ALLIOTT Verdon (AV) Roe, who lent his name to the Avro company, made not only his own first flight, but the first all-British flight, in Waltham Forest in 1909 after years of experimentation.

Roe was a Mancunian technician inspired by the Wright brothers, who achieved the first manned flight in a heavier-than-air device in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Many in Britain dismissed them as charlatans, while The Times sniffily warned in 1906 that any attempt to fly would be dangerous to human life and "foredoomed to failure from an engineering standpoint".

Undeterred, Roe was working on model gliders based on the Wrights' designs. The following year he entered a contest run by the less dismissive Daily Mail and won £75 to build a working plane from his designs.

The same paper was also offering £1,000 for the first mile-long circular flight, and £10,000 for the first uninterrupted flight from London to Manchester.

Spurred on, Roe began constructing "Avroplanes". These were skeletal biplanes weighing 460lbs, including the pilot, and powered by a six-horsepower engine made by Tottenham firm JA Prestwich.

Initial trials were conducted on the Brooklands racetrack in Weybridge, Surrey, and were unsuccessful.

Roe was soon evicted from the site in 1908 - but not before the loan of a more powerful French engine resulted in a few successful hops.

As an alternative he picked two arches under the Liverpool Street to Chingford railway line, which allowed him to make quick adjustments to his contraption between runs.

Installed in Walthamstow by the beginning of 1909, Roe began work on a new triplane design influenced by a successful French model.

His days began at about 4am when the delicate plane would be assembled and wheeled out by Roe and his assistants.

One would later recall being jeered at by cynical onlookers as they tried to start the engine, attempted a flight, and if successful, inevitably crash landed. Repairs would follow, then modifications, and further trials.

For each attempted take-off, Roe would be trailed by an assistant on a bike with a fire extinguisher.

As he struggled to perfect his design, other aviation pioneers raced ahead. The first-ever flights in Britain were accomplished by an American named SF Cody, who built and flew the British Army Aeroplane Number 1 in October 1908, managing 432 metres.

But Roe's achievements remained modest enough to prompt him to write to Flight magazine, suggesting the Daily Mail offer smaller rewards to any British inventor able to cover 100 yards or a quarter of a mile, or even to reach 25mph on the ground.

The arrival of a nine horsepower engine in May 1909 bolstered Roe's efforts, but that month his progress was put in perspective by Briton JTC Moore-Brabazon, who flew 457 metres in a French-built aircraft.

Roe's breakthrough came on July 13, 1909, when he finally managed an extended hop of around 30 metres. The feat was consolidated ten days later with a 274-metre flight.

As his efforts became more impressive, the marshes became less suitable for Walthamstow's resident aviator. Additionally, local authorities were less than sympathetic to the project.

The Walthamstow County Council, who owned the part of the marsh between Lea Bridge Road and Coppermill Lane, threatened Roe with eviction, while the London County Council refused his permission to use nearby Hackney Marshes.

By August 1909, Roe was conducting his experiments on Leyton Marsh, south of Lea Bridge Road. However, Leyton Council banned him from flying when there were crowds present, because an over-excited throng (now apparently more supportive of his endeavours) trampled the grass as they ran behind the plane.

Aviation enthusiasts noted that French aviators were rather better supported by their authorities - a point emphasised by the first successful cross-channel flight, completed in 37 minutes by Louis Blériot.

Roe moved to Wembley Park for more trials, before setting up his Avro firm in Manchester. From that base he would go on to manufacture the world's first fully-enclosed monoplane in 1912, and establish a place at the vanguard of aeronautical engineering.

In a final local twist, Avro would later merge with Hawker Siddeley, who also had a base in Walthamstow.