DAILY MAIL AERIAL TOUR

 

"THE DAILY MAIL" AEROPLANE TOUR, 1913 M. SALMET AND HIS 80 H.P. BLERIOT MONOPLANE. Collection of Roy Nagl, 12-29-03

 

"THE DAILY MAIL" AEROPLANE TOUR, 1913 H. SALMET ON HIS 80 H.P. BLERIOT MONOPLANE Collection of Jenny Harries, 1-23-04

 

1913             1913     1913?   Apr 1914

Salmet made a tour of North Wales/ NW of England, which may have ended in Cumbria. This included visits to reside resorts and a landing at Hooton Hall, near Ellesmore Port, (later the site of Hooton Park WW1 aerodrome - the Hall was used as the officers' mess - which is now Vauxhall's Astra plant. The tour was sponsored by the Daily Mail and the Bleriot was fitted with floats for some appearances only. Blinded by sun during landing at Tuckton (between Bournemouth and Christchurch), ran in to a tree. Salmet suffered a cut. Passenger Hartton Turner unhurt. Visited Meyrick Park, Dorset, carrying local department store owner Cyril Beale dressed as Santa Claus. Salmet landed the Daily Mail sponsored Bleriot XI-2 at Gyllyngvase beach near Falmouth. The Bleriot was fitted with wheels - although the people of Falmouth were expecting a seaplane - and these dug in to the sand on landing and the aircraft tipped up on its nose. The Bleriot was later fitted with floats to operate from the sea. Salmet took the Lady Mayoress of Falmouth for a flight but was forced down in the sea off the Lizard with engine failure.

 

SALMET VISITS BANGOR, IRELAND - 1914 via email from Ellen Elder, 12-21-04 Dear Ralph,      Was researching M.Salmet and came across your website with photographs etc. and thought you might be interested in the following:      Our local weekly newspaper, The County Down Spectator, had very few photographs but in May 1914 the pages suddenly blossomed with the news of the expected arrival of Monsieur Henri Salmet and his water-plane. Bangor Urban Council had persuaded the Daily Mail, which was sponsoring M. Salmet, to include Bangor in his Irish Tour. Photographs, probably provided by the Daily Mail, showed the exciting machine in action. In the issue of 12 June more pictures of the water-plane appeared along with the disappointing news that a Mr. Fred Raynham would arrive instead of Henri. The 19 June issue had yet more photos of the water-plane, and, finally, the 26 June issue reported that Henry had arrived - without the water-plane! It had developed mechanical trouble and had been left behind at Carlingford Lough. The aerial exhibition and passenger flights were carried out by monoplane and afterwards there was a band promenade and fireworks display at Ballyholme, a local sandy beach suitable for landing aircraft. The novelty value of this event can be gauged from the fact that local school children and the staff of the Spectator were given a half-holiday in honour of the visit and extra trains and steamers were put on to convey the crowds from Belfast to Bangor at reduced prices. Ellen Elder

 

ONLINE RESOURCES - 1      If you search for "Henri Salmet", using the Google search engine, (1-14-04), you will find about nine links. One of the most helpful is the following.

SALMET LANDING AT FALMOUTH, 1914      You will find a very nice picture of "Henri Salmet the Daily Mail Photographer, landing off Falmouth, April 1914," Courtesy of the Falmouth Library, on Andy Campbell's Maritime Image Bank. You can access the page by clicking on the title above. If time permits, you will be rewarded by choosing to view some of the other images in his collection.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES - 2      Roy Nagl, who contributed the photograph of Salmet seen above, also recommended several websites of interest.

The Mastery of the Air by William J. Claxton CHAPTER XXXII Three Historic Flights      Again, although you will find only the briefest mention of Henri on the website, it is well worth a visit. On it you will find special emphasis on the influence of the press on the development of aviation as introduced in the excerpt below.      "When the complete history of aviation comes to be written, there will be three epoch-making events which will doubtless be duly appreciated by the historian, and which may well be described as landmarks in the history of flight. These are the three great contests organized by the proprietors of the Daily Mail, respectively known as the "London to Manchester" flight, the "Round Britain flight in an aeroplane", and the "Water-plane flight round Great Britain."      You can access the site by clicking on the title above. You might want to use the FIND function on Salmet to find the location of his entry.

 

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