Here’s one from a very distant past from the personal archives. Taken at the Liverpool Polo Ground about 1910, it shows a showman called T Elder Hearn and his two, apprarently Spanish, mechanics. Hearn had bought the Bleriot in France not long before, and after a basic flying course managed to get the plane to Liverpool without serious mishap. Alan Bramson’s history of the British light aeroplane has a reference to this event.
His passenger is a chap called Freddie Fyfe, a local photographer. Freddie was a family friend, and he gave the print to me about 1970, a year or so before he died.
Freddie had photographed all manner of people, including aeronautical characters like S F Cody and Claude Graham-White, and as a teenager I hung on his every word. He was later a photographer in the RFC and re-enlisted the second time around ending up as a Squadron Leader.
This may well be the oldest surviving photograph of aviation on Merseyside. Certainly I haven’t seen an earlier one.
William
By: philglt - 14th March 2006 at 20:10
I was also a member of the MGAE/MSAE for a while in the early 60’s.It’s great to see pictures from this period. I hope this isn’t the start of a scouse clique :p
Phil
By: Atcham Tower - 14th March 2006 at 10:15
So was I, and a member of the MGAE before it became a society rather than a group! Oh yes and only had girlfiends during the winter, dumping them before the airshow season started 😀
By: Moggy C - 14th March 2006 at 09:30
Anyone out there admit to having been a menber of the Merseyside Society of Aviation Enthusiasts (MSAE) in the late 60s?
William
Posting the images here is quite appropriate.
And yes. I was. Well, early sixties actually. (I found out about girls in 1965 and plane spotting lost all its attraction.) 🙂
Moggy
By: Scouse - 14th March 2006 at 00:38
Roy: I haven’t got anything else of the same vintage as the Bleriot picture (unless you want a picture of my late Auntie Connie in her RFC uniform), but I’m pulling together and scanning some of the better pictures from the late 1960s for anyone’s interest. “I was a teenage planespotter…” 😀
Jon and Atcham Tower: I gather the Polo Club was in Dunbabin Road. Quite where I don’t know, although the site of the modern King David School seems likely, as it’s level. I’ve asked this one of another forum and as and when I get a definitive answer I’ll PM anyone who’s interested, so as not to drift too far off topic on this forum.
Freddie Fyfe was about to take off to gather aerial photographs of the Manchester Ship Canal, he said. Gibbs-Smith (Aviation, HMSO, 1970) identifies the first aerial photographs as dating from 1909, so Freddie was up there with the real pioneers on this one.
I’ll post the teenage planespotter pictures in a day or two – don’t know if this board or the photography one is more appropriate.
Anyone out there admit to having been a menber of the Merseyside Society of Aviation Enthusiasts (MSAE) in the late 60s?
William
By: Atcham Tower - 13th March 2006 at 21:29
Could it have been the polo ground which later became part of Hooton Park? Hooton was an early airport for Lpool even though it was on the Wirral side of the Mersey. I doubt if there is any connection between the Hearn(e)s.
By: Jon H - 13th March 2006 at 15:29
Where out of interest is/would the polo club be located? Given I hail from the south of Liverpool (the nice half!!! 😉 ) cant say i have ever encountered it.
Here’s one from a very distant past from the personal archives. Taken at the Liverpool Polo Ground about 1910, it shows a showman called T Elder Hearne and his two, apprarently Spanish, mechanics. Hearne had bough the Bleriot in France not long before, and after a basic flying course managed to get the plane to Liverpool without serious mishap. Alan Bramson’s history of the British light aeroplane has a reference to this event.
His passenger is a chap called Freddie Fyfe, a local photographer. Freddie was a family friend, and he gave the print to me about 1970, a year or so before he died.
Freddie had photographed all manner of people, including aeronautical characters like S F Cody and Claude Graham-White, and as a teenager I hung on his every word. He was later a photographer in the RFC and re-enlisted the second time around ending up as a Squadron Leader.
This may well be the oldest surviving photograph of aviation on Merseyside. Certainly I haven’t seen an earlier one.William
By: RPSmith - 13th March 2006 at 13:46
Wonderful stuff!
The front cockpit appears to have a windscreen. Just out of interest anyone know the first aircraft to be so equipped?
Additionally wasn’t there a Martin Hearn involved in early parachuting – wonder if they were related?
Roger Smith.
By: wv838 - 13th March 2006 at 12:58
C’mon… what else you got!?
Would love to see more.
Roy.
Sign In
March 13, 2006 at 12:02 pm