mazzy
There were many of us mentally flying with you on your first solo.
Well done and walk tall!
How did Del do it back in 1913 without any dual instruction?
You have seen the account of his first flight in a Caudron wing warper at Hendon. Well the following is Del's account, from copious diary entries, of his close equivalent to your solo. The surrounding incidents help set the scene of those early days of aviation.
THE BREVET
Continuing from Del's first/solo flight in a Caudron at Hendon in 1913.
Immediately after his return to Hendon Del's thoughts and plans were thrown into near chaos by circumstances over which he had no influence and that seemed to put his entire future in jeopardy.
Firstly a crisis in the French associations came when Monsieur Deperdussin, the wealthy tycoon, who as an enthusiastic and philanthropic supporter of the struggling aviation industry was involved as an innocent puppet in a share-broking scandal. He was arrested and goaled until at a later date his innocence was established and he was released. The immediate effect at Hendon was that his flying school closed down and the pupils who had paid 100 pounds to learn to fly, could not complete their training. Simultaneously another scandal swept through the Ewan school. It seemed that Mr Ewan had purchased a prize winning Wolseley car at the recent Olympia motor show, (with company funds) and was using it for his own private purposes. He had not previously informed, nor obtained his co_directors agreement, for the payment of 800 pounds for the car, and they felt he had greatly exceeded his authority in the purchase. Some directors therefore obtained a legal writ to seize the car and sell it, but the foxy Ewan got wind of the action and removed and hid the car in London.
Now rumours immediately began to circulate that the Ewan Company was in default of payments and would be sold up. Following the Duperdussin debacle it seemed that Ewan's students, including Del, would likely follow the path of the French company's embryo pilots. It later transpired that one of the major directors, Sir W Ramsay sorted things out, the car was paid for by Ewan and the company resumed normal business.
Had the rumours been laid low at an early stage of the proceedings by a forthright statement from the directors, no damage would have been done as the company was quite financially sound, only the bickering had to be stopped. But to Del, like the other students and staff, it seemed that suddenly his whole world was about to collapse and leave him in England without his brevet.
It was the 22nd December 1913, three days before Christmas. Del felt he must do something quickly about his flying test and not wait until early in the New Year as had been planned. By then rumour had it Ewan would be bankrupt.
Del went to see Ed Beaumann and Frank. He told them that he had to return to Australia as soon as possible and asked them to arrange for him to fly his test immediately, to_day if possible. The weather was fine, Ed and Frank knew he would have no trouble in being successful, so they arranged for two Certificate observers to be available at 3 pm. One was the South African, J F Weston, the other a test pilot with the Handley Page Company Mr E Whitehouse.
To make sure nothing could now go wrong, Del took Ed to lunch, to ensure he would be present at the test and not get preoccupied with his office work. So after lunch they gathered at the aerodrome, and Del was once more briefed on the requirements of the test. He was to take-off, climb to 500 feet then fly level whilst making five figure of 8 turns, close the throttle and volplane in for a landing as close as possible to a white strip of cloth stretched and pegged out on the ground near the centre of the aerodrome. Then he was to repeat the whole exercise a second time.
As Del helped to wheel out the Caudron he noticed that Willows had taken his ungainly dirigible out for one of its rare flights, and now it was floating around close to the aerodrome in a seemingly aimless fashion, constantly changing its location and height. There was no point in waiting for it to be brought down, this was the shortest day of the year, and by four thirty it would be almost dark. Now at 3 o'clock it was both misty and dull.
Del completed his usual check of the aircraft's condition, climbed in and was soon taxying out. He noted that the breeze had picked up a little, also the dirigible was still flying around near the aerodrome boundary. He took off, positioned himself over the middle of the aerodrome and commenced his series of turns, 360 degrees to the left, then one to the right, one to the left and so on.
During his second turn he was distracted to see that the damn gas bag was right on his height and heading towards him. He avoided the unwieldy obstruction, but throughout his entire flight it seemed he was haunted by that airship, forever it seemed to be obstructing his carefully controlled turns. Completing his first series of turns, he landed close to the markers taxied back, again took off and resumed his battle with the dirigible. But now, a little wiser from his first encounter, he was able to watch and plan his circles to avoid coming too close to it. He landed finally, and with immense satisfaction touched down spot on the white marker.
Back at the hangar, Del felt fairly annoyed at having to cope with this cumbersome hindrance to his test flight and vehemently said so as they discussed the flight.
"Oh don't worry Mr Badgery" said Mr. Weston "You coped very well; you have passed your test. I'll see you get your certificate as soon after the Christmas holidays as possible. Meantime you may act as a fully licensed aeroplane pilot".
So Monday 22nd December 1913 really was Del's triumphant day. He would never forget his first circuit of the aerodrome for the wonderful feeling of exalted elation but this day was somehow different. He HAD accomplished what he had set out to do, it seemed so long ago since he sailed out of Sydney harbour heads, his feeling now was not so much of elation but thankfulness that he had at last realised his primary goal. He always knew he would make it, somehow deep inside he had that self assurance but now he had heard the magic words and knew it was a reality.
In response to frantic yells and calls from the aerodrome they went back outside and watched a real pantomime that nearly ended in tragedy. The crew of the dirigible had attempted to land their ungainly monster in the centre of the aerodrome. To do that they had to bring it over the intended point of landing, lower a long rope with an anchor attached stop the motor and at the same time vent a quantity of gas from the airship. This allowed it to sink down until the ground crew could seize the rope and pull it to the hangar.
The breeze by now had increased and in the gathering gloom the ground handlers had missed the rope and the wind blew the semi_deflated gas bag away from the aerodrome and over the eight tracks of the main Midland Railway system. The anchor finally caught in the boundary fence of the railway line, and the dirigible was tethered right above the rail tracks. Express steam locomotives were roaring and pounding past to and from St Pancras Station every few minutes at speeds around 50 miles per hour, with whistles screeching as their drivers suddenly came upon this great rippling gas_bag in the evening dusk, suspended right over their path. With the anchor rope caught, the effect of the wind passing over the dirigible caused the top of the envelope to glitter violently and it was forced down lower and lower towards the rail tracks. The ground crew and all available people including Del's group from the Ewan hangar heaved away and with a scant three feet between the top of the passing locomotives and the bottom of the gondola, the dirigible was finally towed clear and hauled back to the hangar.
Once again Mrs Crump immediately saw the change in her Aussie's boarder's composure. He had become increasingly moody lately, she sensed that something was wrong at the hangar but said nothing; she didn't understand these mad fliers anyway. She had noted how despondent he seemed this morning, as he ate breakfast in virtual silence with none of the usual cheerfulness she had come to know. Now Del was bubbling over with happiness - he had passed his test at last and all the world was alright again. Mrs Crump also knew that meant that soon she would lose her Aussie as he would be off back home now that his mission was complete.
A few weeks later whilst doing the rounds of the various aviation companies in London he often called at the Royal Aero Club in Piccadilly. There it was confirmed that his Aviator's Certificate would be issued to him, as from the date of his examination, 22nd December 1913. Also his name had been placed upon the Competitor's Register, entitling him to take part as a pilot in racing at Hendon or in any other competitions conducted under Royal Aero Club rules but he would not be availing himself of this endowment.
His Aviator's Certificate (Brevet) was handed to him on 19th January 1914, No 717 of the Federation Aeronautique International, issued by the Royal Aero Club as "the sporting authority in the British Empire" and recognised by the FAI.
The word "sporting" indicates the official conception of aviation in those pioneering years. Flying was a sport or pastime, and nothing more than that, until it was developed for military use during the rapidly approaching war, and on scheduled passenger and mail operations many years later.
In the constraints that his Certificate imposed, Del could make a career for himself as a professional aviator in Australia only by giving exhibitions of flying with a charge for admission, or perhaps by establishing a Training School of Flying, or by manufacturing and acting as agent for the sale of aeroplanes and components to enthusiasts of this new sport. That would take time and would require considerable organisation and experience; but all beginnings are difficult and require total faith in one's own ability.
Delfosse Badgery went on to build a Caudron in Australia to become one of Australia's aviation pioneers. He later survived military flying operations in the the Middle East following many aviation firsts for Australia.