Post by springy on Apr 3, 2009 15:49:20 GMT 1
I wonder how many people know that the first flight in the Merseyside area was made 100 years ago at Aintree Racecourse, on Monday 15th November 1909?
The flight was made by the famous American showman and pioneer aviator Samuel Franklin Cody, the first man to make an officially recognised flight in Britain (16th October 1908).
He arrived here from the Doncaster aviation meeting, and assembled his own flyer on Aintree Racecourse, to compete for the Sir William Hartley (of Hartley's Jam) prize of £1,000 for the first flight from Liverpool to Manchester.
He made a number of flights from Aintree, but unfortunately a combination of bad weather and the frailty of his Cody biplane meant that he got no further than Eccleston.
But there it is; the very beginning of Liverpool's long association with aviation. I doubt if there will be any celebrations on 15th Nov, although I might send an e-mail to Gordon Burns at Northwest Tonight!
Ken
The flight was made by the famous American showman and pioneer aviator Samuel Franklin Cody, the first man to make an officially recognised flight in Britain (16th October 1908).
He arrived here from the Doncaster aviation meeting, and assembled his own flyer on Aintree Racecourse, to compete for the Sir William Hartley (of Hartley's Jam) prize of £1,000 for the first flight from Liverpool to Manchester.
He made a number of flights from Aintree, but unfortunately a combination of bad weather and the frailty of his Cody biplane meant that he got no further than Eccleston.
But there it is; the very beginning of Liverpool's long association with aviation. I doubt if there will be any celebrations on 15th Nov, although I might send an e-mail to Gordon Burns at Northwest Tonight!
Ken
