The Cody Michelin Cup Biplane was an

experimental aircraft An experimental aircraft is an aircraft intended for testing new aerospace technologies and design concepts. The term ''research aircraft'' or '' testbed aircraft'', by contrast, generally denotes aircraft modified to perform scientific studies, ...

designed and built in Britain during 1910 by

Samuel Franklin Cody Samuel Franklin Cowdery (later known as Samuel Franklin Cody; 6 March 1867 – 7 August 1913, born Davenport, Iowa, USA)) was a Wild West showman and early pioneer of manned flight. He is most famous for his work on the large kites kno ...

, a prominent showman and aviation pioneer. Cody had worked with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

on experiments with man-lifting kites and in October 1908 had successfully built and flown the

British Army Aeroplane No 1 The British Army Aeroplane No 1 or sometimes Cody 1 was a biplane built by Samuel Franklin Cody in 1907 at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Army Balloon Factory at Farnborough, Hampshire, Farnborough. It made the first recognised powered and s ...

, making the first officially verified powered flight in the United Kingdom. Cody broke the existing endurance record twice in the aircraft, the second flight, made on 31 December 1910, winning him the

Michelin Cup The Michelin Cup refers to a number of competitions sponsored by the French tyre manufacturer Michelin for long-distance flight made in aeroplanes. The first Michelin prize was announced in March 1908. The principal prize, to be awarded annually f ...

for the longest-lasting flight made over a closed circuit in the United Kingdom before the end of the year.

Background

In 1910 there were a number of prizes on offer, offering both prestige and in some cases large sums of money. Among them were the £4,000 Baron de Forest prize for the longest all-British flight to a destination in mainland Europe, the Michelin Cup and £500 endurance prize for the longest flight observed over a closed circuit and £10,000 offered by the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' newspaper for a flight between London and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Design

After his success with the Army Aeroplane Cody started work on a new design for 1910. This was a three-bay biplane of similar design. A large elevator, divided into two sections at the centre, was carried in front of the wing on three sets of booms, one at each end and the third at the centre.Lewis 1962 p.191 A rectangular rudder was carried on two booms extending aft, the lower attached to the apex of inverted V struts below the engine bearers, which also supported the long skid projecting back from below the lower wings's

leading edge The leading edge is the part of the wing that first contacts the air;Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. alternatively it is the foremost edge of an airfoil sectio ...

. Lateral control was by

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement aroun ...

s mounted on the outermost

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts, which act in ...

s of each wing. The

elevators An elevator (American English) or lift (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive tracti ...

were operated by a pair of bamboo push-rods, leading to control horns mounted at the centre of each half of the elevator. It had a

tricycle undercarriage Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...

, augmented by a long skid projecting back behind the wing

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

and small wheels mounted on the wingtips. The aircraft was initially powered by a Green water-cooled engine mounted on the lower wing using a chain to drive a single two-bladed pusher propeller mounted on a shaft halfway between the wings. A contemporary journal from a nearby Aldershot based regiment describes the Biplane as it was during testing and at the time of the accident. It said that the new plane had several improvements over the previous plane from 1909: smaller and lighter than the previous, with two independent 4-cylinder Green engines set behind the pilot's seat. It mentions one "huge wooden propeller" positioned to the rear of the engines and a single steering pillar which all the other control switches were attached to. The plane is described as beautifully finished with polished wood and nickel plating.

Operational history

The aircraft was flying by June 1910. For a flight on 7 June, Cody was awarded his Aero Club certificate, the ninth issued, having made his qualifying flights at Laffan's Plain, Farnborough. After a crash, which kept Cody in bed for a few days in June, the Green powerplant was replaced by a E.N.V. Type F engine. A fixed horizontal surface was added to the rudder and the ailerons were moved inwards and back, so that they were between the rear struts and the outer bay of each wing. On 21 July, Cody stayed in the air for 2 hours 24 minutes, covering a distance of over a closed circuit at Laffan's Plain, setting a new British endurance record. This record was beaten by

Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was a British aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 ...

in November, but on the last day of the year Cody managed to stay aloft for 4 hours 47 minutes at Laffans Plain, so winning the Michelin Cup and a prize of £500. Cody continued flying the aircraft in 1911 while working on a new aircraft to compete in the

Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Air Race The ''Daily Mail'' Circuit of Britain air race was a British cross-country air race that took place from 1911 until 1914, with prizes donated by the ''Daily Mail'' newspaper on the initiative of its proprietor, Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount N ...

, in January making a remarkable flight carrying three passengers, one of whom had to stand on the wing.Laffan'sPlain

Flight magazine ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...

, 21 January 1911 In March 1911 the aircraft was displayed at the 1911 Aero Show at Olympia.

Specifications

Notes

References

* *Lewis, P ''British Aircraft 1809–1914''. London, Putnam and Co, 1962 {{Cody aircraft

Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...