Two photographs depicting the landing of a pair of aeroplanes in a field adjacent to Whalebone Lane, off Somerby Hill, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, during the infancy of aviation in April 1914 are known to survive. One of the aeroplanes has its tail elevated and supported by, of all things, a five-bar gate, and the reason for this mysterious elevation remained unsolved, until a report of the landing was unearthed in the archive of a local paper. The Grantham Journal recorded that at 07:35 on Tuesday, April 21,1914, two aeroplanes departed Hendon, the then epicentre of British aviation, intent on making a direct flight to Blankney Hall to the north of Sleaford. There they would perform a flying demonstration in aid of the Countess of Londesborough's local funds.
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