Gustav Hamel in 1913

I can’t remember whether I posted this before in a separate thread but the Hamel photo album refered to above is now on the RAeC Trust website here.

http://raec.sds.websds.net/DisplayShowCaseDocs.aspx

Cheers

Yes, that’s absolutely right. It was Gustav at Worcester in that photograph, and it was taken August Bank Holiday Monday in 1913. (August 4th).

The Presbyterian Church in Castle Street was built in 1865 and demolished in 1965.

I’m pleased to report that we now have a positive identification for the church in the photograph. It is (or, rather, was) Christ Church Presbyterian Church on Castle Street in Worcester. There is a nice photograph of the church on Picasa under “The Changing Face of Worcester” at reference J0901221, number 39 of 48 images.

This means that we can confirm, with confidence, that the photograph, captioned Unionist Fete 1913, shows Gustav Hamel at Pitchcroft Racecourse, Worcester in 1913.

My thanks to everyone for contributing to this thread.

From Wiki

Gustav Hamel was educated at Westminster School and chose to learn to fly at the Blériot school at Pau, France in 1910 at the age of 21. He obtained the Royal Aero Club’s Aviator’s certificate no. 64 and the Aéro-Club de France’s certificate no. 358.[1] His first flight of note was on 24 March 1911 when he flew from Hendon to Brooklands in a record 58 minutes.

In the exploit for which he is best remembered, Hamel flew a Blériot on Saturday 9 September 1911, covering the 21 miles between Hendon and Windsor in 18 minutes (took off at 4:55pm and arrived at 5:13pm) to deliver the first official airmail to the Postmaster General. Included was a postcard he had written en route. The many thousands of items of mail included commemorative postcards which are today treasured by collectors.

27 July 1912 The Hinkley Times reported:

Mr Gustav Hamel, the famous aviator, brought his aeroplane to the Outwoods and gave a demonstration of powered flight. This would have been the first time that most Hinckley people had witnessed a motorized aeroplane. The aeroplane flew over Burbage and Sketchley. Many people in Mount Road saw the plane as it flew low over their heads. A mishap at the conclusion of the flight made any further flying that day impossible.”[2]

In August 1913 a seventy five mile air race around the Midlands was arranged between Benfield Hucks & Hamel. The take-off point for the contest was the Tally-Ho grounds, adjacent to Cannon Hill Park. Both aviators then flew anti-clockwise around the circuit, landing at Redditch recreation ground, Coventry, Nuneaton, Tamworth and Walsall in turn, and then finishing at Edgbaston. Hamel won the race by a margin of just twenty seconds. Hamel was quite active in Worcestershire, visiting Pershore racecourse in October 1913 where he gave exhibitions of flying. He also visited Upton On Severn, Worcester racecourse & Kidderminster cricket ground in October 1913.[3]

[3] Various local newspapers including Birmingham Post & real photographic postcards showing Hamel in action.

270 newspaper articles of gustav Hamel here but you have to pay to see them.

https://secure.newspaperarchive.com/RegistrationPaymentV77d.aspx?plan=865

Thanks to everyone’s responses so far. The photograph posted is one of eight from a set numbered 1 – 10. As Schneiderman says, they are from an album of other Hamel photographs. Several of those in the “Unionist Fete 1913” set include Gustav Hamel himself.

I became quite excited by the suggestion of Pitchcroft, Worcester Racecourse. It fits many of the clues. However, the Gothic spire in the background doesn’t match Worcester Cathedral, which seems to have had a square tower since forever. If there is someone out there with local knowledge of Worcester, perhaps they can confirm or contradict the Pitchcroft theory, based on the visual clues?

Or perhaps I should post on a “Church Architecture” forum?

Thank you, Schneiderman. So one must presume that the caption to the photograph should have been ‘This was a Blériot…..’ rather than ‘This was Bleriot’, namely that it was Hamel flying a Blériot monoplane (perhaps one of those that belonged to Miss Trehawke Davis) rather than an aeroplane being flown by Louis Blériot.

Hi aa

I’ll answer that on behalf of andrewd. The photo is included in Hamel’s own photo album, so we assume that he is the pilot of the aircraft in the photograph

Andrewd, could you please explain the connection between Gustav Hamel (viz. the thread title) and the photograph, for this is not mentioned in the text of your opening post.

Here is another image with same caption “Unionist Fete 1913” but this time No. “8”
http://www.millersantiquesguide.com/items/31104/a-unionist-fete-1913-postcard-55in-14cm-wide/

Martin

The Pitchcroft is the location of Worcester race course.

I’ve found this image, it caption mentions:

“Unionist Fete, Pitchcroft, with early aeroplane 1913 (This was Bleriot giving demonstration flights.There were some nasty crashes on Pitchcroft. ‘the butty’)”

http://picasaweb.google.com/114525687000819375782/J0809251#5367571548764551570

Martin

I’d suggest contacting gustavsgirl by PM. But in the meantime, maybe there are some clues to be found at http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?124584-Gustav-Hamel-lands-at-Knighton-Mid-Wales-in-August-1913&highlight=Gustav%27s+girl?

May have something to do with International Workers Day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers’_Day

Somewhere in the above it says “Ten years later, the first official celebration was celebrated on May 1, 1913 when …” I can’t find it so I’ll let you look.

Looks European to me, very Gothic the spire on the right.