John Dunne's story

John Dunne was born in Ireland in 1875, fought in the Second Boer War and went on to study the science of aerodynamics, encouraged by family friend, HG Wells.

Assigned to the Army Balloon Factory in Farnborough in 1905, he started to design the first British military flying machine and after months of building and testing models, Dunne built a passenger-carrying glider.

The D1 was constructed under great secrecy, and in July 1907, was shipped by rail to Blair Atholl for flight testing. With his CO, Colonel Capper, as passenger, the D1 flew successfully in the hills north of the village.

In 1909 the War Office stopped any official support for heavier-than-air flight, and Dunne formed the Blair Atholl Aeroplane Syndicate to continue his experiments. By 1910, the Dunne D5 demonstrated its extraordinary stability to an amazed audience that included Orville Wright.