Things could only get better.

[Dan Winterland]

Man on the Fence's excellent pictures of the AVRO triplane replica prompted me to scan a cigarette card issued in 1909 from my "ahem" collection.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb73/dbchippy/wyndham1.jpg

This is the reverse, or 'obverse' as us collectors like to say.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb73/dbchippy/wyndham2.jpg

I must get out more!

[virgo]

Vereeeeee interesting !

a) which way does it go ?
b) where does captain Windham sit ?
c) Where does he put his obligitary walking-stick ?

[India Four Two]

a) I would say it canardly go at all :)

b) Captain Windham would sit behind his chauffeur

c) He would use his walking stick to tap the chauffeur on the shoulder, to give directions.

[Dan Winterland]

The card said "It's performance has been marred by bad luck". A quick google found a written report of it's first outing at the Doncaster air meet of 1909.

From Dallas Brett's "History of British Aviation 1908 to 1914":


....Captain Maitland tried unsuccesfully to fly a Voisin to which 'gyroscopes' had been fitted, whilst the comic element was safe in the hands of a Mr. Windham, who produced a monoplane of his own design and construction.
The meeting opened with a line up of the competing aircraft for photographing purposes. Mr. Windham posed himself gracefully on his machine, but he had gravely under-estimated its strenth. As the cameras clicked, there was a loud cracking noise and the Windham monoplane collapsed, depositing its proud owner on the grass. He took it away and repaired it, but at its next appearance it came gently into contact with a stationary motor car and instantly disintegrated once more. Fortunately it never got into the air.

From the following picture, it appears to be made of bamboo and linen, much like a kite would have been in those days. If it had got airborne, I think Windham would have been more famous for being the first British flying fatality!

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/attachments/pioneer-aviation/9936d1206545076-windham-monoplane-1909-windham_tandem-monoplane2.jpg

[S'land]

That "creation" was from 1909, less (just) than a century ago. Since then we have gone from that to stealth aeroplanes, supersonic aeroplanes, millions of people being carried in extra large, large, medium and small aeroplanes every year, etc. The technological advances made are amazing enough. However, for me it is the minds, and often the courage, of the people who brought about the current state of aircraft in such a short time that is really amazing.

[India Four Two]

S'land,

I was thinking along the same lines. Less than 40 years after Roe flew his Triplane, Avro were building the Vulcan.

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

It will have taken 40 years to progress from Nimrod 1 to Nimrod 4! OK, I'm not playing fair but HS 801 was an AVRO Type number.