home match on 5th September 1959 with my cousin, an avid fan, and seeing G-AJVT several times circling overhead on the joyriding run.” “A high wing monoplane used to fly off the beach at the boating lake end down over the pier and circle Wonderland and back to the boating lake. It was about 5-bob12 a trip and apparently in the family archives there is a picture of him and my dad climbing onto the plane sometime in the early fifties.” According to the service history of Auster G-AMSZ, the aircraft was acquired by Jim Crampton from RAF 20th Maintenance Depot Aston Down, via William Sturrock13. When operating flights from Cleethorpes beach the aircraft were hangered at the former RAF Grimsby Aerodrome at Waltham.
NORFOLK AIRWAYS With an increased work load, which included air freight and banner flights, Jim started Norfolk Airways in 1950 with the Austers, a Fairchild Argus and a Miles Messenger, with larger aircraft, a Rapide and Dakotas, available when required. The first flight was inaugurated by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, Mr. &
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 5
Mrs. AE Baines, of Norwich who christened the green and silver Argus “City of Norwich”. Mayor Baines told the assembled crowd, ‘I would like to congratulate the promoters, who at last have got a start in running an airfield for Norwich and Norfolk. I hope it is the forerunner of a regular service with a regular airfield attached to the city of Norwich.’ The Mayor and Mayoress had an eight minute flight around Norwich and on landing the Mayoress was quoted by the Eastern Evening News as saying, ‘It was lovely. I’ve had bumpier rides in cars!’ Jim was joined in the Norfolk Airways enterprise by his engineer brother Edward and Dan Burgess, former RAF bomber pilot with 115 squadron and who flew re-supply missions to Germany during the 1948 Berlin Airlift, as second pilot with agent George Whortley handling flight bookings. The Argus had a round trip range of 450-miles which meant Jim could use it for continental flights and could take three people, at a cost of £30, to Paris and The Hague for three days. The cost included the pilot and aircraft waiting time at the destination for the return trip. The Rapide flew to Lyons, Florence and Jim’s Fairchild was the first British aircraft to land at Schaan, Liechtenstein after the Second World War. In June 1950 Jim took a party of six from Norwich in two of his aircraft to the Hook of Holland. They crossed the Channel at its narrowest part near Dover and flew along the
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 6
coast to their destination. On their return trip photographer George Swain, who joined the team at Norfolk Airways to take aerial photos14, left Holland at 18.30 and, despite a half hour stop at Southend for the Customs formalities, landed at Costessey at 21.30. Business was so brisk Norfolk Airways were fully booked flying 120 passengers from Costessy to the Norfolk Show at Anmer, near Sandringham. Light freight of all types was carried by Norfolk Airways with spares for combine harvesters, including one complete engine, which was landed in a field right beside the repair job. In 1952 Norfolk Airways flew 1,000 cuckoo clocks from Germany and were the first company to banner tow aerial advertisements since the end of the Second World War. Contracts grew steadily with very little competition.
Their
largest
contract
came
in 1951 for Thomas Hedley & Co15, when the Argus towed the banner ‘TIDE FOR THE CLEANEST WHITES’ over every seaside resort from Southend to Bournemouth for two weeks. According to Jim’s son, Jon Crampton, the
banner
flights
were
sometimes
hair
raising. Once, when towing a banner for a film showing at the Haymarket Cinema, cloud closed in and obscured Norwich from Jim’s view and he couldn’t find the airstrip. There were no instrument landing aids at Costessey. With night coming on and low on fuel, Jim dived into a gap in the clouds and, flying low, followed the Dereham Road back to Costessy.
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His main worry was meeting a pantechnicon16 coming the other way. Always on the look-out for innovative ideas for the airline, Jim teamed up with Fred Bowers, manager of the Haymarket Cinema, who helped with the cost of experiments with an amplifier, installed by Eastern Radio Amplification on an aircraft. Joan Anderson held a microphone, sitting beside the pilot, announcing the latest films showing at the Haymarket Cinema as Jim flew over Norwich. The success of this form of aerial advertising led to more contracts and, to make Norwich more air-minded, a derelict bomb site17 in the city was used to display one of their aircraft18 with a caravan office to sell flight tickets. After Norfolk Airways first year in business Jim Crampton said, “It has been very successful and I am quite satisfied with the progress for the first year although we expect to do a great deal more flying next year.� Assorted flights included flying farmers above their own land, able to see more in five minutes from the air than they would see in a whole day on the ground; 92-year-old Mr G. Spurrell of Matlask flew on a day return ticket to Bournemouth to see a friend and vowed he would travel no other way; one thousand people in 600 flying hours took short local flights round the City and the Norfolk Broads during summer evenings; two sisters over-80 made their first flight and many passengers expressed the desire to see their homes from
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 8
the air. In the run-up to Christmas an Auster landed on the common at St Neots (Hunts) bringing Santa Claus to open a toy bazaar at Street’s store. About a thousand children came by car, cycle and bus, in pouring rain, to welcome Santa. The pleasure flights from Clacton and Cleethorpes beach continued and Jim teamed up Leslie ‘Wilbur’ Wright who was running pleasure flights at North Denes19. Together they founded Rig Air, to support the blossoming oil and gas business that was developing off shore from Yarmouth and Aberdeen. Rig Air ferried North Sea oil workers from what was then the disused Horsham St Faith bomber airfield and developed it into what is now Norwich International airport. The pair were so successful that on August 1st 1970, following the merger of three air taxi operations, RigAir, Anglian Air Charter and Norfolk Airways they ventured into the scheduled flight industry and started Air Anglia.
AIR ANGLIA Financial backing for Air Anglia was provided by the Norwich Union Insurance Group (25%), while Jim and Wilbur held a 37.5% shareholding each. With the aid of Paul Thomas at Publicity Plus, who came up with the slogan Bigger Than You Think, the small airline thrived. Jim continued flying with pilots Graham South, Jo Collins, Doug Brown and Sqdn leader Gerry Fawke of 617 sqdn fame joining
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 9
the company. Their aircraft included an Auster J5G Autocar, three Cessnas, three Piper-23 Aztecs, and RigAir’s ex-military Dakota DC-3s. In December, a Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander was added which launched the company’s first scheduled service from Norwich to Edinburgh and Aberdeen. In 1971 two more Dakotas and two Piper PA30 Twin Commanches were added to the fleet. On June 29th a second scheduled operation started using the Islander and Aztecs from Norwich to Liverpool and Manchester. On December 6th Dakota flights from Norwich to Amsterdam began when another DC-3 was acquired. During the winter the Dakotas flew the Norwich soccer team and its supporters on weekend charter flights to various UK matches. One of these flights led to a bomb threat when three Dakotas, loaded with Norwich City Supporters, departed Cardiff for Norwich. Air Anglia received a telephone call stating, “There is a bomb on one of your Norwich bound Football Specials. Go immediately with £10,000 in an envelope to Norwich Central Library and leave it next to the Ed Mcbains in the Crime Section. Do not inform the police under any circumstances or you won’t live to regret it.” Air Anglia immediately informed the police and Air Traffic Control and sent an airline official to the city library with an envelope packed with back numbers of ‘Men Only’ magazine. Back at the airport the Dakotas landed safely and were dispersed to three corners of the field.
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The telephone rang and the disappointed blackmailed said, “I told you not to inform the police and what do you mean by leaving me an envelope of filth?!” He was never caught! By the end of 1971 passenger numbers totaled 23,000. On May 10th 1972, in association with Intra Airways, three flights a week were inaugurated from Norwich to Jersey via Cambridge and a Fokker F27-20020, the first of its type to serve with a UK airline, was acquired on lease from the manufacturer and was placed in service on to Amsterdam route. During the summer weekend
Norwich–Rotterdam
flights
came
online while Teesside/Newcastle were added to the Aberdeen route. The Executive branch of Air Anglia offered Aztec and Twin Commanche connecting flights from Cambridge to Norwich, Phil was transferred to the Norwich–Aberdeen route on September 6th, and, due to financial and seasonal considerations, services to Jersey, Liverpool, and Manchester were suspended while a Fokker F27-400 was leased from its manufacturer. One of their contracts was with Anglia Television, picking-up TV News film from a dispatch rider as close to the scene of the story as possible and pilots would be on standby until lunch-time to collect Anglia news-reels from anywhere in the region which extended up to South Yorkshire. Favourite pick-up points were Kirmington, Wickenby and Paull. Chelmsford caused a few headaches when
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Ford refused Air Anglia landing permission on their test track at Boreham. After several phone calls Air Anglia arranged the rendezvous on an unfinished section of the A12 dual carriageway which was being upgraded. Jim Crampton flew down and landed on the road, much to the amazement of passengers on an adjacent London Norwich Express train, only to discover that the dispatch rider had met with an accident and there was nothing to collect. By the end of 1971 passenger numbers had increased to 48,000. In April 1973 the second Fokker Friendship21 was introduced which led to the retirement of two Dakotas. The remaining two Dakotas were used for oil industry charter work, cargo flights to Amsterdam and the scheduled flights to Jersey. On April 21st a Fokker F.27 began flying a scheduled passenger service from Hull to Jersey via Norwich. By summer Air Anglia’s network extended throughout south east England to Stavanger and Amsterdam. By the end of 1973 passenger numbers had increased to 75,000. Two more Fokkers F27s were added in June 1974, which increased Air Anglia’s fleet by four Fokker F.27s, two Dakotas, and three Piper Aztec-23s. In the same month a new service was launched from Aberdeen–Norwich via Edinburgh/Leeds. From November 11th a Piper Aztec flew twice-daily Norwich–Birmingham. By the end of 1974 passenger numbers had increased to 100,000 and the workforce grew of 189. 1975 was to prove a busy time for Air Anglia as on April 1st twice daily Edinburgh–Amsterdam flights began, on April 7th a Fokker F.27 service Hull–Amsterdam started from the new airport at Humberside, on April 19th Air Anglia leased a Handley Page Herald 214 from British Midland Airways to launch their Hull–Jersey service and later that month a long haul22 Fokker F.27 Aberdeen–Jersey route opened. On June 28th Jim moved from fixed wing to helicopters when he went on a flying course. On June 16th he was flying a Bell-4723 for pleasure flights and by July 31st had clocked up thirty-six flying hours. However, the Bell was noisy, relatively expensive to fly. It had limited performance of three adults on a bench seat behind the pilot and there were noise complaints from the locals so it was dropped after only one season. Jim bought an Enstrom helicopter for his personal use, rather like an
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airborne family saloon. Jon Crampton recalls one Sunday when Jim asked where they should go for a family day out with his wife, Barbara. Jon suggested an interesting church they should visit in Suffolk so they all piled into the Enstrom and took off. Once airborne Jim radioed Air Traffic Control with his flight plan and a short while later, circling the village, Jim found a meadow behind a quaint cottage in which to land. As there wasn’t a soul to seen, to ask permission to park the Enstrom in the meadow, they proceeded to the church. Upon their return to the helicopter, which usually attracted quite a large crowd of onlookers, there still wasn’t a soul to be seen and they took off homeward bound. Jon often wondered what the meadow owners had made of the three landing gear indentations in the grass, whether they thought aliens had paid them a visit while they were out. A twice-weekly Air Anglia Norwich to Stavanger service began on October 27th and the Jersey summer service was suspended. The two remaining Dakotas were busy flying cargo during the summer but were sold in November in the same month the airline bought two used Piper 31310 Navajos and placed them on the Norwich–Birmingham route and, on December 6th, an Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy 102 freighter was leased from Field Aircraft Services. During the course of the year one more Fokker F.27 and three Piper Aztec-23s were acquired. By the end of 1975 passenger numbers had increased by 92% to 250,000 and the workforce grew of 350. In 1976 a route was extended from Leeds to Amsterdam and Air Anglia became the first
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 13
Fellowship operator in the UK to use Fokker’s prototype F.28-1000. In 1977 an Edinburgh to Paris plus Norwich to London Heathrow service was inaugurated and the workforce grew to 450 but in October 1978 Air Anglia became a subsidiary of the giant holding company British Air Transport Holdings which took an 85% shareholding, leaving Jim and Wilbur with 5% each. The pay scales for Air Anglia Fokker F27 pilots were £4,400 per annum for probationers rising to £9,550 per annum for Captains with over ten years experience. On February 16th 1979 three men where taken to hospital while working on an Air Anglia aircraft at Norwich Airport24. One man had burns to both hands and two others were overcome by fumes, according to Norwich Police at the time, the incident happened when the men were re-spraying a plane at the airline’s number two hanger. Mr. Christopher Clarke was detained overnight in Norfolk & Norwich Hospital with burns although Mr. Martin Grimmer and Mr. Henry Lamb were released after treatment. Air Anglia refused to comment on the accident. On July 1st 1979 the F.28-1000 was returned to its manufacturer. In September one hundred Air Anglia staff staged a two hour walk out when two engineering supervisors, both ASTMS25 representatives and members of the Air Anglia Staff Association, were dismissed. After talks with Wilbur Wright, joint managing director of Air Anglia, Mr. Roger Spiller, divisional officer of ASTMS, said that both men were reinstated pending an investigation. Following this normal working was resumed at the Norwich, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports where pickets were on duty following the stoppage. In August of 1980, Air Anglia was one of four small regional airlines who merged to form Air UK and Jim Crampton retired after a forty-year commercial flying career. He had pioneered aviation opportunities in East Anglia and helped the domestic airline industry develop across the country. Air Anglia had no air accidents and former staff recall that Jim and Wilbur were both true gentleman of the old fashioned kind. Pieter Doyer, a Dutch engineer who worked for Air Anglia from July 1973 and continued on with Air UK until November 1983 recalls, ‘My parents came over for a holiday. At that time Air Anglia was still a fairly small company so it was not unusual to bump into either Jim or Wilbur in the hangar. I met Jim and told him that my parents were over from Holland for a holiday. Jim’s reaction was typical for his attitude towards the employees in the company. He invited my parents and me for a trip along the coast and dinner! He and his wife collected us in his Jaguar and off we went to enjoy the East Anglian countryside and coast. Somewhere along the coast he made a stop at a nice restaurant where we all had dinner. Somewhat to Jim’s surprise my Father got up during the dinner and held a speech and a toast to Jim and his wife. He had
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 14
a habit of doing this at special occasions, like this one. After he sat down Barbara commented: “Well Jim you’d better say something too!” Jim did of course, but it was obvious that he had not counted on this at all.’ Jim, aged-64, sold the Enstrom helicopter in June 1982 and replaced it with a Bell Jet Ranger. He died in hospital in October 1987, aged-69, and Leslie ‘Wilbur’ Wright November 9th 2006, aged-86 after a lengthy illness. At Jim’s memorial service the vicar said, ‘I met Wilbur in the pub and Jim in church,’ which goes some way to explain the their differing personalities. Wilbur was a colourful entrepreneur, a very flamboyant, adventurous ‘hail fellow, well met’ person who loved media parties whereas Jim was a non-drinker and went about his life quietly. ‘Like chalk and cheese,’ said Barbara recently, ‘which worked well in their business dealings together.’ One former Air Anglia employee said, ‘Jim and Wilbur gave me the best opportunities of my life and I owe them a very great deal.’ Jon Crampton, who in the 1970s worked for the airline as a bookings clerk, has a wealth of Air Anglia anecdotes. ‘During the 1979 Winter of Discontent an enterprising Norwich shopkeeper chartered a Dakota to fly to Ostend. There it was loaded up with a cargo of candles which was flown back and subsequently sold to the shivering, shadowy citizens of Norwich at a healthy profit since candles at that time had become a rarity. The shop-keeper was charged £60 per hour for the Dakota with a £20 freight handling surcharge.’ He also recalls Jerry Fawke on a Munich trip saying the last time he’d been there was to bomb the bastards. ‘They had two engine failures on the same day fortunately not at the same time and the passengers, American A10 tank-buster pilots, on board were told, “Gentlemen we have stopped one of the engines so we can slow down to your normal speed and make you feel at home”.’ Another of Jon’s fond memories of the airline involved a Nun who was caught short somewhere over Grimsby. After this incident a notice was put up at check-in for Islander services advising passengers to visit the lavatory before boarding. Air Anglia belonged to a bygone age where eccentric characters still existed and were tolerated, the accountants hadn’t completely taken over and fun could still be had at work. They even made a profit in the process. Much was achieved and Air Anglia not only trained their own pilots but those of other airlines. Every couple of years former Air Anglia staff hold well attended re-unions at an hotel near Norwich International Airport, the hearth and home of their regional ‘Bigger Than You Think’ airline.
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 15
A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF JIM CRAMPTON a photographs are the sole copyright of Barbara Crampton unless otherwise stated
(above) Jim’s RAF 1940 log book - first solo flight in a Magister
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 16
(above) Jim’s RAF 1941 log book - Jim’s combat missions
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 17
(above) Jim Crampton - top left - flight training group photo
KEY TO PHOTOGRAPHS ON PAGE 18 TOP: Jim Crampton - centre - and crew of Wellington R1613, 214 Squadron MIDDLE LEFT: Jim Campton - centre row left - at 214 Sqdn MIDDLE RIGHT: Jim Crampton & crew planning their next mission BOTTOM LEFT: flak over Dusseldorf, photo taken from R1613 BOTTOM RIGHT: prisoner of war Jim Crampton kneeing right - probably taken at Stalug Luft 3
(above) Cadet Crampton
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 18
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 19
(above) a selection of Jim Crampton’s post war flying log books
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 20
(above) Jim advertising his pleasure flights, 50p for a trip over the Norfolk Broads (below) Jim - left - with his crew on Cleethorps Beach in the late-1940s
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 21
(above) Auster G-AMSZ being prepared for take off
(above) patient queues of thrill seekers on the beach and
(below) the moment of take-off
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 22
(above) Jim Crampton and his Auster - in their natural element
CAPTAIN BURGESS JOINS JIM CRAMPTON AT NORFOLK AIRWAYS (above) Capt. Burgess & his Halifax crew during the Berlin airlift, 1948 (left) Capt. Burgess of RAF 115 Sqdn Bomber Command
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 23
(above) Tom Slipper of Aylsham Radio Engineers loads radio supplies into Norfolk Airways Fairchild
(below) Norfolk Airways aerial advertising with - left to right - Fred Bowers (Haymarket Cinema), Goerge Birch, Joan Anderson (vocalist), Stan Buxton (ERA) and Jim Crampton
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 24
(above) Jim Crampton, Dan Burgess and 92-year-old Mr G. Spurrell of Matlask who flew on a day return ticket to Bournemouth, to see a friend
(below) Norfolk Airways Rapide used for overseas passenger flights
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 25
(above) Jim poster towing from Costessy Airfield (below) photograpgher George Swain teams up with Jim to produce aerial images
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 26
trawler aground on Scoby Sands - photos by George Swain
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 27
all aerial photographs on this page taken by GEORGE SWAIN pictured bottom right overleaf, more George Swain pictures
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 28
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 29
man in nose: “I’m sure I left my sandwiches in here.”
Dakota DC-3 freight aircraft of Rig Air at Norwich Airport, late-1960s
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 30
(above) Air Anglia Dakota G-AOBN at Norwich Airport, 1970
(below) joint owners of Anglia Airways Wilbur Wright, left, and Jim Crampton take delivery of their first Fokker Frienship F28 airliner in August 1970
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 31
(above) in good company, Wilbur Wright & Jim Crampton seated right (below) the start of something bigger than you think, at the Air Anglia Gala
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 32
With grateful thanks to: Barbara and Jon Crampton for sharing their memories of Jim and loaning his flight log books, photo albums and George Swain’s Norfolk Airways photographs for this article. Rosemary Dixon at the Eastern Evening News library. Mike Finlay for allowing access to the 2012 Air Anglia Re-union, Pieter Doyer for his memories of Jim and Dennis Brennan who gave a comprehensive history of the airline. Paul Thomas of Publicity Plus at the 2012 Air Anglia Re-union for sharing his memories of working with the airline. Internet sources: http://www.kamov.net/airline/air-anglia-airline-at-norwich-airport-norfolk/ for their history of Air Anglia aircraft.
FOOTNOTES 1
For more information see: wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Oxford
2
Crew OF R1613 Coded BU-G, July 27th 1941: 1st P/O J.G. (Gordon) Crampton, 2nd P/O T.
Jenkins, Sgt R. Kent, Sgt Marshall A Johnson, F/Sgt H. E Jones, F/Sgt R. Instone 3
at Bankau (now Rakowo) just east of Breslau (now Wroclaw)
4
Luckenwalde, Germany
5
the name British prisoners of war gave themselves
6
for more information see: wikipedia.org/wiki/The_March_(1945)
7
Registrations: G-AGWY, G-AJVY and G-AMSZ
8
the airstrip was beside the Dereham Road just outside New Costessy, now Norfolk Show
Ground 9
Formerly with the British Army, Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers
10
10s (50p) children 5s (25p)
11
Source: http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=70909
12
25p in today’s money
13
who converted it to an Auster-5
14
which were predominantly sold to over flown home owners
15
makers of soap products
16
a large removals van
17
on the south corner of Lower Goat Lane and Guildhall Hill, Norwich
18
during the Festival of Britain
19
Great Yarmouth
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 33 20
christened Phil
21
christened Bess
22
long haul for a domestic flight
23
Registration: G-ATFV
24
Source, Eastern Evening News
25
Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS All photographs are the sole copyright of Barbara Crampton unless otherwise stated Page 1: top, P/O Jim Crampton, 1941, aged-23 middle, P/O Jim Crampton (right, standing) and his crew of Wellington R1613 bottom, P/O Jim Crampton (3rd left) and his crew of Wellington R1613 Page 2: top, Prisoner of War Jim Crampton in 1943, aged-25 middle, Jim Crampton, 1953, advertising pleasure flights from Cleethorpes Beach bottom, Cleethorpes Beach 1953, Jim Crampton aged-35, (2nd left) Page 3: top, Auster in the snow upper middle, Barbara Crampton holding baby Jon Crampton in front of the Cleethorpes Beach booking office lower middle, Jim Crampton, right, with Auster maintenaince crew bottom, Auster G-AGWY at the Costessy Airstrip Page 4: top, Jim’s Auster takes a passenger to Woban Abbey upper middle, Jim on Cleethorpes Beach lower middle, Jim Cramton with his pleasures flights business partner John Radford bottom, from the left, John Radford & his wife, Barbara and Jim Crampton Page 5: top, Lord Mayor Baines inaugurates Norfolk Airways at Costessy Airstrip upper middle, Jim, left, watches as Lord Mayor Baines helps the Lady Mayor Mayoress from the Argus after her flight around Norwich lower middle, Jim in Norfolk Airways uniform bottom, the Fairchild Argus, 1951 Page 6: top, Norfolk Airways flight to Holland, photographer George Swain middle, Norfolk Airways banner towing over Norwich bottom, Norfolk Airways banner towing for the Haymarket Cinema, Norwich
JIM CRAMPTON, PIONEERING AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR - PAGE 34
Page 7: top, George Bower, left, manager of the Norwich Haymarket Cinema at the start of Jim Crampton’s, right, amplified advertising enterprise at Norfolk Airways upper middle, Joan Anderson at the microphone lower middle, Norfolk Airways display an in Norwich aircraft during the 1951 Festival of Britain bottom, Norfolk Airways flight information on a bombsite in Norwich aircraft during the 1951 Festival of Britain Page 8: top, Norfolk Airways Auster G-AJIU lands with Santa near St. Neots upper middle, Sanat with Children at St. Noets lower middle, photographer George Swain, left, with Jim Crampton bottom, the Board of Anglia Airways with, seated right, Wilbur Wright and Jim
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Crampton top, Jim Crampton at the controls of a Air Anglia Piper middle, F27 painted in Air Anglia colours at the Fokker Factory in Holland bottom, Jim & Barbara Crampton stand proudly in front of Air Anglia’s new F27
Page 10: top, Air Anglia’s Fokker F27 at Norwich Airport upper middle, ibid lower middle, Air Anglia’s Piper G-BMIN of the executive fleet bottom, Jim Crampton, right, with Air Anglia’s air taxi fleet Page 11: top, Jim Crampton at the controls of his Enstrom helicopter with an Air Anglia Dakota DC-3 in the background Page 12: top, Enstrom G-BASB bottom, family day out, Jim at the controls of the Enstrom with passenger Barbara