I’ve been meaning to visit this museum for a little while after having seen it from the train when travelling between Luton and London. The museum is free of charge and asks visitors to register online, but I don’t think it’s essential.
This exhibit is a briefcase from the 1920s that was owned by Sir Samuel Hoare, the 1st Viscount Templewood (1880-1959), who was a pivotal figure in the development of British civil and military aviation during the interwar period. Serving as the Secretary of State for Air on three separate occasions throughout the 1920s, he became a tireless advocate for the ‘imperial air routes’ that sought to connect the distant corners of the British Empire. Hoare was not merely a desk-bound administrator; he famously took to the skies himself, embarking on a landmark 10,000 mile flight to India in 1927 alongside his wife to demonstrate the safety and potential of long-distance air travel. In reality, at this time, air travel wasn’t entirely safe, but it was certainly right to make others aware of the potential.
In a different world, Hoare could have easily become Prime Minister and he remained one of the most important and influential Cabinet Ministers in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Unfortunately for him, Churchill didn’t like him and threw him out of Government when he became the wartime Prime Minister.
Hoare was one of the most important Ministers during the twentieth century in terms of the evolution of air travel. I like exhibits such as this as they’re a personal connection to a very different time during history and it’s something of a contrast to the huge bits of aircraft that are dotted around the rest of the museum.