The first permanent exhibition recording the vital role played by Windermere in the history of the development of aeroplanes has been officially opened, writes Mike Glover.
It explains how the first flights taking off from water in the UK happened on England’s largest lake and how this later led to the building of a flying boat factory on its shores during the Second World War.
The exhibition has been organised by the Waterbird Project, which has also announced dates of flights of the unique replica of the first UK seaplane early next month.
The exhibition displays are next to the From Auschwitz to Ambleside exhibition at Windermere Library, which highlights how 300 children who survived the Nazi death camps were flown to Carlisle at the end of the war and settled in the Calgarth Estate, on the shores of Windermere.
The two events are linked as the children occupied the temporary accommodation just vacated by workers at the Short Brothers factory which built the Sunderland flying boats during the Second World War.
The exhibition was opened by Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale. Cutting a ribbon to mark the event, Mr Farron said: “This is an amazing story, and it is fantastic that this exhibition is here to celebrate the ingenuity shown by those behind the original Waterbird.
“The Wright brothers invented flying in 1903, and just six years later Captain Wakefield and his cohorts were using their ingenuity to get planes taking off from Windermere.
“This led to the first Royal Navy air training school and passenger flights here. Later Shorts were using Calgarth Estate to house workers at the Shorts Brothers factory to build flying boats during the Second World War.
That same estate then housed 300 children who had escaped the horrors of the Nazi death camps and made a fresh start here.
“Having these two exhibitions here in the centre of Windermere, in its library, is inspirational.”
Trevor Avery, director of the Lake District Holocaust Project., said: “The Lake District has a proud history of industry and enterprise that demands recognition, none more so than the exploits of Captain E W Wakefield in the early years of the 20th century.”
It was Captain Wakefield who initiated the development in the UK of aeroplanes able to take off from water and copyrighted the “stepped” float which made it possible.
He features in the exhibition wall panel which sets out reasons for a Short Sunderland flying boat factory being built at Windermere, which commence with Waterbird’s development in 1911.
The Waterbird Project, which spent 10 years researching and developing an exact replica of the 1911 machine and successfully flew it for the first time in 2022.
It has received numerous awards and accolades.
