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via email from Stephen P. Taylor, 8-20-09 I recently acquired an item. Researching it's history, via the www led me to your excellent website, so I thought I'd just drop you a quick line so you can see how useful it has been! Although I'm a pilot and a/c builder/restorer in the U.K, my field of interest lies in British aircraft of the 1930's. I've always fancied building an aero-engined special out of a pre war car, so bought this old badge on a whim, to put into a box with the other items I've collected towards this idea. I noticed on the reverse of the badge a number - '114'. Now, although pre-Great-War stuff is not really my area, I realised that, if this was actually a RAeC Membership Number, it was bound to be pretty early. Via your excellent website, I was fascinated to see that it had belonged to Mr. George M. Dyott, and that he gained his RAeC Certificate 114 on 17th August, 1911, so he's very much an 'Early - Bird'...! Dyott seems to have been very much an Anglo-American, with the emphasis on American, as he was born in and died in 'The land of the free'. He turns-out to have given-up flying soon after the Great War, but is nonetheless a fascinating character. As he was educated here, fought in the RNAS and he was active in early flying both here and in the U.S, he must have been back and forth across 'the pond' a lot. Since he gave-up flying after the Great War and seems to have spent most of the rest of his life in South America, I'm quite curious as to whether he came back to Blighty after he'd left. If we assume that the badge was actually issued in 1911, it'd be interesting to know what car it was on, - and how it managed to get to me almost a hundred years later...! One small point that confused me was that GMD's book - 'MAN HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE' is ascribed to 'D.M.Dyott'....I wonder why...? Anyway, many thanks for your website, without which I'd have struggled to find all this out. Best Wishes, Stephen P. Taylor. |
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