"For some time past my brother and I have been directing our attention to the subject of aviation... to develop the science both from the spectacular and commercial or manufacturing point of view." Sir George White, 16 February 1910.

When Sir George White displayed his flying machines in Bristol in 1910, it would have been, for those who saw it, their first experience of aeroplanes.

On Friday 11 November 1910, in heavy rain, a Bristol Biplane (better known as the Boxkite) was wheeled out of its temporary shed on Durdham Downs to make three short test flights along a straight line before the French pilot M. Jullerot took it for a trip around the whole ground for just a few minutes. It was then put away for the night. Early next day Jullerot took Mr Stanley White up for a ten-minute flight before the wind put paid to any further trips that morning. Later a second French pilot, Maurice Tetard, took off to fly a couple of circuits of the Downs and over the Avon Gorge but the wind there made flying difficult and as weather conditions worsened, so further flights were abandoned. No flying took place on Sunday or Monday either, although a number of distinguished visitors saw the machines in their sheds. And that was it, Bristol's first experience of flying - six flights lasting no more than 30 minutes in total over four days. but astounding to the crowd nonetheless.