Carrying Newspapers By Aeroplane
An item in the magazine Flight, August 26, 1911 covered Hamel's unsuccessful attempt to convey newspapers from Hendon to Southend the previous Saturday. It appears that the publisher sponsored this event as a publicity stunt. However, heavy weather forced the plane down at Hammersmith in West London.
Saturday 9 September 1911. Gustav Hamel, flying his Bleriot XI monoplane, left Hendon at 4.58pm. He carried one bag of mail with 300-400 letters, about 800 postcards and a few newspapers weighing 23Ib and arrived safely at Windsor around 5.13pm. The centenary of the event was marked by the Royal Mail with the issue of a set of commemorative postage stamps on 9 September 2011.
Further reportage appears in the history of another airfield called 'Hendon' at Bradford, Yorkshire. He was the first to fly from there on Friday, August 1, 1913
Late in 1913, looping the loop was perfected and became a popular event during the many public displays. On January 2, 1914, Hamel took Miss Trehawke Davis aloft to experience a loop, and she thus became the first woman in the world to do so.
In March 1914 Hamel flew to Cardiff to give a public flying display. While there he met Charles Horace Watkins, who was an engineer perfecting his own aircraft called the Robin Gôch, or Red Robin. Contemporary newspaper reports indicate that a few minutes after they met, Hamel flew them both to Watkins' hangar, where they inspected the Robin Gôch.
Read more about this topic: Gustav Hamel
Famous quotes containing the words carrying and/or newspapers:
“Common sense should tell us that reading is the ultimate weapon—destroying ignorance, poverty and despair before they can destroy us. A nation that doesn’t read much doesn’t know much. And a nation that doesn’t know much is more likely to make poor choices in the home, the marketplace, the jury box and the voting booth...The challenge, therefore, is to convince future generations of children that carrying a book is more rewarding than carrying guns.”
—Jim Trelease (20th century)
“The newspapers are the ruling power. Any other government is reduced to a few marines at Fort Independence. If a man neglects to read the Daily Times, government will go down on its knees to him, for this is the only treason these days.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)