From the very first attempts to fly in Britain through an exceptionally varied cavalcade of aircraft, Brooklands, the famous aviation site at Weybridge in Surrey, has witnessed and realised a greater range of aeronautical technology than anywhere else in the world.

In April 1907, the Hon. Charles Rolls, later of Rolls-Royce fame, passed gently over Weybridge in his hot-air balloon and beneath him he viewed of the new Brooklands Motor Course then nearing completion. This was the World's first purpose-built motor racing circuit and was the realised dream of a wealthy local landowner, Hugh Fortescue Locke King.

A Frenchman, Bellamy was the first man to attempt flight at Brooklands, based on his study of birds' wings and it is known that crows, jays, rooks and pigeons were collected for him by Hugh Locke King's gamekeeper, Mr. Boxall, in return for a 'drop of whisky'.

Possibly Monsieur Bellamy had been tempted by the challenge of the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club Committee which in December 1906 announced that the first person to fly round the Track before the end of 1907 would win a grand prize of £2,500.

Although no-one managed to beat this deadline, A.V. Roe came closest. The offer of the prize had attracted him to Brooklands in 1907 to build his own aeroplane shed and assemble his No. 1 biplane scaled up from a prize-winning model.

The following year on June the 8th after many difficulties and living on a diet of kippers and dates, Roe and his fragile aeroplane with its 24hp engine briefly took to the air for the first time - and he became the first Englishman to fly in a powered aeroplane of his own design.

In 1909, wealthy newspaper proprietor and aviation promoter George Holt-Thomas encouraged Hugh Locke King and Clerk of the Course Major Lindsay Lloyd to create one of Britain's first aerodromes in the middle of the Track

Soon, other pioneers and the first aircraft companies arrived - in February 1910, the British and Colonial Aircraft Company, later renamed The Bristol Aeroplane Company, took premises at Brooklands and offered flying lessons.

The pioneer who was to leave the greatest and most enduring mark on Brooklands and on British aviation as a whole, was Thomas Sopwith, a wealthy young man determined to teach himself to fly. This he achieved by the end of 1910, but not without mishap - however with relatively low flying speeds involved, as he later recalled "you could do quite a lot of crashing without hurting anybody at all".

He later had premises in the new Flying Village at Brooklands. This was a group of wooden sheds housing a growing community of sportsmen and aircraft designers. They were immortalised in the memorable 1960s film 'Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines' which was based around an event held at Brooklands in July 1911 - The Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Air Race - one of the greatest British aeronautical events of those years

The Brooklands Flying Village at was populated by most of the greatest pioneers of British aviation before the start of World War 1 and witnessed an impressive range of aviation firsts.

Hilda Hewlett became the first woman to gain her pilot's licence at Brooklands in 1910. In 1911 the world's first flight ticket office was built at Brooklands close to the Blue Bird Restaurant. This consisted of a simple brick hut operated by Keith Prowse Ltd up to World War 1. Here passenger flights in biplanes around Brooklands cost about a pound.

Other important visiting pioneers were Claude Grahame-White, Gustav Hamel, Louis Bleriot - and also H.P. Martin and George Handasyde who together formed the Martinsyde Aircraft Company. Adolph Pegoud became the first man to loop-the-loop at Brooklands - this was also the first aerobatic display in Britain.