The birth of fixed-wing, powered flight in the first decade of the twentieth century brought with it the potential of significant, unintended fatalities on the aircraft’s return to Earth. Join lecturer, Tony Royle, historian of mathematics and former airline captain with Virgin Atlantic, to hear stories from the eventful lives of some of the men and women involved: the nature of the contemporary mathematical and engineering debates surrounding flight, and the practical steps taken in Britain to create safer aircraft prior to, and during, WW1.