FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1930
UNTITLED0 - 0038.PDF
FLIGHT,-JANUARY. 3, 1930 THE FLEDOLINOS ALTHOUGH, strictly speaking, the early Wright biplane,shown herewith, had advanced a little beyond the" hopping " stage at the time we open our Twenty- one Years' review, it is only proper—we nearly said " Wright" —to include it, for the improved version figured prominently during the first two or three years of " our " life. Original Wright-type biplanes were, it will be remembered, con- structed in England by Short Bros, at their Eastchurch factory, and several British aviators owned or flew them, including the Hon. C. S. Rolls, Hon. M. Egerton, T. McClean, Alex. Ogilvie, Colin Defries, and others. The first models employed the starting rail gear for getting into the air, but subsequently wheels were fitted to the skids, and a horizontal tail was also added. One of our first pioneers, J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon—and, incidentally, perhaps our first Private Owner—made his first •flights on a Voisini biplane, " The Bird of Passage/'—shown in our second illustration—on which he flew in France in 1908, and later brought to Eastchurch. The Voisin was a curious looking machine, the principal features of which were the side " curtains " between the main planes—which vyere claimed to give stability— and the box-tail. It had no lateral control such as ailerons or wing warping, for the side curtains were supposed to render this un- necessary. For horizontal control a pair of elevators were mounted forward, on the nose of a' short nacelle or body carrying pilot and engine. The latter was a 50-h.p. Vivinus, but E.N.V. and Antoinette engines were also used in these machines. Another interesting machine, one of which was owned by Moore-Brabazon, was the British-built Short biplane shown in the next two illustrations. As will be seen, this machine was very similar to the Wright biplane—and also used the starting rail—the main differences being in the " chassis " and control surfaces. The former consisted of a sort of girder fuselage (instead of simple skids and struts as in the Wright), curved up in front to carry the front elevators, behind which was a large vertical surface serving for the " rudder." Lateral control was by curious balancing surfaces mounted between the planes at the outer extremities. There was also a vertical surface at the rear, carried by outriggers. The engine was mounted as in the Wright, and similarly drove two propellers through chains. It- was on this machine, fitted with a 60 h.p. Green, that Moore- Brabazon won the Daily Mail £1,000 prize for the first circular flight of one mile on October 30, 1909, atLeysdown. Other ' machines of a similar type to this one—which was the second type—were constructed by Short Bros. Our last illustration is another view of the Voisin biplane, exhibited at the First Olympia Aero Show, 1909. [FLIGHT Photos. 38
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
