Vehicles need a suitable sturdy building to ensure they are parked and stored in an environment that ensures they will avoid potential damage, and aircraft are no exception to this.
There are some robust, reliable kit-build aircraft hangar buildings available in a range of sizes to suit particular purposes and wingspans, but whilst the need for strong steel hangars has always been there, the buildings themselves have not.
This became a particular problem for Great Britain’s foremost pioneer aviator and the famously fragile and unreliable nature of the first-ever aeroplane designed, constructed and flown in England.
A Tabloid And A Race Track
The path Sir Alliott Verdon Roe took to becoming one of the most influential pilots in British history was somewhat unusual. After failing to become a surveyor, he became a marine engineer and became fascinated by flight after seeing an albatross fly over him.
Despite having little experience in engineering outside of the Merchant Navy and the railways, Sir Alliot became the secretary of the Royal Aero Club, and this opened the door to becoming a draughtsman for G.L.O. Davidson.
After this ended in an acrimonious resignation, he instead turned to a rather unusual source of revenue: a contest in the Daily Mail.
Cashing in on the fascination surrounding powered flight, the tabloid newspaper launched several contests offering cash prizes for people who achieved certain aviation feats.
A year before their rather infamous £1000 (£100,000 adjusted for inflation) prize for crossing the English Channel, the Mail held a powered model aeroplane contest at Alexandra Palace, and Sir Alliot won a prize worth £75 (£7500 adjusted for inflation) for one of his designs.
This was enough to get him started building full-size planes, and after his brother kindly lent him a coachhouse at his West Hill, Putney home, work began on the Roe I, the first English-built aeroplane in history.
Once again, he was inspired by a prize; the first person to fly a circuit of the three-mile Brooklands motor racing circuit could win £2500 (£252,000 adjusted for inflation), alongside a Daily Graphic £1000 prize for flying more than a mile.
Using the model plane as a base, he completed the plane in 1907 and proceeded to move to the Brooklands track to test and prepare for the competition flight.
Once there, he was permitted to build a hangar building, creating the first aeroplane shed in the United Kingdom, but could only do so on the condition that the hangar could be used for refreshments on race days, meaning that the plane itself needed to be moved.
This very quickly became a point of contention because the attendants were somewhat heavy-handed with his one-of-a-kind plane, throwing it over a fence and damaging it.
He begrudgingly repaired it and succeeded on 8th June 1908 in making a few short flights, albeit way short of completing a lap of the track.
He was evicted a month later, dismantling the Roe I and returning the engine in the process.
He prepared for an attempt to Cross the English Channel with an operation based under a railway arch, but Louis Bleriot beat him to that accolade. He would eventually form Avro, the eventual manufacturer of the Lancaster Bomber.
Comments