Bleriot monoplane at Filey.
Aviator John House had arrived at Filey just prior to 22nd July 1910 and on that date newspapers state that part of his Bleriot monoplane had also arrived. The rest of the aeroplane appears to have arrived at Filey on Monday, 25th July 1910 and it would then have been assembled and tested. Mr House was due to house the aeroplane at Mr Tranmer's hanger at Primrose Valley above the beach in the town. Newspapers go on to relate that the aviator was due to marry on 30th July 1910 and that the couple would spend their honeymoon in Filey (I presume this would allow the groom to test fly his aeroplane)(lucky man).
This first flight appears to have been made on the beach at Filey during the evening of Saturday, 13th August 1910. At the end of the initial flight the aeroplane landed on Filey Beach, the pilot made a turn to bring the aircraft back for a second flight but the propeller caught in a sand castle and caused the nose to drop. The aeroplane then tipped over, badly damaging the right wing and pinning the pilot underneath. A fuel leak occurred but the pilot managed to stop the engine. The damaged aeroplane would have been dragged back up the slope from the beach into the hanger where it was repaired.
Pilot - Mr John William House, of Apperley Bridge, Bradford, Yorkshire.
The origins of this Bleriot are suggested in newspapers to have either been the same aeroplane flown by Alfred Leblanc at Blackpool and/or the one owned by Hubert Le Blon. Le Blon crashed at Doncaster in October 1909 and the Northern Aero Syndicate may have bought the wreck from him). After the damage sustained at Apperley Bridge the aeroplane was eventually repaired. It sustained damage at Filey on 13th August 1910 and was repaired within a week. On 20th August 1910 it was again damaged but may not have been repaired. It was put up for sale by mid-September 1910 and at that date had a 25 H.P Anzonia engine. The Northern Aero Syndicate went into liquidation later in 1910, after which John House is then believed to have joined forces with Mr Blackburn in buying a cottage on the cliff tops and assisting him at Filey with his flying activities.
On an unknown date in late-July 1910 this aircraft cartwheeled onto Filey Beach from a height of fifty feet,
it then rolled for a further twenty feet. The aircraft was destroyed but the pilot was reported to have been unhurt. This pilot is also believed to have had two other accidents at Filey between
1910 and 1911.
Mr Albert House and his son John House ran the Northern Aero Syndicate company; John had built his own glider in 1905 and his father was reputed to have been the first motor car owner in Bradford. The pair owned a Bleriot aircraft which they initially flew from their home area of Apperley Bridge, Bradford in 1910. John House had crashed the aircraft at Apperley Bridge on 22nd March 1910 which was then dismantled for repair in a hanger at Apperley Bridge. On 27th April 1910 a hanger fire involving another aircraft that was being tested in the same building saw the fuselage and tail of the Northern Aero Syndicate / House's Bleriot further damaged.