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carried aloft for a glorious few minutes at a payment of fifty baht each, circling over Sala
Daeng before landing back at the racecourse. The newly enthroned Rama
VI
, king for only
four months, watched the demonstrations avidly. Bangkok Aviation Week had been or-
ganised by the Societe d'Aviation d'Extreme Orient, formed by a man named Karl Offer in
response to the growing interest in aviation from the Far East.
Siam began making arrangements to send three young Thais to France for pilot train-
ing, and they left for Paris at the beginning of the following year. The training was extens-
ive and intensive, for the three pilots were to return and form the nucleus of the Royal
Thai Army flying unit. At the same time, the Ministry of War ordered seven aircraft: three
Breguet biplanes and four Nieuport
II
monoplanes. A fourth Breguet was purchased by
Chao Phraya Aphai Pubet, who donated the machine to the Ministry, the first of a steady
stream of donations from other wealthy Thais that was to play a significant part in build-
ing the nation's fleet of planes.
The eight aircraft and the three pilots arrived in Bangkok together with a French
mechanic towards the end of 1913. Once again, the Royal Bangkok Sports Club grounds
were used as the runway for the fledgling air force, being not only flat but also surrounded
by open fields in case of accidents. Hangars for the aircraft were built in the grounds of
the Police School, which, as it does today, occupied the large area of land at the top of the
racecourse. Here the new aircraft were assembled and on 29
th
December the first demon-
stration flights took place. The Sports Club's land was however unsuitable as an increas-
ingly busy aerodrome, being too small and too swampy, and the decision was made to
move the new Aviation Section to higher ground at Don Muang. Although there was no
road out to the remote airfield, the railway line passed the site, and this enabled the Army
Supply Department to quickly prepare the landing strip, hangars and housing. The three
pilots touched their aircraft down on the airfield for the first time on 8
th
March 1915, and
Don Muang remains the base for the Royal Thai Air Force to this day.
Until the Skytrain was built and rather spoiled the view, clever photographers were
able to stand on the golf course in the centre of the Royal Bangkok Sports Club and pho-
tograph what is now the Four Seasons so that the splendidly designed hotel appeared
to be a mansion in the centre of a vast green estate, with manicured lawns and tranquil
ponds. The Club remains essentially unchanged to how it was at the dawn of aviation, a
green sward in the centre of the city that has grown around it. Franklin Hurst, the Eng-
lish businessman who was, along with Louis Leonowens, later to buy The Oriental, had in
1890 submitted a request to establish a racetrack and sports field. A fifteen-year lease was
signed between the Ministry of Interior and Mr Hurst in 1892 for an area of land at Sra
