Aviator Gallery

Douglas Bader - Flying Ace of WW2

Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader (1910-1982) - Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. A postcard produced for the (Royal) Overseas League and sent to troops along with cigarettes gifted from collections from schoolchildren during the war. These cards were pre-printed with a return address of the school who had made the collection in question intended to be filled in by servicemen and sent back with thanks. Date: circa 1945

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Harriet Quimby getting ready for flight 1912

Harriet Quimby (1875 1912), American airwoman and a movie screenwriter. In 1911, she was awarded a U.S. pilot's certificate by the Aero Club of America, becoming the first woman to gain a pilot's license in the United States, and also the first woman to fly across the English Channel on 16 April 1912. Photographed here getting ready for her flight from Dover to Hardelot, and the arrival. Date: April 1912

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

First airmail letter delivered, Windsor Castle

The first airmail letter ever to be delivered is handed to the Postmaster of Windsor, to whom it is addressed, on the East Lawn of Windsor Castle. The aviator Gustav Hamel, who flew from Hendon to Windsor on the very first airmail flight, is standing bareheaded just behind the postman and his bicycle. The Mayor of Windsor, Sir Frederick Dyson, stands smiling in a top hat. The first aerial mail service took place on 9 September 1911 from Hendon Aerodrome to Windsor and back again, and Hamel was the first pilot to arrive. King George V gave permission for the aeroplanes to land in the grounds of Windsor Castle. During September 1911 the Grahame-White company operated an experimental air mail service for two weeks between Hendon and Windsor. As well commemorating the coronation of King George V, and raising money for charity, the event publicised the possibilities of the aeroplane as a means of transport

© Mary Evans Picture Library