Book - ‘Eastchurch’ by Helen Landau
Introduction
100 years of aviation will be commemorated on 25-26 July 2009 on the Isle of Sheppey.
There are many non fiction books about the early flying pioneers but none bring the characters to life and demonstrate their extraordinary personalities. This historic account is intertwined with the lives of some of the villagers who became involved with the pioneers. The facts have been meticulously researched over the past six years with invaluable help from the Shorts Commemorative Society, Simon Shreeve, a Short’s historian, Sir Frank McClean’s family and numerous others including present residents of the village of Eastchurch whose parents knew the pioneers. This novel is for the general public as well as aviation enthusiasts.
The Short-Wright Flyer
Tower Bridge
Muswell Manor
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In 1903 Charles Rolls was already a celebrity. He
had already introduced the motorcar to England. A contradictory
personality, good looking, and a socially well connected loner who
despised most of his own class and their social habits. He possessed a
prophetic vision which backed by his drive and energy led him to otherwise
and undiscovered talent (ie Henry Royce) who almost certainly would have
remained unknown without him.
Charles and his friend Vera Hedges Butler were the founders of the Aero
Club. The Aero Club were derided by society, the press, the public and of
course the Government. As a result they chose the isolated Isle of Sheppey
to set up their experiments away from the public gaze. Two young brothers,
(with film star looks) Oswald and Eustace Short were hired to maintain
their balloons and experiment with aeroplanes. Soon the Wright Brothers’
experiments caught Charles Roll’s attention but without the elder Short
brother, Horace, (clumsy and ugly looking, but a genius with a charismatic
personality, who loved women) they could not proceed. Horace broke his
contract with Sir Charles Parsons, completed the first technical drawings
of the Wright Brothers aeroplanes, and the first manufacturing contract
was set up.
Intertwined with this historic account, villagers
in Eastchurch were drawn into the pioneers struggle, particularly the
local builder Charlie Rosewarne, who built the sheds for the Shorts, and
became a close friend of Horace’s; The Cunninghams, who sold land so
that the pioneers could set uip an aerodrome, and the children of these
families who all suffered their own tragedies along the way.
Britain’s weakness and indifference was a bleak contrast to Germany’s
strength and France’s confidence in their own pioneers. When Charles
Rolls and Cecil Grace were filled in separate flying accidents, the
villagers were devastated, especially Amy Cunningham who had formed a
close relationship with Cecil Grace. The flying pioneers were plunged once
more into a crisis point. Finally, in August, 1911, it took a brave stunt
by Frank McClean to win over the critics by flying through Tower Bridge
and under all the bridges along the Thames, landing outside the Houses of
Parliament.
Eastchurch is subsequently swamped by Army and Navy camps. Horace refuses
to join his brothers in Rochester so that he can remain in Eastchurch
close to his friend Charlie Rosewarne and his mistress. The book ends at
the outbreak of the First World War but it is not the end of the story.
