Aviation History ‘Under the Arches’
Famous flying machines were built here by the Edwardian aviator A.V. Roe. He built his famous triplane in the railway arches at Walthamstow Marshes. His flight across Walthamstow Marsh was a landmark in aviation history.
An Edwardian inventor Alliott Verdon Roe developed his interest in aviation while he was a ship’s engineer. In 1902, he “left the sea” and attempted to make a living as a freelance inventor/engineer.
Amongst other things, he worked on designs for the motorcar industry, but the lure of designing and building “flying machines” must have been too great because,in 1906, he left the motor industry to take up the post as secretary of the Aeroclub.
In 1907 he entered a competition organised by the Daily Mail for the best lying machine models and picked up the £75 second prize. Spurred on by this comparative success, he decided to build a full size bi-plane, but his plane never really got airborne. He was forced to rethink his ideas, and after studying drawings, photographs and developing his own designs, built a triplane – the first of several to be constructed.
On Lea Marshes
He applied for permission to use Wormwood Scrubs and Wimbledon Common, but the authorities refused. Eventually, Roe moved from Brooklands to Lea Marshes (Walthamstow Marsh) in the early months of 1909. Parts for his machine were manufactured in Putney in May of that year and assembled in the two railway arches he had rented from the railway company.
Flying High
On July 23rd 1909 he managed to fly the machine a distance of 900 feet at an average height of around 10 feet. Flying conditions must have been good that day because he followed this by a further two flights of the same length. A.V. Roe had managed to become the first person to fly over British soil wit a British-designed machine and powered by a British engine. It was a landmark in the history of aviation, and in recognition of this, the Greater London Council have put a blue plaque on one of the railway arches to commemorate the occasion.
In 1901 the famous AVRO Company was formed, eventually building such well-known planes as the Lancaster, Shackleton and Vulcan bombers.
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