[BITList] An early aviator with a Salisbury connection.

[John Feltham]

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Gilmour,  Douglas Graham  (1885-1912), engineer and aviator, was born at Dartford, Kent, on 7 March 1885, the elder son of the large family of East India merchant David Gilmour (d. 1907), formerly of Shanghai, and his wife, Margaret Jane Muirhead (d. 1910). His paternal grandfather, J. B. Gilmour, was a Glasgow merchant and the family were proud to trace their ancestry back to Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee. Gilmour was sent, with his younger brother Stanley Graham Gilmour (b. 1888), to Clifton College, entering the school in January 1899. He was already interested in engineering and spent much of his spare time in the school workshop, his other enthusiasm being the volunteer cadet force. He shot at Bisley in 1901 as one of two cadets representing the school in the cadets challenge trophy. In July 1902 he was in the school squad of eight, competing for the Ashburton challenge shield. Before leaving the college Gilmour had begun to acquire and work on a collection of motorbicycles, at one time owning nineteen, which he tested on the Surrey slopes above the family home at Mickleham downs. He became an engineering student at the Central Technical College, later Imperial College, London, and had considerable success in motorcycle hill-climbing competitions.

By the time Bleriot had flown the channel in July 1909 Gilmour was already fascinated by the possibility of using his motor engineering skills to seek a career in powered flight. He made immediate application to the Aero Club, and was elected a full member in September 1909. In Paris he joined a group of pioneer aviators, including Claude Grahame-White, and followed the aviators and engineers of the Bleriot school south to Pau, in search of good flying weather. He had acquired a Bleriot machine, which was damaged in transit to Pau. After restoration it was ready to fly, but was then seriously damaged by the collapse of a hangar, so Gilmour was occupied for much of the winter in repair work. He took the flight tests for his French Aero Club pilot's licence no. 75 at Pau on 29 March 1910.

Gilmour had invented an aircraft anchor slip device to enable pilots to run an engine up and take off without assistance, and this was already being produced by a Bedford manufacturer. He returned to England with his machine and took over the tenancy of hangar no. 7 at Brooklands. Early in May he crash-landed close to the paddock end of the motor track, and was lucky to avoid serious injury. However he was soon flying again and experimenting with a more powerful engine. For the next twenty-one months, until his untimely death in a flying accident, Gilmour's flying activities and occasional 'escapades' were frequently recorded in the national press, and he drew large crowds of admirers. He took part in the first all-British aviation meeting at Dunstall Park racecourse, Wolverhampton, and in early August went up to Lanark for the international meeting. A new railway station had to be specially constructed alongside the racecourse to cope with the arrival of an estimated 30,000 visitors a day.

By September, Gilmour had joined forces with L. D. Gibbs & Co. and was flying their two-seater Bleriot-the Big Bat-but contravened royal parks regulations by descending without permission among a herd of deer near Hampton Court. At Brooklands on 5 October, Gilmour and the same aircraft won the duration prize of £60 and a cup for remaining aloft for a flight of almost three hours. He was now continuously under pressure to take passengers for short pleasure flights in this two-seater machine. One of his passengers was General Cummings, the first British general to evaluate the military possibilities of a powered aircraft at first hand, and Gilmour hoped he would make his opinion known to the War Office.

The War Office had just leased flying rights to the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company of Bristol and a site for hangars at Lark Hill, Salisbury Plain. Serving military officers were already seeking instruction in flying training and two Bristol aircraft had taken part in the army's autumn manoeuvres on the plain. Gilmour commenced flying the new Bristol Boxkite biplanes at Lark Hill, and the company lent him an aircraft to compete for the 1910 British Michelin cup. He fitted his own ENV engine and made several attempts but had to concede victory to Cody at the end of the year. The company appointed him their demonstration pilot as the most daring and skilful British pilot, attributes which he exhibited throughout 1911.

Like many other enthusiastic motorists of the time Gilmour had already collected a batch of police court summonses for speeding and driving a motor car to the danger of the public. On his first appearance at Woking the chairman of the magistrates imposed a nominal fine, but was so impressed with the charm of the young aviator that he invited him home for tea. He had amassed ten convictions, including three for dangerous driving, by March 1911, was fined again, and had his licence suspended for three months. On this occasion he had been driving rather fast from Brooklands to Brighton, keeping up with his fellow aviator Oscar Morison who was making the first ever cross-country flight to Brighton.

Gilmour and five aviators from Hendon attracted the attention of the crowds which had assembled to watch the university boat race on 1 April 1911 by flying over the river. Gilmour was especially prominent by his weaving and gliding over the course while the race was in progress, and at the finish ran out of petrol and had to land in a nearby field. Newspaper coverage of the aviation far exceeded that of the boat race. A week later he and E. Gordon England inaugurated a new way of travelling-an aerial tour of Wiltshire and Dorset, making numerous landings to call on friends and putting up at a hotel overnight. Local press reports of their aerial progress stated that it was the first aircraft that had ever been seen in the area.

Gilmour competed in the first Brooklands to Brighton air race in early May, but Gustav Hamel beat him into second place. He was the first aviator to fly to Portsmouth, over-fly Royal Navy warships, and demonstrate their vulnerability to air attack. He 'bombed' Fort Blockhouse, the submarine depot's headquarters, with oranges, before landing in the grounds of the Haslar Royal Naval Hospital.

Accused of manslaughter in one traffic accident, Gilmour was summoned to Wiltshire assizes at the end of May 1911. News spread of his intention to fly to court and thousands of Salisburians were on the look-out for his aircraft. He flew from Shoreham to Salisbury, circling the cathedral spire several times en route for the assizes. Although exonerated at the inquest he was later sent for trial following disclosure of driving while disqualified; he was acquitted.

At Henley regatta, while racing was in progress, Gilmour flew with his wheels almost touching the water. On 7 July he followed the Thames, flying past the houses of parliament and round St Paul's Cathedral. These 'stunts' brought him into conflict with the Royal Aero Club, which had already cautioned him over the Salisbury Cathedral flight. The club suspended his pilot's licence, but since it was a French one a Court of Appeal judgment ruled against them. Gilmour was excluded from the Circuit of Britain, the forerunner of the king's cup air race, in which he had been entered as pilot for the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company.

Gilmour's publicity made him even more popular with the public. In August he gave exhibition flights at Sherborne Castle and attended local charity fetes and flower shows in the west country as the special attraction. In the autumn he was flying and testing aircraft on Salisbury Plain in preparation for an attempt on the Michelin no. 1 trophy for 1911. In December at Brooklands he was frequently seen flying a Martin-Handasyde monoplane purchased from T. O. M. Sopwith, and demonstrated his flying skills to weekend crowds. He also flew it at Hendon in January and early February 1912. On 17 February 1912, in perfect flying weather, after taking off from Brooklands for a cross-country flight in the Martin-Handasyde, Gilmour's plane crashed in the Old Deer Park, Richmond, and he died of a fractured skull, aged only twenty-seven.

Gilmour anticipated the possibility of dying in an air accident and in April 1911 had lodged a letter with a friend setting out his wishes, especially requesting no bell be tolled. He was buried on the 21st at Mickleham church beside his parents. He donated his Bleriot to Clifton College and it was fixed to rafters in the gym. Although so well known for his enthusiasm and feats of daring flying, he was a most careful pilot, always using a safety belt. His obituary in Flight recorded 'he was one of those pilots whom the science and practice of heavier-than-air locomotion could little afford to lose'.

Sylvia Adams 

Sources  The Aero [London] + Flight + C. G. Grey, The Aeroplane (22 Feb 1912), 183 + The Times + Surrey Herald + Portsmouth Times + Western Gazette (23 Feb 1912) + Sussex Daily News + Brighton and Hove Herald + Evening Argus + The Sketch (9 April 1913), 27 + d. cert.
Likenesses  photograph, repro. in Grey, The Aeroplane · photograph, priv. coll. [see illus.]
Wealth at death  £22 10s.: administration with will, 21 May 1912, CGPLA Eng. & Wales



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