1910: Harry’s First Flight! Categories: Sports/Events Timelines: Main

On 10th July 1910, a French pioneer named André Beaumont took Harry up for his first-ever flight. Beaumont had brought the seaplane over in pieces from Dieppe and put it together on the beach at Brighton. “It looked as if he had knocked it up out of soap boxes and piano wire.” Once the engine started the whole contraption shook as though it was going to fall apart, and the take-off across the water was accompanied by much rocking and shaking. After three-quarters of an hour they landed with a splash.

Harry knew many aviators of the day as he was an early member of the Royal Aero Club. He later wrote; “They were great boys, those pioneers of the air. I knew them all. Their photos, mostly signed, adorn the smoking-room of the Albion.”