Weymouth has a rich flying history but it is sadly inextricably linked with tales of those who lost their lives creating it.

Click into the photo gallery above to see pictures of Weymouth's flying past

The town's airfields were at Chickerell - where the Granby Industrial Estate and Dorset Echo offices are situated now - and there was another where the RSPB Lodmoor Nature Reserve is today.

The fascinating book Wings Over Weymouth by Colin Pomeroy, originally published in 2005, includes the events that led to the demise of many brave pilots and crew. These include an A C Cooper who was performing aerobatics about 200 yards into Weymouth Bay when he "failed to pull out of a spin". He ended up hitting the sea, and met his death.

The Chickerell airfield opened in 1918, along with others across the coast that were set up "for use by land-based aircraft operating in the anti-submarine role".

Military tactics employed in the Second World War were also practised off the coast in Weymouth. The Chesil Bank bombing ranges had been set up to rehearse aerial bombing attacks as the threat of war grew. As the book states, perhaps the ranges' greatest claim to fame was the role they played in the training of No 617 Squadron for their legendary 'dam-busting' mission. The mission, which was to destroy certain dams in Germany to cause floods and jeopardise water supplies and hydroelectricity, was aided by the skills perfected in this ideal training environment.

The book is packed full of facts that make it a fascinating read for anyone interested in Weymouth and Portland, not least those with a passion for all things to do with aviation.

With the water surrounding us already recognised for the role it has played to build and sustain communities, the sky above us deserves Wings Over Weymouth to reveal to everyone the important role it played, both locally and in the history of the entire nation.

But one of the most pivotal flights to take place over Weymouth, that brought together the sky and the sea, was to come later in 1912.

Author Colin said: "If you were looking for the most important event that took place then I would say it was this one, without a shadow of a doubt.

"It was less than nine years since the Wright brothers had made the first-ever flight in Carolina, and the Royal Navy was conducting trials to see how it could best make use of aeroplanes."

At the time, Colin said, the Navy viewed planes as the 'eyes of the fleet' rather than 'weapons of war in their own right' as they later became known. Flight from a stationary vessel had been achieved in 1910 but now the aim in sight was to do the same thing from a moving craft.

"Up until then the warship carrying the plane would have to stop, lower the plane over the side with a crane and then the aircraft would fly off and do its job. The warship would eventually become detached from its fleet and as it was stationary it was particularly vulnerable to torpedo attacks. So the Admiralty wanted to perfect a system where an aircraft could take off from a moving vessel."

Their dreams were realised when, on May 9, 1912, Lieutenant Charles Samson made it into the air from the deck of HMS Hibernia, three miles off the Portland Harbour breakwaters. The plane was amphibious and landed adjacent to the warship, where it was then hoisted back up on deck.

While it was undoubtedly a major historic event, just how dangerous the operation was came to light with the first successful deck landing. Squadron Commander E H Dunning managed to successfully land on HMS Furious in August, 1917 only to die five days later in another attempt to land on the ship.