Flight

I inherited a bound set of The War Illustrated from my paternal grandparents. One hundred years after its publication I am delving into its pages to discover the people and their times.

The War Illustrated of 29th August 1914 (above) says "the French fleet are the most skilful and daring airmen in the world".  I think the British were rather in love with the dashing French airmen who flew in the skies before the Great War and their admiration continued into conflict. There is a dispute to whether the1909 Paris (Le Bourget) or the 1909 Berlin Air Show was the first in the world but the first British Air Show was at Blackpool in Lancashire on 18th October 1909 and it was a French aviator, Henri Farman. that came away with the prize for the length of his flight.  Here is a photograph by Walter Doughty, the Guardian's first ever staff photographer, of the event:-

 This year of 1909 also saw Louis Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel. 

Commemorative Poster of Blériot landing at Dover from Wikipedia

The Wright Brothers had only made the first powered flight in 1903 and a mere six years later air shows were taking place, suddenly all eyes were on the sky and the Blackpool event was attended by 200,000 spectators to be amazed at the marvels of flight.  They were not too overawed as they also managed to consume 36,000 bottles of beer, 40,000 dozen bottles of minerals, 500 cases of champagne, 600 cases of whiskey and just to keep body and soul together ate 500 hogshead, 1000 hams and 2000 pork pies. It is sad there will be no air show at Blackpool today as the recent owners, Balfour Beatty, have put it up for sale and from this month closed the airport down.  It is suspected that they do not expect a buyer and their ultimate interest is the land that will be more profitable for their house building interests.  Its a shame that the UK does not have a joined up transport policy, and it would be admirable if Blackpool retained commercial flights, but the airport has gone through many changes in its lifetime. Following a Flying Carnival in 1910 it changed into a racecourse (an unsuccessful venture) and during the First World War the land and buildings were used by the King's Lancashire Military as a Convalescent hospital.

The early aviators on outbreak of war turned their thoughts away from record breaking flights to reconnaissance flights and how to drop bombs from planes.   

and the War Illustrated of 3rd October 1914 showed one of their objectives as "Daring Raid on Düsseldorf by British Airmen"

The objective was the Zeppelin sheds and the magazine portrays two British airmen.  The one on the right is Captain Robin Gray but so far I have been unable to find a mention of him on the raid and only a question to whether he was called Grey or Gray (there are a number of Royal Flying Corps named Robin Grey/Gray).  I suppose an answer would be to consult the French National Archive on the Legion d'honneur recipients but they have not digitised their collection. We are on happier hunting grounds for Flight-Lieutenant Charles H Collet because the London Gazette of the 23rd October 1914 (p8509) reported:

"On 22nd September CH Collett, Royal Naval Air Service (Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corp) flying a Sopwith Tractor biplane made a long flight and a successful attack on the German Zeppelin Aircraft Shed in Düsseldorf.
Collet's feat is notable - gliding down from 6,000 ft, the last 1,500 ft in mist, he finally came in sight of the Airship Shed at a hight of 400 ft, only a quarter of a mile away from it. 
Flight Lieutenant Matrix, acting under the order of Squadron Commander Spenser Grey, carried out a successful attack on the Düsseldorf Airship Shed during the afternoon of 8th October.  From a hight of 600 ft he dropped two bombs on the shed and flames 500 ft high were seen within thirty seconds.  The roof of the shed was also observed to collapse"

 The "map showing the country traversed" in the raid on both the Düsseldorf and Cologne sheds, for its time an amazing feat of navigation in unreliable aircraft and  in bad weather which obscured the target for three out of four pilots, in fact Spenser Grey couldn't find the sheds and bombed the railway station instead. Flight Lieutenant Reggie Matrix destroyed the Z9 and a dirigible but his machine was struck and damaged then he ran out of fuel 20 miles short of Antwerp on his return.  It is said he got back "by bicycle he got from a peasant and a car he took".  

Charles H Collet (4 Feb 1888-19 Aug 1915) received the DSO for his Düsseldorf raid but died in an aircraft accident on Imbros, Turkey and is buried on the Gallipoli peninsula.

Addendum
For an informative and entertaining read on the "wildly optimistic" raids on the Zeppelin sheds see the article
"The Royal Naval Air Service in Antwerp, September-October 1914"  by Bridget Pollard (pdf here) on the British Commission for Military History site.

"100 Year of Flying from Blackpool " BBC Lancashire, 24 September 2009
 

   

ABC Wednesday - Trams

Turned out to be a tricky letter so what could I find, trams. Location the seaside town of Blackpool. In the background the other T in the photo which is Blackpool Tower. We were there in July for a cup final. I've used this trip before, for the last ABC Letter E. Despite the team loosing, I have at least got two posts out of it, yippee. We did what you always do at the seaside, take pictures and have an ice cream;
although on a very windy day, not venturing into the water. Possibly not a day to go up Blackpool tower although it has been standing there since 1894 so no doubt people have been up in all weathers. Not sure what the black and white tower was but the crane is there because there is a lot of work going on to modernise the frontage.
so it will all look like this. More cranes on the right but on the left is part of the big dipper which is where this tram will be heading,

because it says on the front - Pleasure Beach. There have been trams in Blackpool since 1885, single deckers and

double deckers. It was one of the first electrical tramways in the world. Across the bay in Barrow they had just replaced the horse buses with steam trams but
in 1904 the British Electrical Traction Company completed a scheme of electrical tramways which apparently, I learned on the Tramways & Light Railway Society page, was of intermediate gauge. Unlike Blackpool the trams only lasted until 1932 when they were replaced by buses. As you can see this is also a double decker tram, but with an open top, they were hardy souls in the early 1900s. All the buildings in this photograph are still there but the road has changed considerably, not only because it is now jammed with cars, but there are also three sets of traffic lights down this end of Abbey Road.

This postcard was sent to my Great Aunt Rachel, who I never met, I think she and one of her sisters emigrated to Canada. The card wishes her a happy new year and is date stamped 1 Jan but the postmark is incomplete so the date is unknown.

Swindlehurst family at Hazelslack Tower farm

Rachel is the little girl in the checked dress on the left. The reason I have the card is that my Grandmother Winifred, who is the little girl standing in the middle leaning against her mothers knee, collected postcards in her early life. I like the way they have taken a table outside to put the family bible on and then grouped around it.

How quickly the world changed, at the time when the electric tram system was completed in 1904 Marconi was patenting his radio system in the USA, the summer Olympics were being staged in St Louis along with the world fair, the suffragettes were fighting for votes for women in Britain and the Russo-Japanese war was an ominous sign of wars to come.

To end on a lighter note, here are where notes float on the air for it is Radio City Tower in Liverpool also known as St John's Beacon.

And a tower that looks as though someone is building a rocket to take-off for Mars or the Moon, but is actually the scaffolding round the Hoad Monument (a lighthouse) while it is renovated and painted. I wonder what colour it is going to be. Watch this space, but unfortunately not outer space.

For more themes on the letter T go to the participants of the ABC Wednesday meme

ABC Wednesday - E

E is for Excitement

My fellow fans at the Northern Rail Cup in July which was played in Blackpool. This was the first final Barrow Raiders had got to since October 1st 1983, back in the days when clubs had straightforward, no nonsense names, such as Barrow Rugby League club. By the fickle finger of fate we were playing the same opponents in July as we had in 1983 when we won the Lancashire Cup. You can see everyone is making the most of the day, especially the supermen. This is before the match started so the enthusiasm, exhilaration and enjoyment were only just starting however things did not end well and Widnes were the eventual winners. Guess we will have to wait until next time, I hope it is not another 26 years.

The day was a blustery and warm, people were enjoying the waves by the south pier although
there did not seem to be many on the big wheel maybe it was too exposed or everyone
was at on the Pleasure Beach perhaps having more Excitement riding the Pepsi Max Big One




But wouldn't it be more exciting if we saw Elvis, doesn't the National Enquirer keep spotting him in supermarkets. Here fans have Embellished their beach hut with an image of him at his prime.
Other beach huts are a little more Elaborate
These huts were near Hopeman in north east Scotland where one of the most exposed links golf course nestles next on the sea cliffs. The green on Clashash Cove is 150 feet below the 12th tee. It may be advisable to have to keep your wits about you when walking by this cove, a golf ball might be flying in your direction, and perhaps embedding itself in your skull, which would be extremely uncomfortable.

For an eclectic mix of the letter E exit to the ABC Wednesday meme

Northern Rail Cup Final

Travelled to the Cup Final, the clubs first since 1982. The venue, Blackpool FC's Bloomfield Road ground, the south end of which is still under construction. Strange choice by the Rugby League. The game was a sell out of nearly 9000 tickets. Here were the Barrow Raiders fans in full voice, ready for a grand day out. Did we worry that Widnes had won this trophy two times in three seasons. No, we had beaten them in the league this season.

A deafening roar from all the fans and the game started and all was going well until a ten minute spell before half time when Widnes Vikings ran in 3 tries to make it 22-8. Still optimistic we thought it could be pulled back, but mistakes and the fact that we were not fielding a full strength team told. The game ended Barrow Raiders 18 Widnes Vikings 34. Some good rugby but on the day we were not good enough.

I hope we do not have to wait another 27 years to get to a final, but that will depend on the capricious nature of fate and the spin of the Rota Fortunae or Wheel of Fortune...