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Charles Stewart Roles was the first person to fly an aircraft across and the English Channel and back, a feat he accomplished in 1910. Yes, this is the same Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce engineering fame -- and he produced his first engine at his garage in Monmouth, Wales, where today it is surrounded by a magnificent golf course named, appropriately, Rolls of Monmouth.
Sadly, it was an aeroplane accident that killed Rolls. On July 12, 1910, at the age of 32, Charles Rolls was killed at Hengistbury Airfield near Bournemouth. The tail of his Wright Flyer aircraft, build under licence by Britain's Short Brothers, broke off in mid air display. It meant one more 'first' for Mr Rolls - he became the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident.
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- Landmark