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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0441.PDF
JULY 9, 1925 THE ORIGINAL AVRO TRIPLANE FOR SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM THE presentation, by A. Y. Roe & Co., Ltd., of the originalAvro tnplane to the South Kensington Museum, where it will be kept for the nation for all time, brings back some inter-esting recollections of its constructor, that pioneer of aviation Mr. A. V. Roe. The first flight ever made over British soil was made byA. V. Roe, in a machine of his own construction. Appro- priately enough, Roe, we are reminded, obtained his firstincentive to design aircraft from watching birds in flight. During three years he spent in the merchant service as a marineengineer he studied the seagulls and the albatross, and on his return commenced to make model gliders. From 1906 onwards, Mr. Roe devoted all his time and savingsto aviation. In 1907 he won the first Dailv Mail prize for flying models and constructed a full-size "flying machine,which he took to the Brooklands motor track." He was kept waiting many months for a 24 h.p. Antoinette engine he hadordered from France, and in the interval it was his practice to prevail upon sympathetic motorists to give him experimen-tal towing flights. It was difficult, Mr. Roe says, to induce With this he made the first successful flight on an all-British aeroplane. This was in June, 1909, and for fourteen years the machine held the record of being the lowest-poweredengine to fly in England. After this he made many successful flights, the earliestbeing short and low, earning him the title of " Roe the hop- per." One of his troubles at this period was the back firing ofthe J.A.P. engine, which occasionally set his machine on fire. In the summer of 1909 a young woman came down to theriver Lea intending to commit suicide. The sight of Roe's machine skimming about arrested her, and she went home.The next morning Mr. Roe received a letter asking him to allow her to take his place as pilot of the machine so thathis life might be saved at the expense of her own. Roe tactfully replied that he would gladly allow her to fly hismachine when he had perfected it, thus giving her something to look forward to. Roe was not left in peace to carry out his experiments.The local authorities employed a bailiff to watch him and to prevent him from flying. For a long time the bailiff was : '•••• " "•'•-" I A A / 1 X\ ~\/ \ I/A /\ j r 1 V VI '] •_-;•• Trl/ I!Vi 1 lA' \' 11 / 1 1 » ^ Vil t i^ A • The orignal Avro Triplane, which has been pre- sented to South Kensingto n Museum. the motorists to let go at the proper moment when the machinebegan to swerve in the air, and the result of their holding on often ended in a dive and a crash. In the spring of 1908 the Antoinette engine arrived fromFrance, and on June 8 Roe made the first flight ever accom- plished in England. This consisted of some 60 yds. at a height•of 2 ft. from the ground. At this point he received notice to quit Brooklands. Hehad never enjoyed anything like ideal conditions. He was not allowed to sleep in the shed where his machine was kept,nor could he use the track -when it was open to motorists. Still his entire exclusion was a severe blow. He applied to the War Office for leave to erect a shed by the•side of Mr. Cody's at Laffan's Plain, but was refused per- mission. He finally decided to continue on Lea Marshes,where some large fields were available. He also rented and boarded up a couple of railway arches in the vicinity. In the stable of his brother's house at Putney he had by thistime constructed a tractor triplane, and this is the machine which has been presented to the Science Section of the SouthKensington Museum. This he removed to Lea Marshes. Circumstances had compelled him to dispose of his Antionette•engine of 24 h.p., and he had nothing better than a 9 h.p. J.A.P.lmotor-cycle engine designed by John Alfred Prestwich. circumvented because of Roe's early-rising habits, but even-tually he was caught in the act. Police court proceedings were instituted, but just then Bleriot flew the Channel andthe case was dropped. Roe moved on to Wembley Park, now the site of the BritishEmpire Exhibition, and flew with consistently increasing success. In 1910 he entered into partnership with his brotherin Manchester and in the same year was welcomed back to Brooklands. After a visit to America the famous Avromachine, so named after its inventor, was produced, and from then onwards Roe reaped the success he deserved. Early in 1914 the German Government bought an Avroseaplane, which was the first heavier-than-air machine to make the voyage from the main land to Heligoland. The part the Avro played in the Great War is well known.In the early days it raided the airship sheds of Fricdrichshafen, and, handled by Commander A. W. Bigsworth, it was thefirst British machine to damage a Zeppelin in the air. Through- out the war, and to this day, it has been the standard trainingmachine of our Flying Services. Since the war the firm of Avro has been linked up with themanufacturers of the Crossley car, a fitting alliance, as they worked together through the war, Crossley cars as land trans-port for the R.A.F. and Avro machines in the air. The King and Amundsen CAPTAIN AMUNDSEN, who returned on the Dornier Wai to Oslo, on July 4, received the following telegram from King George V., on July 7 :— " My heartiest congratulations upon your safe return from your flight to the Polar region. I trust that you and your companions have not suffered from privations during your heroic flight.—GEORGE R.I." 441
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