504 pictures

Daily Mail aircraft flying over pier

This is the 504 prototype being flown over Paignton seafront in April 1914. This was at the start of the Daily Mail sponsored tour of seaside resorts. The aircraft was flown both as a land plane and seaplane, initially by Henri Salmet (who didn't like flying it as a seaplane) and then by Fred Raynham and George Lusted. The aircraft (as a seaplane) was commandeered by the Admiralty on 4 August 1914, but wrecked on take-off (engine failure) by Raynham as he was trying to deliver it.