1. In August 1910, during the Bournemouth Flying meeting, during which the Hon. C. S. Rolls was killed, Robert Loraine was caught in a heavy rainstorm while flying near the Needles and had to land.

His machine, a Henry Farman biplane, had no compass and visibility was practically nil, so he landed on top of the downs just east of the Needles. Soldiers pushed his machine to a pit at the bottom of the north side of the Downs and just off the first green of the old Needles golf course, where it could remain relatively sheltered.

As his petrol was getting very low, Loraine decided to land and refuel before taking off again, which meant that his French mechanic, Vedrines, who later became a celebrated pilot himself, had to cross to the mainland to fetch the special oil and petrol used by the 50hp 7 cylinder rotary Gnome engine.