Henri Farman type bi-plane at Hedon.

On Friday, 26th June 1914 King George V and Queen Mary were to visit Hull to open the new King George Docks and as part of the visit a three day long flying exhibition was organised. The exhibition was almost certainly organised by The Hull and East Riding Aero Club and took place between Thursday, 25th June 1914 and Saturday, 27th June 1914 with three famous pilots of their day bringing three aeroplanes to give a range of flying demonstrations and paying passenger flights. Claude Grahame-White was the most famous of the three visitors, with him were Walter Brock and Reginald Carr who worked for him. Brock had just won both the London to Manchester to London air race and also the Aerial Derby at Hendon. Carr had come second in the London to Manchester and then third in the Aerial Derby with both events seeing many tens of thousands of spectators. Grahame-White was arguably the most famous man in British aviation at this date. The organisers presumably hoped for a large number of paying visitors to the Hedon event. Three modern aeroplanes were brought and after a lot of effort I will state that the three were as follows..

Walter Brock brought what was described in local newspapers as his winning "Morane" aeroplane from the Aerial Derby at Hendon; a Morane-Saulnier Type G monoplane owned by Mr Grahame-White.

Reginald Carr brought what was described as the "Grahame-White 50 H.P. bi-plane". This aeroplane was specifically created by Mr Grahame-White and his company for aerobatic flying at ever increasingly popular flying exhibitions, it was also known as the Grahame-White Tractor biplane, the "Lizzie" or "The Teatray". It was created by merging the fuselage of a Morane-Saulnier monoplane and the wings of a Grahame-White Popular pusher biplane, it had four main wheels and two skids mounted under the lower wings. In early 1914 the lower wings were extended to allow for more control during loop the loop flying which would have been why it was brought to Hedon.

Claude Grahame-White brought what was described as "his Henri Farman biplane". Exactly what this was I am uncertain. The problem with it's identity is that it has to have been capable of carrying three persons.

Mr Grahame-White appears to have done little flying at Hedon but did make a flight over the King and Queen when they were in Hull. Flights were advertised in newspapers to take the form of flying demonstrations, including some loop the loop flying and racing between the aeroplanes, during the afternoons of the event while the evenings would see pre-paying passengers being taken for aeroplane flights. During the evening of Friday, 26th June 1914 several passenger flights were made. The newspaper states that during a passenger flight with two passengers while on the approach to land at Hedon the bi-plane struck telegraph wires alongside the North Eastern Railway railway line that ran across the northern boundary of Hedon racecourse. This collision caused the engine to stop and the aeroplane fell onto the lineside fence smashing the aeroplane. The two passengers escaped injury but the pilot suffered cuts and bruises to his leg. Here there is a slight problem with research 108 years after the incident. I have tried to identify which aircraft this was. By the newspaper stating it was a bi-plane this would rule out the Morane-Saulnier mono-plane so that leaves the Farman or the "Lizzie". The next day, Saturday, 27th June 1914 Mr Brock made a landing in the Morane-Saulnier at Hedon early in the day but descended onto rough ground and damaged the aeroplane, presumably the undercarriage. This then saw the Morane-Saulnier also out of action. Grahame-White then left the exhibition at Hedon and returned to London (by train). Carr remained at the exhibition and newspapers state that he carried out loop flying for the public to watch, so as the "Lizzie" was used to fly the loop the loops this cannot have been damaged hours earlier on the railway line on 26th July 1914 as the damage could not have been repaired on site so quickly. It therefore must have been Grahame-White's Farman bi-plane that Carr was flying with passengers on 26th June 1914 when it was damaged. A man as famous as Grahame-White would, I suspect, would have not taken local people for pleasure flights at Hedon but would have allowed Carr to use his aeroplane to make him the money.

Pilot - Mr Reginald Hugh Carr.