Abbott Farnham "Alert" sailplane at Cottam.
Over the weekend of 6th to 8th September 1930 the Bridlington Gliding Club joined with the Driffield and District Gliding Club and arranged a gliding meeting at their shared gliding site at Cottam. The main exhibit was the "Alert" sailplane. The "Alert" was a large sailplane built by E.D.Abbott Ltd, it had a 65 feet cantilever wingspan and was 17 feet in length, the cockpit had space for a parachute and was owned by Mr Lionel Ellis and Russell-Taylor, of London. Only one such glider was built. It was toured around the North of England around this time and appears to have been flown a number of times. Unfortunately prior to arriving at Cottam it was damaged in transit but I don't think this needs a webpage created for it. It sustained damage at Cottam on Saturday, 6th September 1930 when the "right wing tip of the long wing broke on the ground" just after noon. It was repaired and at 17.00hrs on Sunday, 7th September 1930 it was again damaged at Cottam when the tail dragged on the ground and it spun around which damaged the rudder and tail.
Pilot - Mr R G Russell-Taylor.