Roker Cliff Park
ROKER CLIFF PARK: Temporary aerodrome
Operated by: Henri Salmet
Location: Roughly 2nm NNE of Sunderland city centre
Period of operation: 20th to 22nd September 1913
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for both finding this location and providing the following items.
Article One was published in the Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette on the 19th September 1913.
Article Two was published in the Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail on the 23rd September 1913.
The local area view and the area view are both from my Google Earth © derived database. The short article was published in the Maidenhead Advertiser on the 24th September 1913.
NOTES: After deciding to research this project some twenty five years ago, (from 2024), I have been amazed, astonished and inspired by the incredible advances made in aviation in those early years. I think we can dismiss that spurious claim by the Wright brothers regarding having made the first flight in 1903. Even the famous photograph shows it was not a flight, just a short 'hop' in ground effect. Others had made similar 'hops' around this period but, being more knowledgeable, sensible and responsible had declined from making similar claims. Or having a photographer to record such very limited attempts to get truly airborne but not actually flying.
This said, it is quite possible that the Wright brothers, operating in some secrecy at Dayton, Ohio, may well have been the first to design a machine capable of actually flying. This said, without much if any doubt, it can be attributed to members of the Aero Club de France, with their headquarters on the Champs Elysee in Paris, who made the biggest advances, and the Grand Semaine d'aviation de la Champagne event at Rheims in August 1909 proved to the world that the French had made the biggest advances in aviation.
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