Henry Jacob Delaval Astley
Henry Jacob Delaval Astley (1888-1912). Early aviator.
1888 Born in London
1910 Gained his aviator's certificate at Brooklands
1912 Died
The Intreprid English Aviator, Killed in the Presence of Thirty Thousand Spectators
Belfast, Sept. 21
H. J. D. Astley, one of the most intrepid and skillful of English aviators, was killed this afternoon by the fall of his aeroplane. Astley and James Valentine, each driving a machine, were making exhibition flights in the presence of thirty thousand spectators. Astley, after a splendid flight, was descending. He attempted to bank too sharply when making a sudden turn and caught by a fluky wind the monoplane fell from a height of one hundred feet. Women screamed and fainted. Astley was flung against one of the wings and his skull fractured. He died soon afterward.
Astley when flying from France to England with Miss Trehawke Davis as a passenger had a marvelous escape near Lille on September 17. On that occasion the machine fell 150 feet and Miss Davis is said to have made an entry in her diary of her sensations as they dropped. [1]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Daily Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: September 22, 1912
- Royal Aero Club records