Vivian Hewitt

Who was Vivian Hewitt?

Vivian Hewitt was a pioneering Welsh aviator. Born in Grimsby, he moved to Bodfari, Denbighshire, Wales his mother's family home, on the death of his father during his childhood.

On 26 April 1912, Hewitt successfully completed a flight between Holyhead and Dublin, landing in the Phoenix Park. Interviewed by the press, he expressed the view that Damer Leslie Allen, who had disappeared a few days earlier whilst attempting the same flight, had been insufficiently experienced as an aviator for a task of such difficulty.

Although widely reported to be the first person to cross the sea from Great Britain to Ireland in an aeroplane, several days earlier, on 22 April Denys Corbett Wilson had flown from Goodwick in Pembrokeshire to Enniscorthy. Nevertheless, the view was expressed at the time that Hewitt's flight was "a more difficult and dangerous feat" than Corbett Wilson's.