From Balloons to Bleriots: Aviation and Sheffield 1823- 1914

In the earliest years of the period excited spectators viewed airborne acrobatics and hair raising parachute descents from tethered balloons. Then as the pace of technological change quickened, tens of thousands of local people gathered to witness Bleriot aeroplanes engage in “ wibbly wobbly flying of a ragtime type.” Aviation was more than a just spectacle in the city though. The talk will go on to describe the first attempts of Sheffielders to fly in gliders, examine the claim that the world’s oldest glider pilot was a Sheffielder and discuss the little known links between Sheffield and the Wright brothers. It will also outline the attempts by Earl Fitzwilliam to establish aviation in the city, as well as describing the ‘flights’ of his own, ill-fated Bleriot monoplane. Sheffield also had a significant role in the birth of a less dangerous aeronautical activity, the building and flying of model aeroplanes and the talk will describe the development of this often ignored Victorian and Edwardian pastime.

Our speaker is Neil Carver, a Sheffield resident and retired university lecturer in health care but with a background in archaeology. He has written academically on the social history of building model aeroplanes and since retiring has researched and given talks on the history of model flying and aviation in South Yorkshire. He is a volunteer at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum.