Leith
Note: This map only shows the position of Leith town within the UK. If anybody can kindly provide a more exact location, this advice will be most welcome.
LEITH: Early experimental flying site
Operated by: J & G Gibson
Location: Somewhere in Leith (?) which is an inner suburb of Edinburgh NE of the city centre
NOTES: In his book British Built Aircraft Vol.5 Ron Smith states that in 1910 experiments with the first Gibson biplane were taking place in Leith. This aircraft being a fairly crude version of the Boxkite design. Presumably he means the Bristol Boxkite? These early trials are claimed to have been unsuccessful but their second machine, (a rebuild of their first machine), was flown successfully in August 1910. It appears they employed the Caledonian Motor & Cycle Works to build their aircraft and another ten aircraft were constructed.
I have no reason to doubt this but, considering the sole aim of this Guide, I’d just love to know what happened to these machines. Who brought them and where did they fly them from? Or should I say, attempt to fly them from? As said so many times before, this really is recent history, so why is it now so damned difficult to discover?
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