Alex takes his place in hall of flying fame

Oldham aviator Alexander Collinge appears on the website

Oldham has a place in the hall of fame for pioneer aviators. 

Royal Aero Club Aviators certificates 1910 -1950, are now available for the first time online on the social and family history website Ancestry.co.uk

It contains more than 28,000 records and 13,000 photographs of men and women who qualified as pilots in the golden age of British aviation.

It includes reference to Alexander Collinge, of Hargreaves Street, Oldham. Alexander worked as a secretary and was born in 1906. In 1931 he gained a pilot’s licence certificate in an Avian aircraft at Lancashire Aero Club. Alexander joins many famous fliers in the online list. They include John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon who is credited with making the first authenticated power flight in Britain.

Moore-Brabazon also made the first live cargo flight after tying a pig to a bucket beneath his plane, proving that pigs can fly.

Founder pilot Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce fame made the first non-stop double crossing of the English Channel and also became the first Briton to be killed in an air crash when the tail broke on his plane at Bournemouth in 1910.

While records feature predominantly British fliers, early aviators from as far flung places as Poland, Russia and America also appear.

Ancestry.co.uk boss Simon Harper said: “This collection is a fantastic record of a golden age in British aviation history.” To view the website, visit www.ancestry.co.uk