Pre WW1 Aviation
The World changed forever on December 17th 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA when Orville and Wilbur Wright built and executed the first controlled flight of a 'heavier than air' aircraft. Orville was first into the air. His first flight may have only been 120 feet (37 meters) in twelve seconds but as they say, the longest journey starts with the first footstep! The world changed again in 1909 when the Frenchman Louis Bleriot crossed the English Channel in his home made monoplane. He won the prize of £1000 (a huge sum at the time) offered by the Daily Mail newspaper.
The General Public went crazy for aeroplanes. The British Government was less enthusiastic. What good was 500 years of Naval domination if aeroplanes could just fly over the top of Battleships?
The first International Public Air Show was held in Reims, France in 1909. By 1912 Air Shows had proliferated across the Globe, and thousands of the general public had taken advantage of the £5 ten minute 'up and down' flights offered by pilots and experienced flight for themselves first-hand.