Bournemouth Centenary Fetes, July 1910: Southbourne Aerodrome; International Aviation Meeting
It was at the end of one of the gala flying events on Tuesday 12th July 1910 that a fatal crash took place in front of the main grandstand which stood on what later became a playing field of St Peter's School, Southbourne. The pilot was The Honorable C.S.Rolls (a well known British pioneer aviator flying a French-built Wright Flyer Model AB). High winds and a modified tailplane were attributed as causing the aircraft to fall to the ground from a height of about 70', close to the marked landing site.
Charles Rolls (aged 32) was laid to rest in his home town of Monmouth, where a public-subscribed monument was unveiled in October 1911.