Beverley`s most famous land mark, the Minster, founded c.700

Humberside Aviation Society was established in 1967 in the historic market town of Beverley, East Yorkshire, (formerly in the county of N.Humberside).

It was originally formed during this year as a branch of Air Britain with a handful of enthusiasts who held their inaugural meeting in one of the members house`s in Beverley. Present at this first meeting were: Steve Casey, Adrian Rawlinson, Ian Carling, Paul Jackson, Ian Wilson and Mike Waudby.

Initially meetings were held at members houses but despite these small beginnings it was not long until the first magazine was in production under the name of "Contrail". However it was soon discovered that this name conflicted with another publication and so the title "Humberside Air Review" (HAR) was adopted in lieu of our locality. Despite the name change the publication of HAR was still not without its teething problems, as initially, the detailed military content caused raised eyebrows in some quarters! Of course today it is all to easy to forget that this was at a time when the copying down of military serials and movements was still somewhat taboo. The security chief at the nearby HS Brough factory, (now BAE SYSTEMS Brough), took a particular interest in us, especially as he was also the local commander of the "Special Constabulary", and for a while he even had to vet the text.

The town of Beverley also gave its name to another aviation great to come from the region; its namesake the Blackburn Beverley. This example use to reside in the town at the Museum of Army Transport but now lives at the nearby Fort Paull museum and armoury to the east of Kingston Upon Hull. It remains as the only complete airframe of the type now in existence!

Air Britain were also non to amused at this either and asked that HAS be run under "their" rules, but this requirement became unacceptable to HAS members and a clean break was made establishing HAS in its own right. There then followed a major recruiting campaign and as membership increased regular meetings were then able to be held at local schools; first at Endyke in Hull and latterly at Longcroft school in Beverley.

By the mid 1980s the society had reached its peak membership in line with the growing interest in "spotting" as a pastime. As the 1990s came the society, along with many others, became a little smaller, primarily due to new technologies like the Internet and changes within the aviation world itself.

Although some famous groups have subsequently gone by the wayside, HAS has been able to maintain a loyal core membership which has seen us continue to this day and we hope that our society will go on well into the future, thanks to them and future members.

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