Alan Cobham

Who was Alan Cobham?

Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC was an English aviation pioneer.

A member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, Alan Cobham became famous as a pioneer of long distance aviation. After the war he became a test pilot for the de Havilland aircraft company, and was the first pilot for the newly formed de Havilland Aeroplane Hire Service. In 1921 he made a 5,000 mile air tour of Europe, visiting 17 cities in 3 weeks. On 30 June 1926, he set off on a flight from Britain to Australia where 60,000 people swarmed across the grassy fields of Essendon Airport, Melbourne when he landed his de Havilland DH.50 floatplane. During the flight to Australia, Sir Alan J. Cobham's engineer of the D.H.50 aircraft, Mr. Arthur B. Elliot, was shot and killed after they left Bagdad on 5 July 1926. The return flight was undertaken over the same route. He was knighted the same year.

On 25 November 1926, Cobham attempted but failed to be the first person to deliver mail to New York City by air from the east, planning to fly mail from the White Star ocean liner RMS Homeric in a de Havilland DH.60 Moth floatplane when the ship was about 12 hours from New York harbour on a westbound crossing from Southampton. After the Moth was lowered from the ship, however, Cobham was unable to take off owing to rough water and had to be towed into port by the ship. The same year Cobham was awarded the Gold Medal by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.