23 August 1913

British aviator Gustav Hamel performed a display in his Bleriot monoplane, watched by some 14,000 spectators, at Lonsdale Park, Workington on August 23, 1913. Hamel had intended to carry passengers but with a howling gale he took up instead his French mechanic. The flight was a success but on coming in to land the crowd was in the way so he made for the beach and landed on the water’s edge where the aircraft flipped over. Luckily no one was injured and the plane was rescued.