http://www.oswaldmos...e/marendaz.html
Captain D.M.K. Marendaz was "a swashbuckling ex-Royal Flying Corps pilot, who has a niche in the history of the sports car. he was responsible for a series of elegant custom built vehicles which bore his name in the nineteen twenties and thirties". So went his obituary in the Times when he died aged 91 on November 6th 1988. "A flier of the old school" "who regarded his generation of pilots as the last of the true knights of the air...........in their fragile contraptions of wire and fabric". The article went on to give an account of the part the Captain played in the battle of Cambrai when over 300 tanks were used for the first time and his was the only spotter plane to penetrate the fog over the battlefield.
What the article did not mention was the fact that during the Second World War, Captain Marendaz, was imprisoned without charge or trial simply because he thought Mosley was right. Donald Marendaz was born in Margam, South Wales, his ancesters had come from Switzerland in the 18th century. He joined the R.F.C. in 1916 and was in combat over the Western Front after only twenty hours flying.
After the war he devoted his tireless energy to engineering, and partnered the launch of the Alvis car, followed by the Marseal which was a sports model which Captain Marendaz frequently raced at Brooklands. The highest point of his achievement was the Coventry Climax-engined Special raced by Aileen Moss, mother of Stirling, but in 1936 production ceased. He showed great interest in the B.U.F. Automobile Club and was often at their gatherings at National Headquarters, along with Sir Malcolm Campbell, Donald Marendaz became owner of two airfields, where at government request, he set up flying training schools, which turned out nearly 500 pilots. He designed and built three aircraft of his own, one of which he claimed was superior to the Spitfire.
In the Summer of 1940 he was thrown into prison without charge or trial with hundreds of other members of British Union, one third of whom had seen service in the First World War, and often the Boer War as well. No doubt he pondered upon the quality of the politicians who labelled men as potential traitors, men whose loyalty to Britain was proven by their past.
After the war he emigrated to South Africa where he built diesel engines, returning to Britain in 1971. He lived in Lincolnshire in some seclusion, but by his writing he insured that the memory of his beloved Marendaz Special would live on.
I was aware of the Marendaz Special and the connection with Aileen Moss, but did the car really have a Climax engine? Anyone know more about him, or the cars? Or the British Union of Fascists Automobile Club?? Was Campbell a member of that, or does that imperfect sentence refer to the airfields?
If the Express got him out, what did he do for the next 9 years?
