Dreamland 'Train Air' pictures

[Nick]

I received the following email yesterday. Can anybody help?

"I am looking for pictures/information on the Dreamland "Train Air" flight simulator rides from the 1930s.

My interest is as a researcher in the history of flight simulators, on which have written a number of articles over the years. I am currently working on a book about Gordon Iles (one of the sons of John Henry Iles) who developed simulators in the RAF during the Second World War.

My Trainair interest is related to another article I am working on, about a Farnham company which manufactured "Hoverplanes" in the 1930s. These were very similar to the Train Air rides (both having a propellor powered by a motor cycle engine) but I am not yet certain whether they were supplied by this company.

I am aware of the picture on p 35 in the Nick Evans Dreamland book of 2003, and I have also found a sequence in a 1932 Pathé news film about Dreamland.

I would be very interested to know whether you have any other pictures of this ride, or in fact any information at all relating to it.

Regards,

Dr Martin Bolton
Blagdon, N.Somerset"

What he particularly wants to know is who manufactured the rides and whether any other amusement parks had them.

[JMT]

Nick, is this something similar to the old plane ride in Tibidabo, Spain? Can you send a picture, please?

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

From p 35 of Nick Evans' book, there appear to be two three-quarter sized replica single-wing aeroplanes, not dissimilar to Spitfires, which sit on pivots and which would appear to operate in a similar way to those mechanical ride-on bulls which can be found at some attractions today.

[Nick]

Here is a photo from the Save Dreamland Campaign Photo Galleries (the Galleries are linked from www.savedreamland.co.uk):

[Nick Evans]

Interested to see the pic Nick L posted earlier. I'm glad the Train air pic from my book has been thought of too - it came out a Dreamland brochure if I remember rightly. What I wanted to add was that if the good doctor is interested, there's a short chapter about Gordon Iles flight simulator work in the late John Hutchinson's book A Dream Came True, which he might find useful. The simulator he developed was called the Siloth.