AVIATOR Gustav Hamel was not German, as Malvern Memories mistakenly reported last week, although he was of German descent.

An internet search reveals that Hamel was the son of a naturalised German doctor who became the Royal Physician.

An Old Etonian, Hamel learned to fly in 1910, and in 1911 became famous as the pilot of the first official airmail flight.

On September 9 that year, he took off from Hendon Aerodrome in his 50-horsepower Bleriot monoplane and landed at Windsor Castle, 20 miles away, to deliver some 23 pounds of mail.

Following this exploit, he became one of the most famous aviators of his day and visited many parts of the UK.

He was an instructor to Harriet Quimby, the first female licensed pilot in the USA, who in April 1912 became the first woman to fly the English Channel.

Also in 1912, he visited Hedon, near Hull, in the early days of what proved to be a thriving Yorkshire aerodrome.

And in November of that year, he took part in a publicity stunt in which copies of the Leicester Daily Post were dropped from the air.

In April 1913, he flew non-stop from Cologne to Dover in record time and the same year, flew a record double crossing of the Channel.