Good morning LM, evening Graeme,
Thanks for looking after the shop David, I hope it wasn't too boring as contestants seemed to have been a bit sparse!
Congratulations Graeme on getting the Gull; I'm not surprised really, because when I was compiling the data, I saw the title of the book where the quote below was taken from and I thought to myself, there's a volume that's bound to be on the Wizard of Oz's shelves!
The Gull was Designed by Leonard Warden Bonney who learned to fly with Orville Wright in 1910, it was built by Kirkham Motor Co, Flushing NY.
Extract from "
The World's Worst Aircraft", Jim Winchester 2005
Despite 25 years of evidence to the contrary, American pilot and inventor Leonard Warden Bonney believed the secret to manned flight was to emulate the birds as closely as possible. To this end he kept and studied seagulls and devised an aircraft on avian principles. The Bonney Gull emerged in late 1927 and was unlike anything before or since. The wings, which really can be described as gull-like, did everything except actually flap, incorporating variable incidence, variable dihedral, and variable sweep of the outer sections. After four years' work and considerable testing in wind tunnels and on the ground, and despite the protest of friends and observers, Bonney took off in the Gull on 4 May 1928. The Gull wobbled, fishtailed and plunged into the ground, killing Bonney and ending his dream of flying like the birds.
Here's a rather sad little video clip showing the all too short maiden flight:
YouTube - The Bonney Gull
Off to work now, so have a good morning guys, seeya coffee time if possible. Edited to say email recieved, thanks LM, will action ASAP.