Horatio Frederick Phillips (1845 – 1924) was an English aviation pioneer, born in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. He was famous for building

multiplane The multiplane camera is a motion-picture camera that was used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a sense of par ...

flying machines with many more sets of lifting surfaces than are normal on modern aircraft. However he made a more lasting contribution to

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identif ...

in his work on

aerofoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

design.Wragg, D.W.; ''Flight before flying'', Osprey, 1974

Aerofoils

Phillips devised a wind tunnel in which he studied a wide variety of

shapes for use in providing lift. The tunnel was unusual in that the gas flow was provided by steam rather than air. By 1884 he was able to register his first patent, and more were to follow. He demonstrated the truth of

George Cayley Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet (27 December 1773 – 15 December 1857) was an English engineer, inventor, and aviator. He is one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him to be the first true scientific aer ...

's idea that giving the upper surface greater curvature than the lower accelerates the upper airflow, reducing pressure above the wing and so creating lift.

Multiplane flying machines

Phillips believed that multiple stacked wing planes (or "sustainers" as he called them), in "Venetian blind" configuration, offered advantages. * His 1893 Flying Machine had 50 lifting surfaces and used his patented "double-surface airfoils" in such a way as to produce an aspect ratio of 1:152, providing great lift at the sacrifice of stability. As a test vehicle, it was not designed to be manned, but was used to test lifting capability. Its maximum load was found to be . * His 1904 Multiplane was a development of the 1893 test vehicle in a configuration that could be flown by a person. It had 21 wings and had a

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammal ...

for stability, but was unable to achieve sustained flight. Its best performance was . A specially made replica of the 1904 machine appears in the opening sequences of the 1965 film '' Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines''. * His 1907 Multiplane, which had 200 individual airfoils and was powered by a engine driving a propeller achieved a flight on 6 April 1907. This was the first flight of its kind in England, although it was preceded by the Wright brothers by several years. Though successful, the 1907 model showed poor performance compared to more conventional contemporary types. This caused Phillips to end his attempts at manned flight.Angelucci, E. and Matricardi, P.; ''World Aircraft – Origins-World War 1'', Sampson Low, 1977.

References

External links

Guide to Horatio Philips, Letter to Octave Chanute August 25, 1909
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
Aviation pioneers English engineers 1845 births 1924 deaths Phillips {{England-engineer-stub