History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

After experimenting with kites and gliders, the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made their historic flight in an aeroplane on 17 December 1903 near Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. It lasted less than a minute but news of the flight resulted in worldwide interest in aeroplanes and the desire to fly.                Wright Brothers 1903 flight There is undated film of Wilbur Wright on Pathe News. This was particularly the case in France and several Frenchmen soon became leading aviators. In July 1909 Louis Blériot flew from Calais to Dover and won the £1,000 Daily Mail prize for the first English Channel crossing by an aircraft.           French illustration of the Channel crossing Lord Northcliffe the owner of the paper, had been very impressed when he met Wilbur Wright during his demonstrations in France the previous year, and set up the prize. There is a local connection as Alfred Harmsworth had lived i...