Griffith Brewer (23 July 1867 – 1 March 1948)[1] was an English balloonist, aviator and patent agent. He was also a founding member of the Royal Aero Club. He became a friend of the Wright Brothers, and was one of their main supporters.[2]
On 8 October 1908 at Camp d'Auvours, France, 11 kilometers east of Le Mans, Griffith flew as a passenger with Wilbur Wright. The flight lasted for 4 minutes and 22 seconds. In doing so, he became the first Englishman to go up in an aeroplane.[3][4][1][2] Prior to this, Griffith had been a doubter about the chances of heavier-than-air machines being at all successful for flying.[4] The Wrights also had many other doubters in Europe before those demonstrations in France. But after this flight in 1908, and the demonstrations by them, he became a close friend and supporter of the Wright brothers and made many trips to the United States to visit them. Griffith gained his pilot licence in 1914.[2]
He arranged that the British government should get use of the Wright's patents for £15,000 in 1914. This meant that British aircraft manufacturers were free of the threat of litigation.[5]
Griffith was President of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) from 1940 to 1942.[6][2]
Notes
References
- Penrose, Harald British Aviation: The Pioneer Years. London, Putnam, 1967.
- Brewer, Griffith (3 September 1910). "With the Wrights in America". Flight: 706–708. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
External links
- "Comfort and Confidence on Liberators" a 1941 Flight article by Brewer on his transatlantic flight