Unidentified aeroplane damaged at Bridlington.
During the Summer months of 1921 an aerodrome site was leased on land belonging to the Sands Cottage Estate toward the north of Bridlington by the Vulcan Aviation Company. The company intended on using the aerodrome to operate pleasure flights around the Bridlington area with "Captain" Charles Smith and "Captain" Freitag being the pilots involved. whether their ex-RAF ranks were actually "Captain" is unclear or perhaps more likely they had adopted the titles for the business. The site was probably the larger of the fields that still exist at Sands Cottage. I have not been able to identify the aeroplane that this company owned. Their flying activities began on 14th May 1921 but, two days later, on 16th May 1921 some form of engine failure in flight and then a forced landing damaged the aeroplane to a lesser degree possibly in the Beaconsfield Road area of Bridlington (the newspaper was very vague and only mentioned flying was only briefly possible until this occurred).
Pilot - Mr Freitag. Musician.
By June 1921 it was back flying again. During June 1921, Albert Cummins, landlord of the Currier's Arms, Darlington hired the pilot to fly him from Bridlington to Darlington for a fee of twenty pounds, the flight was undertaken but the aeroplane had to be landed at Blackwell Moor, just short of the destination. Unfortunately the pilot was stopped by a local policeman who asked to see his flying log book. At that time it was a flying regulation that a pilot carried it in the aeroplane being flown and on this occasion he did not have it. The pilot and also the company manager (Mr Andrews) found themselves in court charged with breaching flying regulations. The pilot escaped the two hundred pound maximum fine but received one for just two pounds. Once back at Bridlington the pleasure flying resumed. During the afternoon of Sunday, 7th August 1921 this aeroplane was being flown to test it after some minor adjustments had been made, it took off from the small aerodrome site on the North Cliffs at Bridlington and having climbed to around 200 feet the engine began to fail. The pilot descended and circled around the railway embankment, probably to return to land, but it failed to reach the aerodrome site, it fell into a field, over ran this field, passed through a hedge and came to rest in a greenhouse by the side of Flamborough Road opposite what was described as "Mr Preston's Yard". The aeroplane was badly damaged and the greenhouse was extensively smashed. Both pilot and air mechanic escaped injury. The company never recovered from this accident and the aeroplane's owner was declared bankrupt in 1932. By looking on old mapping the crash site would appear to have possibly been in an area marked as allotments on the east side of Flamborough Road and in an area now built over with housing.