Bleriot XI near Settle.

The 1911 Daily Mail Circuit of Britain begun on 22nd July 1911 and flew a course around Britain, beginning at Brooklands. From Brooklands the aeroplanes were to land at Hendon. Two days later on 24th July 1911 they headed north with Harrogate Stray being the next official landing stop but only a few of the thirty who entered would make it this far. The aeroplanes then were to head as far north as Stirling before heading back south down the western side of England eventually to Salisbury and then over to Brighton before 09.30hrs on 5th August 1911. The last short leg was to end the race at Brooklands with only two pilots who would eventually complete the course and win the top money prizes, that in itself given that powered flight in the UK was very much in its infancy is remarkable. Two other aeroplanes then managed to make it as far as Brighton over the course of the next few days with the third place winning a further prize.

Four of the aeroplanes force landed and were damaged in Yorkshire on their flights towards or at Harrogate on 24th, one suffered repairable mechanical damage twice over Yorkshire and another was damaged taking off from Harrogate on 25th August 1911. The eventual winner of the race reached Edinburgh on 24th July 1911 and spent the night there. The following day an early start was made with a strong wind effecting flying, aeroplanes had to fly to Stirling, then Glasgow before heading back south past Carlisle toward Manchester down to Bristol that day. This aeroplane began to suffer intermittant engine trouble on the leg after Carlisle and while he made it through or past the high ground of the Lake District / Yorkshire part of The Pennines he then made a precautionary landing near Settle. After ground checks the aircraft took off again and resumed the flight south toward Bristol. Exactly where at or near Settle where this landing was made is not known and Settle may well be only a very vague location. This pilot would win the race, setting out from Bristol early on 26th July 1911, initially landing at Brighton he completed the last leg of the race, landing at Brooklands at 14.08hrs that day. He had completed the course in just 22 hours, 28 minutes flying time and won the significant prize.

Pilot - Andre Beaumont. (Born Jean-Louis Conneau).