Royal Aero Club Collection

Royal Aero Club Collection The Royal Aero Club Collection is an archive of aviation material dating from the late 1800's to the present day.

The Royal Aero Club Trust was established in 1998, with HRH The Duke of York KG GCVO as its Patron. In 2012, the ownership of the Royal Aero Club’s collection of trophies, pictures and artefacts, together with the Club’s archives, was formally transferred from the Club to the Trust. The main effect of this change is that the Trust is required, by its status as a charity, to provide the best possible access to the Collection, and especially to the archive.

First England – Australia FlightIn 1919, the Australian Government offered a prize of £10,000 for the first flight by Au...
18/11/2019

First England – Australia Flight

In 1919, the Australian Government offered a prize of £10,000 for the first flight by Australians between Britain and Australia. To win the prize, the flight in a British aeroplane had to be completed within 30 days and before the end of 1919. Six aircraft and crews entered for the competition. Captain Ross Smith, his brother Lieutenant Keith Smith and Sergeants J M Bennett and W H Shiers won the prize with three weeks to spare. They left Hounslow on 12 November 1919 – 100 year’s ago today – in Vickers Vimy G-EAOU, and landed at Darwin, Australia, 28 days later. Ross Smith and Keith Smith were knighted for their achievement, and the Vimy is now preserved in a special memorial exhibition at Adelaide Airport.

J C Porte (1884-1919)Today is the 100th anniversary of the death of J C (John Cyril) Porte, who was an early British avi...
13/11/2019

J C Porte (1884-1919)

Today is the 100th anniversary of the death of J C (John Cyril) Porte, who was an early British aviation pioneer. While serving in the Royal Navy’s submarine division, Lieutenant Porte found time to experiment with gliders and a small aircraft of his own design and first flew in 1910. Around this time, he contracted tuberculosis and was invalided out of the service, but continued to fly, obtaining his aviator’s certificate in France in 1911. In 1912, he formed a partnership with Lawrence Santoni to establish the British Deperdussin Aeroplane Company, holding the licence to manufacture Deperdussin designs in Britain and the Empire. Porte flew the company’s aircraft in many races in Britain and at the Army’s military aircraft trials. After the company was dissolved in 1913, Porte was employed as test pilot by White and Thompson, which had obtained the British licence rights to Curtiss flying boats. Through these contacts, Porte travelled to the USA to work with Glen Curtiss, who was to construct the “America” flying boat, with the intent to be the first to fly the Atlantic and win the Daily Mail’s £10,000 prize. However, engine and water-handling problems delayed the project, which had to be abandoned on the outbreak of the War. Porte returned to Britain to re-enlist in the RNAS, working first to train airmen and subsequently to lead the new flying boat division at Felixtowe. Porte advocated the purchase of the “America” flying boat and other Curtiss machines of similar design. The family of “Felixtowe” flying boats carried out coastal reconnaissance, anti-submarine and anti-Zeppelin patrols with some success in the later years of the War. The “Felixtowe” boats provided good service and were the nucleus, around which Britain’s coastal defence force was developed. Porte died on 20 October 1919 at the age of just thirty-five, a victim of the tuberculosis that had afflicted him for ten years.

Start of International Commercial Air ServicesThe world’s first regular daily scheduled international civil air service ...
11/09/2019

Start of International Commercial Air Services

The world’s first regular daily scheduled international civil air service for the carriage of passengers and goods began on 25 August 1919 – 100 years’ ago today - from Hounslow Heath to Le Bourget, operated by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. The first of the scheduled services left Hounslow at 12:40 hours, flown by Major Cyril Patterson in a D.H.16, carrying four passengers. It completed the flight to Le Bourget in 2 hours 26 minutes. Earlier that day, Lieutenant E. H. (Bill) Lawford (below) flew from Hounslow to Le Bourget on a positioning flight with one passenger and a small cargo of newspapers, leather, grouse and jars of Devonshire cream.

First Return Atlantic FlightOn 2 July 1919 – 100 years’ ago today – the British airship R.34 (below) left East Fortune i...
11/09/2019

First Return Atlantic Flight

On 2 July 1919 – 100 years’ ago today – the British airship R.34 (below) left East Fortune in Scotland on the first ever East-to-West air crossing of the North Atlantic. Major G. H. Scott was in command, with a crew of 28 officers and men. After flying for 3,130 nautical miles in 108 hours 12 minutes, the airship arrived at Mineola, Long Island. The return flight of 3,200 miles took 75 hours 3 minutes. In making these flights, the R.34 was the first airship to cross the Atlantic; the first aircraft to cross from East to West; and the first to make a return crossing.

Schneider "Shambles"In 1914, Howard Pixton had won the Schneider Trophy for Britain and the Royal Aero Club, who then be...
11/09/2019

Schneider "Shambles"

In 1914, Howard Pixton had won the Schneider Trophy for Britain and the Royal Aero Club, who then became the hosts for the next contest. However, the outbreak of the War curtailed all sporting events and it was not until the summer of 1919 that it was possible to schedule Britain’s defence of the trophy. The Club selected Bournemouth Bay (below) as the venue and entries were received from both Italy and France. The contest was held on 10 September 1919 – 100 years’ ago today - but was soon reduced to a shambles: a lack of proper facilities for the aircraft onshore; a pebble-strewn beach; poor communication from the Club’s headquarters on a yacht offshore; and a fog bank offshore that persisted all day. Those aircraft that attempted to fly the course soon lost their way. One sank after alighting to establish its location and hitting a submerged object. Although the Italian entry, a Savoia S-13 flown by Guido Janello (below), appeared to have completed all the laps, it transpired he had missed a turn marker, on a boat moored in the thick fog in Swanage Bay, and had been mistakenly turning around a similar vessel nearby. The F.A.I. declared the contest null and void, but designated Italy as the host country for the next contest. The Royal Aero Club was heavily criticised by the teams and in the press for its poor organisation. As Flight reported “It cannot be said that the Schneider ‘Race’ at Bournemouth was a success. In fact, in modern slang, it would undoubtedly be termed a ‘wash-out’”. Having been wined and dined on the Club’s yacht, C. G. Grey in The Aeroplane commented “The Committee of the Royal Aero Club may not be great as organisers of flying events, but it certainly is astonishingly competent in arranging for the social side of aviation”. It was an error that the Club would not repeat in subsequent events.

19/06/2019

This blog commemorates the centenary of Alcock and Brown’s pioneering flight across the Atlantic in 1919.

The First Non-stop Atlantic Flight100 years ago today, Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur Whitten Brown left Newfoundland in...
19/06/2019

The First Non-stop Atlantic Flight

100 years ago today, Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur Whitten Brown left Newfoundland in a modified Vickers Vimy aeroplane (below) to make the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, winning the Daily Mail’s prize of £10,000. They completed the crossing on the following day, 15 June 1919, after a flight lasting 15 hours and 57 minutes, famously crash-landing in a bog near Clifden, County Galway in Ireland. Two days later, they returned to London, to huge celebrations. For more about this famous pioneering flight, see the account on the RAF Museum web-site, at https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/a-transatlantic-tale/

The Transatlantic Flight of Hawker and Mackenzie-GrieveWell before WWI, the Daily Mail was planning to offer a prize of ...
28/05/2019

The Transatlantic Flight of Hawker and Mackenzie-Grieve

Well before WWI, the Daily Mail was planning to offer a prize of £10,000 for the first successful flight to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Within days after the end of WWI, the wartime ban on the Atlantic race was lifted, and the Daily Mail renewed its offer of £10,000. Four entrants made their way to Newfoundland, to attempt a West to East crossing. 100 years ago today, on 18 May 1919, Harry Hawker and Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve set off to fly a Sopwith modified B1 (bomber) aeroplane. However, they had to ditch part way and were picked up by the Danish ship SS “Mary”. Interestingly, Hawker’s ’plane did not sink and was retrieved by a passing American steamer and brought to England. The Trust’s collection includes a photograph of the wrecked machine (below) - taken when it was displayed on the roof of Selfridge’s store - as well as a portrait painting of Mackenzie-Grieve.

100th Anniversaries in British Aviation100 years ago today, British Civil Aviation began on 1 May 1919, when the “Air Na...
05/05/2019

100th Anniversaries in British Aviation

100 years ago today, British Civil Aviation began on 1 May 1919, when the “Air Navigation Regulations-1919” came into force. The honour of making the first recorded flight under the new regulations goes to Captain H J Saint, who took off from Hendon Aerodrome, London, flying a DH9 of Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. The first transport flight was from Cricklewood Aerodrome, London to Didsbury, Manchester – also on 1 May – in a Handley Page 0/400 (below), flown by Lt-Col W Sholto Douglas with 11 passengers. 50 years later, on 2 July 1969, a dinner was held at Heathrow Airport, London to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the official start of civil flying in Britain – and other significant events from 1919: landmark events for which we celebrate the 100th anniversaries later this year. The commemorative brochure from the 1969 dinner celebration has recently been added to the Trust’s Collection.

Mary Ellis, Spitfire Pilot (1917-2018)Mary Ellis (née Wilkins), who died today aged 101, was the last surviving female S...
03/09/2018

Mary Ellis, Spitfire Pilot (1917-2018)

Mary Ellis (née Wilkins), who died today aged 101, was the last surviving female Spitfire pilot - who flew 400 of the planes during the Second World War. She joined the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) in 1941, after hearing an advert for women pilots on the radio. By the end of the war, she had spent more than 1,100 hours flying 56 different types of aircraft. In November 2016, she and fellow ATA pilot Joy Lofthouse (1923-2017) were honoured in front of members of the Royal Family at the annual Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

03/04/2018

Congratulations to the Royal Air Force, celebrating its 100th birthday today. To mark this occasion, we will all want to reflect on its history and its achievements. We will also want to celebrate the work the RAF is currently doing and look forward to the next 100 years. We particularly look forwar...

19/02/2018

Margot Duhalde, who died today aged 97, was born in Chile but with family connections in France. She started flying lessons in Santiago when she was 16 and obtained her flying licence two years later. When General de Gaulle issued his call to the Free French in June 1940, she offered her services an...

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