The hard flat sands of the Yorkshire Coast lent themselves as useful runways for the early pioneers of flight. Indeed the 'Father of flight', Sir George Cayley, wrote a triple paper on the theory of wing warping and flight. His young butler was the first person ever to fly in a glider across a field in Brompton. Filey later became the home of pilot and aeroplane engineer B.C. Hucks, who later went on to form the Blackburn Aircraft Company. During WW1 aircraft took off and flew along the Yorkshire Coast spotting U-Boats and German ships. We have more information & photographs in a file in our archive. Please contact us for more details.
Sopwith in WW1 on Yorkshire Coast
Safe channel for vessels along coast - patrolled from air.
WW1 flight log
Aviation in Yorkshire - A brief list of articles we hold:
1. 100 Years of Flight (National Geographic double-sided wall chart)
2. Anti-Submarine Coastal Patrols by Aeroplanes (15/3/1918)
3. Filey as a Flying Centre
4. Filey Aviation
5. Flight at Filey
6. Interview with Stuart Leslie (11/1/2014)
7. Letter from Gordon Hyams to the Commanding Officer of Air Station Hornsea (16/11/1917)
8. Letter from John Rushton to Mr. Leslie (17/9/2003)
9. Log Book Extracts (1918)
10. Luftwaffe
11. Racecourse Aerodrome
12. Scarborough Racecourse
13. Shuttleworth Old Warden Park
14. Sir George Cayley
15. Sopwith Baby 8142 at Scarborough
16. Submarine Attack on Scarborough (5/9/1917)
17. The Crash of the R38
18. The R38 Airship Crash (August, 1921)
19. The 'Safe War Channel' (map)
20. World War Two Aircraft Shot Down in Yorkshire
