1. Charles Rolls was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft, when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke off during a flying display in Bournemouth.
18 Facts About Charles Rolls
1. 2.
Charles Rolls was born in Berkeley Square, London, third son of the 1st Baron Llangattock of the Charles Rolls family and Lady Llangattock.
3.
Charles Rolls's Peugeot is believed to have been the first car based in Cambridge, and one of the first three cars owned in Wales.
4.
Charles Rolls was a keen cyclist and spent time at Cambridge bicycle racing.
5.
Charles Rolls graduated from Cambridge in 1898 and began working on the steam yacht Santa Maria followed by a position at the London and North Western Railway in Crewe.
6.
Charles Rolls was introduced to Henry Royce by a friend at the Royal Automobile Club, Henry Edmunds, who was a director of Royce Ltd.
7.
In spite of his preference for three or four cylinder cars, Charles Rolls was impressed with the two-cylinder Royce 10 and in a subsequent agreement of 23 December 1904 agreed to take all the cars Royce could make.
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Henry Royce 8.
Charles Rolls provided the financial backing and business acumen to complement Royce's technical expertise.
9.
Charles Rolls put much effort into publicising the quietness and smoothness of the Charles Rolls-Royce, and at the end of 1906 travelled to the US to promote the new cars.
10.
Charles Rolls was winning awards for the quality and reliability of its cars by 1907.
11.
Charles Rolls was a pioneer aviator and initially, balloonist, making over 170 balloon ascents.
12.
Charles Rolls became the second Briton to go up in an aeroplane.
13.
Charles Rolls bought one of six Wright Flyer aircraft built by Short Brothers under licence from the Wright Brothers and from early October 1909 made more than 200 flights.
14.
Charles Rolls became the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane, taking 95 minutes on 2 June 1910.
15.
On 12 July 1910, at the age of 32, Charles Rolls was killed in an air crash at Hengistbury Airfield, Southbourne, Bournemouth when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke off during a flying display.
16.
Charles Rolls was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft, and the eleventh person internationally.
17.
Charles Rolls's was the first powered aviation fatality in the United Kingdom.
18.
Charles Rolls's grave is just below Llangattock Manor and bears the inscription:.