Memorial sculpture "The Spirit of Flight", (detail). Lanark Loch, Lanark, Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe.
This memorial, "The Spirit of Flight" was erected in 2010 as a result of public and private donations to mark the centenary of the First Scottish International Aviation Meeting, in August 1910, at Lanark Racecourse, Scotland's first official airfield. The sculpture was made by Ratho Dyres Forge. The aircract depicted are the Bristol Boxkite, a Bleriot monoplane and the Antoinette VII designed by Leon Levavasseur. Aviation in Lanark. Twenty aviators came to Lanark in August 1910 to take part in flying competitions. They represented ten nations: USA, Peru, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, France, Ireland, England and Scotland. Their endeavours were witnessed by nearly people during the aviation week. The main achievements at Lanark included the first ever recording of the speed of an aircraft over a measured mile and the breaking of two previous world records. These were the altitude record of 6,750 feet broken by Armstrong Drexel from the USA and the speed record of mph achieved by James Radley, England. Lanark also saw the youngest aviator in Europe to take to the air, Marcel Hanriot from France aged just 16. Flying was a very dangerous sport in those pioneering days and there were lots of accidents. Two planes crash landed on top of trees on Lanark Racecouse but Lanark was the first air show in the world where no one was killed or seriously injured. The Air Show organisers had reserved six beds at 's Hospital in Lanark but luckily they were not needed. The most important development that arose as a result of the Lanark Air Show was the fact that on the advice of Captain Bertram Dickson, a serving army officer and competitor at Lanark, the army ordered sixty Bristol Boxkites from the Bristol and Colonial Aircraft Company Ltd. These planes were to be the nucleus of what was to become the Royal Flying Corps and then the Royal Air Force.
Size: 4256px × 2831px
Location: Lanark Loch, Hyndford Road, Lanark, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe
Photo credit: © Stan Pritchard / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: air, aviation, bleriot, boxkite, bristol, centenary, flight, international, lanark, meeting, memorial, monoplane, show, spirit
