The Daily Mail Flying Prizes

The book describes through the newspaper reporting of the events of all of the fourteen Daily Mail flying prize winners from 1907-1919: Roe, Farman, Brabazon, Blériot, Paulhan, de Lessep, Paulhan a second time, Moisant, Beaumont, Sopwith, Hamel, Brock, Alcock and Brown; and Gatherwood. Most of these names remain in history as great air pioneers. The newspaper reporting at that time tells you why: In Europe in 1906, following the Wright brothers' success in the first flight by man in a powered aircraft in 1903, progress in manned flight was slowly coming to fruition in France and Germany but not in Britain. In November, 1906, only a short time after Santos-Dumont performed the first successful flight in Europe, Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail, was prompted to announce the offer of a prize of £10,000 for a flight from London to Manchester. Through this offer, Lord Northcliffe took Britain into the international world of flying. The prize offer encouraged the pioneers, and not surprisingly, the prize was won within four years of the offer. Even though, the Wright brothers were capable of crossing the English Channel first, they did not for various reasons. In 1909, Louis Blériot garnered the Daily Mail prize for this feat plus acquiring everlasting world wide fame. In April, 1913, the Daily Mail again startled the world with the offer of £10,000 for the first non-stop cross-Atlantic flight. World War I interrupted any attempts for the prize. Post the war, a number of groups flocked to Newfoundland to try and succeed for the unprecedented flight. Alcock and Brown in their Vickers Vimy aircraft on June 14-15, 1919 performed the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight going from Newfoundland to Ireland. Experience the ventures of early these aviation pioneers just as readers did at the time with "splash" as the "Chief" (Lord Northcliffe) would say.

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A survey of the development of British military aviation from 1903 to 1914, revealing the consequences of its annexation by the state as a branch of armaments as an underlying cause of aircraft inadequacies on the outbreak of war. A mine of information, drawing on an impressive range of archives. It will become an important point of reference. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW This book aims to demonstrate how the crisis evident in British military aviation in the early years of the First World War was inherent in the entire development of aviation in the years preceding the conflict. After outlining the work of the early pioneers and the growth of an aviation industry as a branch of armaments, Dr Driver considers the objectives of the War Office in increasingly seeking to divert design development to their research establishment at Farnborough. He shows how the resultant virtual state monopoly in designand procurement had disastrous consequences for aircraft innovation and development, suffocating both competition and initiative, and leading to the maintenance of inadequate aircraft by the Royal Flying Corps following the outbreak of war. The continuing dispute and its culmination in the "Fokker Scourge" controversy of 1915-1916 graphically characterise the strained development of military-industrial relations in this area. Dr HUGH DRIVER gained an MA in War Studies from King's College London, and a D.Phil in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford.