Hamilton
Note: This map only shows the position of Hamilton town within the UK.
HAMILTON: Temporary aerodrome (Aka OLD HAMILTON RACE COURSE)
Operated by: Mr Graham Gilmour
Location: Just E of the M74, about 1.25nm NE of Hamilton town centre and roughly 9.5nm ESE to SE of Glasgow city centre
Period of operation: 25th June 1910
THE FIRST POWERED AVIATOR TO FLY IN SCOTLAND?
In July 2020, Mike Holder who is a great friend of this 'Guide' managed to track down this article in the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald published on Friday the 1st July 1910:
FIRST SCOTTISH FLIER
"The distinction of being the first aviator to fly in Scotland has fallen to Mr. Graham Gilmour, of Bookham, Surrey. On Saturday night, (My Note: This would have been in the evening whilst it was still light and typically the winds had died down), at a military fête promoted by the Territorial Engineers, at Hamilton, in the presence of fully 50,000 spectators, he made a successful ascent and flight in a Blériot monoplane, making a complete circuit of the course, a distance of a mile, rising to a height of thirty yards." (My note; roughly 100 feet or 30 metres).
"Just as he was careering over the river Clyde his motor broke down, and he had to make a hurried descent, which, happily, he accomplished without mishap. Mr Gilmour was annoyed at the hitch, as he maintained that, under the ideal conditions which prevailed, he could have flown for hours at a stretch."
My note: Without much doubt this is just ridiculous nonsense. When Louis Blériot flew across the English Channel a year earlier, a distance of just over twenty miles, he would not have made it except for encountering rain showers to cool his engine down. I'll be glad to be corrected, these engines were quickly improved upon, but in 1910 capable of running for several hours? I think not.
"Amongst the enthusiastic spectators the feeling of satisfaction that a Scot had conquered the air in his native country more than compensated for the necessarily curtailed flight. Mr Gilmour announced his intention of taking part in the Lanark meeting in August."
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Some time later Mike Holder very kindly provided the following items to illustrate this listing.
These pictures certainly illustrate how dramatically some areas can totally change over a hundred years!
The short article was published in Flight magazine on the 2nd July 1910.
ARTICLE IN FOUR PARTS
This article was published in the Hamilton Herald and Lanarkshire Weekly News on the 29th June 1910.
The photo shows Gilmour at DUNSTALL PARK, Wolverhampton, two days later on the 27th June, and the area view is from my Google Earth© derived database.
Very sadly, on the 17th February 1912, then flying a Martin-Handasyde type, it suffered a major structural failure when over the Old Deer Park south of Richmond in SURREY, killing him instantly. Aged just 26 it was a short but brilliant career.
HAMILTON: Temporary aerodrome
NOTES: It appears that on the 12th July 1935, after displaying at CAMBUSLANG on the 11th, Sir Alan Cobham’s No.2 Tour performed in/near Hamilton. Is the site used known today?
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