Hiram Maxim, inventor of the Maxim Gun, moved to Baldwyms Park in about 1891. He immediately began work on building a flying machine which he had earlier designed. He gained permission to build a hanger, to store and work on the machine, and lay 1800 ft of track. On the 31st July 1894, the machine under the control of Maxim travelled along 900 ft of track, before it lifted off and covered a further 100 ft and then crashed when a structure failure in the framework brought it down. An inspection of the guard rails showed that the machine had lifted off the ground and had flown at a height of 2 ft. From a photograph the hangar was retangular in shape with a pitched roof and two large sliding doors at the front leasding to the rail track. It seems that it was constructed of wooden planks. The track and hanger were presumably removed when the site was taken over by London County Council and Bexley Hospital built. The site of the hangar was used to build the hospital's West Villa now also gone.(1-2)

<1> RCHME, 1993, Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England: Compilation of Kent Hospitals Record Sheets, RCHME Report 1993 (Unpublished document). SKE6841.

<2> Miscellaneous Information of Harim Maxim's Flying Machine and Tests at Baldwyns Park, Dartford, Bexley (Miscellaneous Material). SKE12007.