The Birth of British Aviation - Prisoners of Hope

摘要

The author of this attractive book is the great grand-daughter of Charles Rosewarne, who built the flying sheds at Eastchurch for the Short Brothers and lent his building yard to Charles Rolls to park his Rolls-Royce. She has produced a book, written in the form of a novel, which covers these early days in detail. Shorts' meeting with the Wright Brothers and the foundation of the Royal Aero Club by Vera, daughter of balloonist Frank Hedges Butler, soon encouraged others of a like mind to the area, and early aviators such as Frank McClean, Murray Sueter and John Moore-Brabazon were soon mixing freely to share ideas. Locations at Eastchurch and a few miles further on at Leysdown, site of the famous Mussel Manor which features in that unique photograph of 13 of these pioneers including the Wrights, were chosen in order to be away from public gaze in those early years when virtually no government support was forthcoming for aviation and it was very much a matter of trial and error. A local reporter, Charlie Hands, features in these pages as the one "newshound" who believed in the pioneers. Readers must concentrate to avoid confusion with Charlie Rolls as he was referred to, a rather strange character, in some ways very parsimonious, in others generous.