In the rush of dealing with a major computer problem and getting away on holiday (in which I completed the Coast to Coast walk, 192 miles from St Bees Head to Robin Hood Bay — more on this later) I failed to notice that the centenary of the first British powered flight had taken place. This was undertaken by none other than Alliott Verdon Roe in a triplane of his own design, on Walthamstow Marshes in London, on 13 July 1909. The wonderful Diamond Geezer has reported on this event in his own indomitable way, and provided his usual eclectic list of links to further information about the famous aviation pioneer. From this I learnt that Roe himself developed some rather unsavoury political views, and was a supporter of Oswald Mosley, who was of course interned during the Second World War.
Ironic, then, that the company Roe founded would go on to make the War’s most famous British heavy bomber, the Avro Lancaster, and play a huge part in defeating the fascist war machine.
Dambusters Blog 