Claude Grahame-White (21 August 1879 – 19 August 1959) was an English pioneer of

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

, and the first to make a night flight, during the ''

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''-sponsored

1910 London to Manchester air race The 1910 London to Manchester air race took place between two aviators, each of whom attempted to win a heavier-than-air powered flight challenge between London and Manchester. The race had first been proposed by the ''Daily Mail'' newspaper ...

Early life

Claude Grahame-White was born in

Bursledon Bursledon is a village on the River Hamble in Hampshire, England. It is located within the borough of Eastleigh. Close to the city of Southampton, Bursledon has a railway station, a marina, dockyards and the Bursledon Windmill. Nearby village ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in England on 21 August 1879, and educated at Bedford Grammar School. He learned to drive in 1895, was apprenticed as an engineer and later started his own motor engineering company.

Aviation career

Grahame-White's interest in aviation was sparked by

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of th ...

's crossing of the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kan ...

in 1909. This prompted him to go to France, where he attended the Reims aviation meeting, at which he met Blériot and subsequently enrolled at his flying school. Grahame-White was one of the first people to qualify as pilot in England, becoming the holder of

Royal Aero Club The Royal Aero Club (RAeC) is the national co-ordinating body for air sport in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1901 as the Aero Club of Great Britain, being granted the title of the "Royal Aero Club" in 1910. History The Aero Club was fou ...

certificate No. 6, awarded in April 1910. He became a celebrity in England in April 1910 when he competed with the French pilot

Louis Paulhan Isidore Auguste Marie Louis Paulhan (; 19 July 1883 – 10 February 1963), was a French aviator. He is known for winning the first ''Daily Mail'' aviation prize for the first flight between London and Manchester in 1910. Biography Paulhan was b ...

for the £10,000 prize offered by the ''

'' newspaper for the first flight between London and Manchester in under 24 hours. Although Paulhan won the prize, Grahame White's achievement was widely praised. Monoplane 2163688850 e698d1610a o

On 2 July 1910, Claude Grahame-White, in his

Farman III The Farman III, also known as the Henry Farman 1909 biplane, was an early French aircraft designed and built by Henry Farman Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

. In the same year he won the Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup race in

Belmont Park Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse racing facility in the northeastern United States, located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits. It was opened on May 4, 1905. It is operated by the non-profit New York Racin ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

, for which he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club. On 14 October 1910 while in Washington, D.C. Grahame-White flew his Farman biplane over the city and landed on West Executive Avenue near the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 180 ...

. Rather than being arrested Grahame-White was applauded for the feat by the newspapers. On 26 September 1911 at an International Air Meet at Nassau Boulevard Long Island New York attended by

Eugene Ely Eugene Burton Ely (October 21, 1886 – October 19, 1911) was an American aviation pioneer, credited with the first shipboard aircraft take off and landing. Background Ely was born in Williamsburg, Iowa, and raised in Davenport, Iowa. Having ...

, George W. Beatty, Harry Atwood, Bud Mars, J. A. D. MucCurdy and Matilda Moissant, Grahame-White won a prize of $600.00 in a speed contest for flying his monoplane ten miles at a speed of 61 and 1/2 miles per hour. He is known for activities related to the commercialisation of aviation, and he was also involved in promoting the military application of air power before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

with a campaign called "Wake Up Britain", also experimenting with fitting various weapons and bombs to aircraft. During the war itself he flew the first night patrol mission against an expected German raid on 5 September 1914. Grahame-White trained several women to fly and he had formed the Women's Aerial League in 1909. The membership of this league included test pilot Mrs Winifred Buller, Lady Anne Savile and

Eleanor Trehawke Davies Eleanor Josephine Trehawke Davies (1880 – 1915) was an English aviator and the first woman to fly across the English Channel and to have "looped the loop" in an aircraft. She described the latter experience as "a grand, whirling delight". ...

and the suffragette leaders Emmeline and

Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst, (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed its militant actions from ex ...

. He established a flying school at

Hendon Aerodrome Hendon Aerodrome was an aerodrome in London, England, that was an important centre for aviation from 1908 to 1968. It was situated in Colindale, north west of Charing Cross. It nearly became a central hub of civil aviation ("the Charing Cros ...

. Cheridah de Beauvoir Stocks, the second

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

woman to gain a

aviator's licence, trained at the school, earning her certificate in November 1911. In 1912 Grahame-White gave H.G. Wells his first flight. The Aerodrome was lent to the Admiralty (1916), and eventually taken over by the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) ...

in 1919. Grahame-White's aerodrome was purchased by the

in 1925, after a protracted legal struggle. After this he lost his interest in aviation, eventually moving to Nice in his old age, where he died in 1959 having made a fortune in property development in the UK and US. Grahame-White Factory interior, RAF Museum London

Grahame-White Factory interior, RAF Museum London

Hendon Aerodrome later became RAF Hendon but after flying ceased there in the 1960s it was then largely redeveloped as a housing estate which was named Grahame Park in tribute to Grahame-White. An original World War I Grahame-White aircraft factory hangar was relocated a few years ago to the

Royal Air Force Museum London The Royal Air Force Museum London (also commonly known as the RAF Museum) is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome. It includes five buildings and hangars showing the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force. It is part of the Royal Air Fo ...

, where it houses the museum's World War I collection and is named the Grahame White Factory. Grahame-White was a co-founder of Aerofilms Limited in 1919.

Grahame-White Aviation Company

Claude Grahame-White, Vanity Fair, 1911-05-10

In 1911 The Grahame-White Aviation Company was formed to cover his aviation interests, including aerodromes and aircraft design, development, and construction. One of the designers,

John Dudley North John Dudley North (1893–1968), CBE, HonFRAeS, MIMechE, was Chairman and Managing Director of Boulton Paul Aircraft. Born in 1893 and educated at Bedford School, North became Chief Engineer for Claude Graham-White of the Grahame-White Avia ...

Publications

As well as his success in aviation, Claude Grahame-White was a published author whose works include: * ''The Story of the Aeroplane'' * ''The Aeroplane, Past, Present, and Future,'' 1911 * ''The Aeroplane in War'' * ''Aviation, 1912'' * ''Learning to Fly'', 1914 * ''Aircraft in the Great War'', 1915 * ''Air Power'', 1917 * ''Our First Airways, their Organisation, Equipment, and Finance'', 1918 * ''Heroes of the Air'' * ''With the Airmen'' * ''The Air King’s Treasure'' * ''The Invisible War-Plane'' * ''Heroes of the Flying Corps'' * ''Flying, an Epitome and a Forecast'', 1930 He also contributed to newspapers, reviews, and magazines, dealing with aeronautics in the military and commercial fields.

References

External links

* * *
The restoration of Claude Grahame-White's aviation building begins after 20yrs of neglect
BBC programme – Rebuilding Our Past: Hendon * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grahame-White, Claude 1879 births 1959 deaths British aviation pioneers British aviators

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...