Stefan the Pilot and I went to Walthamstowe Marshes recently in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first all-British flight just under the railway arches at Walthamstowe Marshes.
I produced some videos from the day out including one of a chat I had with A.V. Roe's grandson, Eric Verdon Roe and of Mike Taylor, project leader of Roe Heritage Group who talked about the modern day problems encountered with building an aircraft from the early 20th century.
The event was sponsored by BAE Systems and organised by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.
Flight International profiles the Roe Triplane in its 1 April 1911 issue but recorded the flights of Roe's, triplane at the time saying: "On July 23rd, he made four successful attempts, of which three were flights of some 300 yards in length each. In the first flight Mr. Roe failed to fully accelerate his engine, and the machine alighted after a brief ascent, but on the second, third and fourth flights, he got going properly and ascended to an altitude of from 6 ft. to 10 ft. above the ground." Continue reading...
on August 13, 2009 5:31 PM | Reply
I was disappointed that in all the clips the photographer showed the speakers all of the time when he could have shown the much more interesting details of the aircraft.