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Charles Rolls makes his first balloon flight

The air crash at the Southbourne show in which Charles Rolls died in 1910

Charles Rolls driving Orville and Wilbur Wright and their chauffeur in his Silver Ghost at Shellbeach

Charles Rolls

It was only two years and three days after the opening of the Derby factory of Rolls-Royce that tragedy struck the talented partnership that had brought the Silver Ghost into being.

July 12, 1910, was the day when the honourable Charles Stewart Rolls was killed in a flying accident.

Flying and motoring were Charles Rolls' two obsessions. He had bought a modest tourer in his first year at Cambridge, where he broke with the accepted academic traditions of the upper classes and read engineering.

And it was the influence of a trio of Derby men that hooked him on flying.

The trio consisted of Leonard, Albert and Oswald Short, sons of a Stanton ironworks' foreman. On their father's death in 1894, the brothers moved with their mother to a house in Friar Gate, Derby. From 1897, perhaps encouraged locally, the three took up ballooning and within three years were building their own craft.

Indeed, in 1904, they received a government contract to make balloons for the government of India.

By that time, Charles Rolls had become a fixture at ballooning events and had made the Shorts' acquaintance.

At the same time, Wilbur and Orville Wright had taken their heavier-than-air machine into the "wide blue yonder" at Kittyhawk and had turned to France rather than Britain to capitalise on their breakthrough.

The Shorts attended their early demonstrations across the Channel and were much impressed from the outset.

In 1908, Eustace Short offered to build six Wright "Flyer" aircraft at the Shorts' new balloon works at Shellbeach on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. It was on October 8 that year that Rolls was taken up for his first flight by Wilbur Wright, an experience he later recalled as "novel and delightful".

He added: "The fact of accomplishing what several eminent scientists have ‘proved' impossible gave an added satisfaction."

There is a famous photograph in the collections of the R-R Heritage Trust that shows Rolls, in his new Derby-made Silver Ghost car outside the Shellbeach works, accompanied by Horace Short, Griffith Brewer, Orville and Wilbur Wright.

He was about to buy the first and sixth aircraft off the world's first-ever aviation production line. Not only that, he flew the first plane immediately.

From then on, Charles flew frequently, forsaking balloons for aeroplanes. His most notable achievement, in aviation terms, was to have made the first double crossing of the Channel on June 2, 1910. Unwittingly anticipating thousands of 21st-century illegal immigrants, he flew from Dover to Sangatte, near Calais - site of the famous migrants' camp - where he dropped a message of greeting to the Aero Club of France.

He then flew back in less than an hour. He was greeted by a considerable crowd and received a hero's welcome.

Aeroplane fever led to the staging of a series of events, variously called air shows, air tournaments and flying meetings, at which wealthy and daring amateur pilots flew a variety of machines for the benefit of onlookers.

These mainly took place on open pieces of land called "flying fields" as the only two purpose-built airfields at that time were by the Shorts' factory on Sheppey and at Brooklands in Surrey.

The latter also became the site of the country's - if not the world's - first purpose-built car-racing track.

French motoring associate Massac Buist accompanied Rolls round various French events driving a Silver Ghost, which provided wonderful publicity for the car as well as a great deal of aviation fun for Charles.

In fact, he was issued with the second Royal Aero Club pilot's certificate dated March 8, 1910, JTC Moore-Brabazon being the holder of the first.

This enthusiasm seems to have dented Rolls' keenness to see out his responsibilities as a director of Royce's, which was matched by Henry Royce's disinterest in contemplating designing and building an aero engine.

Also in 1910, Rolls himself was the star attraction of a flying event due to be held at Southbourne, near Bournemouth, the biggest such event so far attempted.

His French-built Wright Flyer had just been modified and inadequately tested but, he, nevertheless put on a peerless performance on the first day, July 11, although he failed in his attempt to set a new height record.

On the second day, he entered a landing competition where contestants had to take off, fly round the field and land within a restricted marked area.

The wind proved a complicating factor, causing some worry among competitors.

After a failed first attempt, Rolls came round again and, just as he was about to make what appeared to be a perfect landing, a loud crack was heard from the aircraft's tail assembly, which caused the machine to drop almost vertically into the ground.

The plane was completely wrecked. Although Rolls was thrown clear, he died almost instantly of severe head injuries. He was only 32, but had achieved in a few years what few could achieve in a lifetime.

His contribution to the start of aviation was enormous.

In contrast, given the strains that were appearing in his relationship with Rolls-Royce, his death may have ensured its survival in the form we have come to know.

Had he lived, a continuing divergence of ways might have had far-reaching consequences.

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County:  Derbyshire

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