Abbey Park
ABBEY PARK, LEICESTER: Temporary flying display site
NOTES:
Date: 14.05.44 Display by A L Wykes, Managing Director of Taylorcraft who was demonstrating an Auster AOP type at a ‘Salute the Soldier’ rally in aid of the National Savings Movement.
Making presumably a huge error of judgement, (perhaps?), he crashed nearby killing himself instantly. I mention this incident because it is very common in our aviation history for serious and often fatal accidents to occur at flying displays – in fact the first aviation fatality in the UK was at an airshow - see SOUTHBOURNE (HAMPSHIRE).
I suppose, just as in motor racing, that the potential for a serious crash presumably accounts, to some extent at least for many people, for their continued popularity. I remember reading somewhere that in the late 20th and early 21st century more people in England were attending air shows than football matches.
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