Edwin Rowland Moon, possibly inspired by the 1903 Wright brothers flight, took a corner of the workshop of the Moon family owned a boat-building business to realise his dream of constructing and flying an aircraft of his own design.
He tested his first plane, Moonbeam I, in the Fawley area, near the home of his future bride. His first short “hop” took place on Websters Field at Ower Farm, near Calshot and at Moulands Field, Regents Park. Following these test flights on the prototype plane, he built a second plane, Moonbeam II.
Moonbeam II was a monoplane, weighing 260 lbs, of which 160 lbs was engine and propeller. A V-4 cylinder, 20 h.p. J.A.P engine was fitted, and it had a 6 ft wooden propeller. In 1910, the plane was conveyed by horse-drawn cart to the meadows belonging to North Stoneham farm from where he made the first successful flight; the precise date of the first flight is not known, although researchers believe that it was between 12 April 1910 and 11 June 1910.
Moon later regularly flew his plane from Stoneham, as well as from Beaulieu Heath (near the site of the later World War II airfield) and Paultons Park. He gained his aviator’s certificate in 1914.
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