Plane Landing on Helvellyn in 1926

Like many crazy ideas, it began after a few drinks! John Leeming, the Chairman of the Lancashire Aero Club, was at a dinner party in London when it was suggested that a good publicity stunt would be to land a plane on the top of a mountain. Leeming had good contacts with the board of A. V Roe Ltd (Avro), who saw that it would be good publicity for them as well and agreed to provide him with an aircraft. An Avro 585 'Gosport' aircraft was fitted with an experimental, but more powerful, engine and the undercarriage was reinforced. Avro's Chief Test Pilot, the Australian Bert Hinkler DSM, was also assigned to the project. Helvellyn was chosen as the most suitable and team of workers cleared away loose rocks and marked out a landing area.

The attempt was planned for the 15th of December. Leeming would fly the modified aircraft and attempt the landing, whilst Hinckler piloted an accompanying aircraft carrying the Manchester Guardian's photographer Walter Doughty to record the achievement. The two aircraft took off from Woodford Aerodrome but when they arrived in the Lake District the mountains were shrouded in fog and the attempt had to be abandoned for the day. Poor weather prevented further attempts for several days. However, on the 21st of December, the weather forecast looked promising but Hinkler's aircraft had developed a fault, so he climbed into the co-pilot's seat of Leeming's 'Gosport' and they took off for the Lakes, leaving an unconsolable Doughty at Woodford. When they arrived over Helvellyn, they found severe gales and turbulence. They flew around for as long as they could in the hope that the wind would drop but were forced to give up again and turned for home. They landed in Lancaster to refuel but on taking off again the engine cut-out as they climbed, luckily Hinkler was able to turn the plane and glide back to the airstrip. By the time fault was found and cleared (a blocked carburettor, probably dirty fuel) it was too late to return to Woodford, so they stayed at a nearby hotel for the night. The next morning, visibility was good and the wind strong but steady. They both agreed that one final attempt should be made, as they were so close. They took off but as they passed over Windermere the engine began to splutter and Hinkler, with great skill, had to make another emergency landing. He landed the plane in the grounds of Calgarth Park, where a children's orthopaedic hospital was located and a nurse told them some of the children thought that Santa Claus had landed. Blocked fuel filters were found to be the problem and the two were soon in the air again.

Despite lots of turbulence and severe downdrafts en route, the conditions over Helvellyn looked good. After circling the area a couple of times to check the landing area was clear, they decided to 'go for it' and Leeming began his approach into a strong headwind. Thanks to the upward slope and the headwind he was able to stop just a few yards from the summit cairn. To stop the plane rolling backwards, Hinkler kept the engine revs up whilst Leeming climbed out and wedged rocks behind the wheels. It was at this point that they realised they had no witness to the event, as nobody knew about their last minute decision to try again that morning. Luckily, they spotted a lone hiker, who turned out to be Professor Dodds from Birmingham University, who was asked to certify their achievement. The only piece of paper they could find between them was an old receipt that Prof. Dodds had in his bag, on which he wrote:

I hereby certify that an aeroplane – GEBPH, pilots Bert Hinkler and
John Leeming – landed on the summit of Helvellyn on December 22, 1926.

After chatting to Prof. Dodds for a while,  they discussed the  problem of taking off again! Powering down the slope with a strong tail wind would not get them airborne in time, the only option was to head into the wind at full power and over the edge of the precipice above Red Tarn. Once over edge the plane plummeted until, after a few terrifying seconds, they gained enough airspeed and the plane began to climb, arriving back at Woodford just as it was going dark.