On 28 December 1910 Cardiff's aviation pioneer and self taught engineer, Ernest Willows, arrived in Paris aboard his airship, The City of Cardiff. He was the first Welshman (and Briton) to arrive in the city by powered flight and he would spend New Year's Eve 1910 flying around the the Eiffel Tower.

1910 was quite a year for Willows and probably the peak of his career. He had been designing and building airships at his Splott workshop for a couple of years and made the news on the 4th of June when he flew across Cardiff and landed in front of City Hall. He repeated the stunt on June 7 and this time he landed in front of a crowd of 40,000. On the 6th of August he became the first man to cross the Bristol Channel by powered flight as he headed to London at night following the headlights of his father's car. He left London for France on the 4th of November and was seen off by Lord Asquith, the Prime Minister, along with David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. He was the first person to make a night crossing of the English Channel.

Sadly, Willows efforts came to little. Whilst Germany developed a very successfully military and civilian airship industry there was little interest in Britain. Both Willows and his main backer, his father, went bankrupt. Willows died in 1926 in a ballooning accident.

So when you wish your loved ones blwyddyn newydd dda this New Year's Eve, raise a glass to the memory of a young Ernest Willows flying his City of Cardiff airship around the Eiffel Tower.

Blwyddyn newydd dda pawb and a happy new year to all from www.cardiffonfoot.com