Spitfire 100 year memorial flight for Charles Rolls

The name Charles Rolls is synonymous with the Motor car and evokes memories of a bygone era.

However, Charles Stewart Rolls was also a celebrated Aviator and pioneer of his time who founded the Royal Aero club in 1903. Born in 1877 the son of Baron Llangattock of the Hendre, Monmouth, his ancestral home, he studied mechanical and applied science in Cambridgeshire where he gained a BA degree.

His passion for cars and motor racing is well documented, receiving many accolades for his abilities in this field. In 1906 another passion, aviation was to be ignited further when he met the Wright brothers in New York. He had previously enjoyed 'Ballooning' but after a flight in an Airship and subsequently, a three and a half mile flight over Le Mans with Wilbur Wright, his enthusiasm for flying knew no bounds.
After taking delivery of his first aircraft, a Short-Wright No1 in 1909 he attained the Aero Club's pilot certificate No. 2.

Among many other achievements, in 1910 he made the first double crossing of the English Channel, the first aviator to do so. Rolls died at the age of 32 when the tail of his 'Wright Flyer' broke off causing his aircraft to crash at Hengistbury Airfield in Bournemouth. He was the first British man to die in an aeronautical accident.

To commemorate 100 years since his death, a Spitfire from the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight; powered by an engine manufactured by Rolls-Royce, was scheduled to perform a number of 'flypasts' over Monmouth town centre, where his statue stands in the town square and the Hendre, his once ancestral home. These were cancelled due to poor weather over the BBMF's Coningsby base.

The full Memorial Flight schedule is available at http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf