FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0674.PDF
690 FLIGHT S. F. CODY A Personal Reminiscence By G. A. BROOMFIELD THIS year is the 50th anniversary of the climax, in 1908, of the greatS. F. Cody's pioneer aeronautical work, when he became the first man in this country to make a successful powered flight in a heavier-than-airmachine. In this article G. A. Broomfield, who knew and worked with Cody and has written a biography of that remarkable man, recalls his boldand imaginative experiments and designs. The article is also particularly apposite in the light of the current controversy on "Cody's tree" and thefirst powered flight in Britain—on which subject, in last week's issue, we printed a letter from the Director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment. SAMUEL FRANKLIN CODY spent twenty-five years of hislife in Europe and, during that time, left an imperishablerecord in the annals of British Aviation. Initially laughed at and jeered at, he eventually became one of the most famousand beloved characters in this and many other countries. The story of his life in America is outside the scope of thisarticle; the only part of it with which we are concerned is that his father gave him a kite when he was three years old; and later on,when Cody became a cowboy-cum-buffalo-hunter, a Chinese cook taught him how to make and fly kites. I have already written thestory of his early life in Pioneer of the Air (Gale and Polden, 1953). After several previous visits Cody finally settled in England in1888 and toured the British Isles and Europe with race-horses and a "Wild West Show," using kites to advertise his performances.In 1901 he made his headquarters at the Alexandra Palace, London, and there constructed his first successful man-liftingkite. This he patented in that year, and incorporated in the con- trols was a wine-flexing device for preventing the series of kitesyawing. The Wright brothers did not apply for their patent— for wing warping, plus rudder lateral control—until 1903. Demonstrating these kites to the Navy at Portsmouth early in1903, Codv flew over the Fleet at about 800ft, taking photographs and signalling results of gunfire. He thus became the first manto carry out aerial observations for the Navy, as balloons were not tried out until much later, and then only in calm weather. Cody was unable to get an engine for his "aeroplane" until fiveyears had elapsed; but meanwhile he built and flew a glider which had only one spar midway between the planes, the lower onehaving a gull-wing shape. It was fitted with ailerons for lateral control—this being, I think, the first time ailerons were used in aheavier-than-air machine. He flew the glider in the presence of Sir Hiram Maxim in 1905. The ailerons are clearly shown,beneath the lower mainplane, in the photograph below. In 1904 he demonstrated his man-lifting kites to the Army atAldershot—for aerial photography, reconnaissance, signalling, wireless and other purposes—in winds from ten to fifty miles anhour. (Balloons were being used bv the Army—in winds below ten miles an hour.) As a result of the tests, the first Kite Sectionof the Royal Engineers was formed, with Cody as chief instructor. He still continued gliding experiments over the Long Valleyat Aldershot, and R.E. officers made many flights in his kites from Laffan's Plain, and on Army manoeuvres, at altitudes exceeding1.000ft. In 1905 Capt. (now Brigadier) P. W. L. Broke-Smith ascended to a height of over 3,300ft, which remains a world recordfor man-lifting kites. Cody was next commissioned to design the control surfacesand fit the power unit to the dirigible balloon which was started by Col. Templer and finished by Lt-Col. (later Maj-Gen.) Sir JohnCapper. No British engine being available, Cody went to Paris and purchased a 50 h.p. Antoinette, which he duly installed. Theairship, called the Ntdli Secundus, was the first British Army airship to fly over London (in October 1907). On the way backit had to land at the Crystal Palace as the result of an adverse wind. Eventually the envelope was ripped to save the airship fromcotnolete destruction. Meanwhile he had acquired a three-cylinder Buchet engineof about 12 h.p., and this he installed in one of his kites, suitably modified with a front elevator and tail and fitted with an under-carriage. After successful captive flights, it flew pilotless in 1907 from Farnboroueh Common for 4i min. Cody had made many applications, backed by Col. Capper, toconstruct a full-sized machine, and eventually the War Office allowed him the vast sum of £50 with which to build it. He again The glider at Long Valley, Aldershot, in 1905. Note the ailerons, below the bottom wing, and small rudder. Cody is in white. Cody's first three-passenger flight, made on February 4, 1911: Left to right, Cody, the author, Miss LeYette, J. W. Morton. used the gull-wing design for the lower lifting surface, with theupper wing approximately straight. Jutting forward from the latter were three bamboo outriggers supporting a single elevator,which had a section cut in the centre to accommodate two bam- boos from the engine-bearer. The outer struts had only pianowire to hold them in position from underneath. No engine being available, Cody tethered his machine to thenow-famous tree at Farnborough, and in strong winds was able to gain useful knowledge about the control surfaces. The interplane struts were of streamline section. To decide theshape giving the least resistance, actual lengths of various struts were drilled at the top and threaded on to a steel rod. A three-bladed extractor fan, three feet in diameter, was used to obtain an airflow of about 40 m.p.h. in a small wind tunnel. The baseof the section Cody used actually moved forward during this experiment, whilst the rest were blown backwards. He worked out the pitch of his propellers by using a straight-edge and a chalked triangle on the floor. The spade-shaped blades were slid on to the arms of a T-shaped tube, and fixed by boltsand setscrews; at the single end of the "T" was the driving sprocket. Cody thus evolved the first adjustable-pitch propeller.Finally, while the Nulli Secundus airship was being rebuilt, he managed to obtain permission to use its Antoinette engine. It wasinstalled in April 1908, and again the tree was used. This time the aeroplane was tethered from the tail, and a spring balanceinserted in the rope between tree and aircraft, to measure the thrust of the propellers. First Cody used a vee belt on the starboard side,and a double-vee (or "long hexagon" section) belt—to allow for it being crossed—on the port side; but such belts, even whendoubled, proved too weak for the power, and after the first five flights were discarded in favour of the chain-and-sprocket fromthe airship. One chain was crossed (being taken through tubes filled with tallow) to allow the propellers to revolve in oppositedirections. The most level piece of land available was the clearing on CoveCommon, used by the Royal Engineers for their horses. It was about 400 yd long, and dotted about with water troughs.On May 16, 1908, the first attempt to fly was made. Cody had fitted his machine—apparently to obtain more lift—with a sortof sail, triangular in shape, stretching from the rudder to the wings. This was later removed as it was found to be useless. Onthe day of the test he used wing-warping for lateral control, having removed the detachable balancers fitted to the base of the bottomouter rear strut, which he had previously used to gain some idea of the controls required when the machine was tethered to thetree. These were refitted in June or July, after the elevator had folded up, but were again discarded in September. The utmost secrecy was maintained at the Balloon Factory,especially between Cody and J. W. Dunne. Whenever Dunne
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
