Bleriot XI at Doncaster racecourse.
During mid-October 1909 the first aviation race meeting took place at Doncaster racecourse that saw various flying events and races take place on a course roughly above the horse race course involving distance flying and timed races, this must have been something to behold given powered flight was very much in its infancy and many tens of thousands of people visited during the course of the event. Unfortunately the Aero Club of the United Kingdom would not sanction the event and another sanctioned aviation meeting was held at Blackpool at the same time that saw most of the British pilots of the day attend Blackpool rather than Doncaster. It begun on 15th October 1909 with wind effecting flying for part of just about every day, the last day was 26th October 1909 when fog and freezing conditions were a change of problem for the pilots. There were a number of aircraft damaged during the event over the course of ten days at Doncaster.
During the afternoon of 25th October 1909 the pilot of one of the Bleriot XI aeroplanes appears to have been about to take part in one of the flying competitions. The Nicholson Cup, which was a prize given for the fastest to fly five laps of the course. On take off run the wind became a problem, the aircraft became airborne but then touched the ground and began to head toward the crowd stood in the racecourse "shilling enclosure". The pilot managed to pull the aeroplane over the racecourse's white fence, a ditch and also the crowd before it then crashed beyond damaging the propeller and undercarriage.
Pilot - Hubert le Blon.
Hubert le Blon's life is well documented. He was born on 21st March 1874. He initially found fame as motorcar racing driver, driving at the world's first Grand Prix at Le Mans in 1906. In 1909 he enrolled at Leon Delagrange's flying school. Both he and Delagrange were French aviation pioneers and both appeared at the Doncaster meeting. He designed and built the Humber monoplane (Le Blon type) that was displayed at the Aero Exhibition at Olympia in London in 1910. Unfortunately on 2nd April 1910 he was killed in a flying accident at San Sebastian, Spain while flying exhibition flights off shore. His death was reported to have been the sixth as a result of an aeroplane accident.