House & Helicopter

Ken Wallis

Reymerston Hall

Reymerston Hall was built in 1780 for the Reverend Grigson. It changed owners a number of times before WW2, when it was taken over by the Army. The field I use as an airfield was known as The Park, and had some trees on it. A 'local' told me "important people were flown in by Lysanders!" I was astonished, he did not know that I had been flying Lysanders early in WW2. At that stage the trees around the field must have been much smaller.

After WW2, the Hall was acquired by a local man, who was given a grant to restore it after the damage done by the army. In consequence he had the Georgian marble fireplaces replaced by thirties style structures, and much 'institution' brown paint on the walls. It was briefly owned by Sir Charles Musgrave, Bart.

At the same time I got my autogyro prototype, WA-116, G-ARRT, flying (after an experiment which showed the potential and scale but the need to start with a clean sheet of paper. That experiment, G-APUD, now resides at the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology. It's best there!)

We were then living at Southwick, Sussex and I...