Mr McClean’s performances this season have been consistently good, and his total mileage since July now stands at well over 600. His machine has behaved splendidly, and has not given the slightest trouble since leaving the works.
In contradiction of the Flight report, The Aero said that he had made a ‘beautiful flight lasting for forty minutes at about 100ft high’ on the Friday, covering the course nineteen times, and that he flew both in the morning and afternoon on the Saturday, taking a passenger on the second occasion.
Another aeroplane
Flight’s report went on to say that, on Tuesday the 15 th, McClean brought out his latest Short biplane, ‘on the lines of the Farman, but [embodying] all the original features of Short Bros’ productions’. The report continued:
The machine was only completed on Monday, but after devoting about half-an-hour to the tuning up of its Gnome engine, Mr McClean essayed a short trial. She rose at the first attempt in about 100yd or so, and flying at about 50ft Mr McClean completed several circuits before bringing her down. After lunch Mr McClean was quickly off the mark, rising sharply to a height of some 150ft. Keeping at this altitude he completed eight or nine circuits of the ground in good time, when he landed for a few further adjustments to the engine. Shortly afterwards he made a further flight, and this time gave a good exhibition of ‘planing’. These three flights represented a total of some three minutes short of the hour – not bad for the first spin. The machine rides the wind beautifully, answers to the helm readily, and from all appearances will develop a good turn of speed when the engine is thoroughly tuned up.
This was Short-Sommer No 6/S.33, powered by a 50hp Gnome, which, according to Short’s order book, was delivered to McClean on 12 November. It was this machine which McClean intended to use for his attempt for the de Forest Prize, but in its original form, powered by a French engine, it was ineligible. Competitors were required to produce a certificate from the aircraft manufacturer certifying that both the machine and its motor were of British manufacture. Nonetheless, McClean used it to gain experience of long flights. Following a brief 15-minute flight at dusk on the 16th, at 3.20 on the afternoon of the 21st, the next day when the weather was suitable, he ascended to 300–400ft, circled the Eastchurch course twice, then made a wide detour round Stanford Hill and headed for Eastchurch. Skirting the village, he made for Leysdown, then passed over the Swale and circled over Whitstable. As he returned via Harty he ‘experienced an adverse current which caused the aircraft to drop some 100ft’, but ascended again to between 300 and 400ft. After 40 minutes in the air he glided in from about 150ft to land outside his shed at 4pm. He then took up his mechanic as a passenger for some half-a-dozen circuits of the ground at 50–80ft. McClean was reported to be ‘strongly fancied’ among the Baron de Forest Prize competitors, and intended to start from Dover on his attempt.
On the morning of the 23rd McClean flew circles and figure eights for 35 minutes, finishing with a vol plane from 200ft. At 2.30pm he went up again, making a half-hour circling flight at about 400ft and ‘giving a good exposition of gliding’, and then took a passenger up for a 10-minute flight. Two days later he made another 30-minute flight. At midday on Saturday the 26th he ‘gave a sound exhibition flight of about half an hour, turning and planing in excellent style’, and then spent 15 minutes making passenger-carrying flights. After that, McClean in the S.28 and Grace in McClean’s S. 33 set off together, the former at about 400ft and the latter at over 1,000ft, passing over Sheerness and returning to give ‘a brilliant exhibition’ over the grounds before landing.
It could well have been during this period that a rather alarming event occurred, though the actual date seems not to have been recorded. McClean often treated ladies to flights, and Major C C Turner, in his book The Old Flying Days (Sampson, Low, Marston, London, 193?), relates:
One morning when Mr McClean was preparing to make a flight an unknown lady approached and begged to be taken up as a passenger. The pilot was not too eager to do this, but as another passenger had just been landed he had no ready excuse for refusal. He was on the point of assenting when Mr Oswald Short took him aside and remarked in a low voice: “That woman is carrying a long knife in her stocking.”
The idea of taking her into the air became even more distasteful and the pilot was preparing to refuse when Horace Short came up, and while the lady was gazing at the aeroplane, and giving a glance from time to time to the three men, he learned about this extraordinary affair, refraining from laughing only with difficulty.
“Well, Short,” said Mr McClean addressing Horace, “if you will get the knife away from her I’ll take her up.”
“All right,” said Horace; and to their amazement he approached the lady and began to converse with her, strolling away from the machine towards the Club House.
In two minutes they returned, and he carelessly rejoined his brother and Mr McClean, and without being observed by the lady showed them a long and formidable knife.
With no great enthusiasm the pilot now fulfilled his part of the bargain; the lady was given a flight. Shortly afterwards they learned that she had been readmitted to a nursing home for mental cases!
Horace Short never revealed the cajolery by which he had disarmed this dangerous aeroplane passenger.
Creating naval aviators
In the 3 December issue of Flight it was announced that the Committee of the RAeC had offered to place two aeroplanes at the disposal of the Admiralty for the use of naval officers based at Sheerness and Chatham, at the Club’s flying ground at Eastchurch. The aircraft were reported to be Gnome-engined landplanes, and several Club pilots had promised to assist in giving practical instruction to the officers. The Admiralty thanked the Club for the offer, which was made known officially on 6 December in a general order issued by Admiral Sir C C Drury, C-in-C at the Nore. The aircraft were to be available ‘at all times, free of charge, but naval officers piloting them were to be asked to make good any damage done’, and to conform with the rules they had to become members of the RAeC. The number of officers who accepted the offer was to be limited to four. Towards the end of the month the Admiralty announced in a General Fleet Order that Colonel H S Massey of The Aerial League of the British Empire would be delivering a lecture on aviation to Vice Admiral Sir George Neville (commanding the Third and Fourth Divisions of the Home Fleet) and the officers of the Fleet and Dockyard at Sheerness in January 1911, and that officers who decided to volunteer for an ‘aviation course’ were to give their names to the admiral after the lecture. It was also stated that junior officers from other fleets and depots could volunteer, and that the course would last about six months and cost £20, but that the Admiralty might see fit to pay the fee for the selected officers.
At about 12.30pm on Sunday 4 December McClean and Grace brought out their Short biplanes and flew circuits in a stiff breeze for some time. Then, on the afternoon of Monday the 5th, Grace was again flying S.33, and had flown to Sheerness at 600ft and then right back across the island to Leysdown, again in a stiff breeze, when he found that the engine ‘was not running properly’. Cutting the engine at about 1,000ft, Grace ‘thanks to his nerve and judgement… landed perfectly on the nearest available piece of flat land without so much as straining a wire’, an account in the 4 January 1911 issue of The Aero states. ‘However,’ the account continues, ‘that piece of ground was miles from the hangars, and the machine had to be lifted bodily over many fences, and planked over many dykes, but, because the machine was Frank McClean’s and not his own, Grace refused to leave it out in the rain, so he and his men laboured far into the night [towing the aircraft back across the marshes to Eastchurch by car from 3pm to 10pm] to get it home. Next day the men had a holiday. Grace merely turned to other work as calmly as if he had not had a hair’s breadth escape with his life, followed by six hours strenuous work in the wet and cold and dark only the day before. Of such stuff are heroes made.’ It was initially reported that he found that a piston ring had failed, but it wa
s subsequently stated that a connecting rod had broken, ‘practically wrecking the inside of the engine’.
An entry in Short’s order book for 10 December records alterations ‘to No 33 Machine (60 job)’. It has to be assumed that this refers to the fitting of a British engine in S.33, both to replace the broken Gnome and make the aircraft eligible for McClean’s attempt for the de Forest Prize. The engine was probably a 60hp Green. This was quickly done, as The Aero reported that McClean had his ‘Green driven Short biplane… which he intends using for the de Forest flight’ out on the afternoon of the 11th. Unfortunately, after flying a few circuits he broke a skid ‘owing to a rough landing’. Undeterred, McClean then brought out his ‘Gnome Short’ (S.28), but after making a few circuits ‘had to descend’. As he came in to land, the strong wind that was blowing at the time tilted the aircraft on to a wing, breaking the main spar of the lower plane and a strut.
This picture is believed to depict S.28 after McClean’s landing accident on 11 December 1910, when a strong wind blew the aircraft over on to a wingtip and broke the main spars of the lower wing and a forward-elevator support boom. ((FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM))
In mid-December, at the suggestion of Claude Grahame-White, the RAeC Committee again took up ‘with considerable activity’ the question of bringing about the formation of an Aeronautical Reserve Corps, which it hoped would form the nucleus of a very wide movement throughout the whole of Great Britain. Needless to say, McClean was on the eight-man Special Committee formed to formulate a detailed plan of action.
Another tragic loss
On 18 December McClean took the opportunity of a break in the week’s rainy weather to fly a few circuits in his ‘Short Green-engined biplane’ (the re-engined S.33), despite a gusty wind. Flight reported that ‘it was obvious that the machine was not up to the mark, and the engine not turning up to speed’. It transpired that this was caused by the radiator being choked with scale and sediment. On the same day Grace flew his ENV-engined Short (almost certainly S.32) from Sheppey to Swingate Downs, Dover, in readiness for an attempt for the de Forest Prize. The fifth Short-Sommer pusher biplane, S.32 had been delivered to Grace on 7 July 1910. Later in the year it was allotted for conversion to a tractor biplane for Grace (it was initially intended to use S.27 for this), but this work was not begun before he took it Dover.
Shortly thereafter the manufacturer carried out ‘work on 33 at Dover’ on Cecil Grace’s account, which suggests that McClean had lent the aircraft to Grace for the latter’s attempt for the de Forest Prize. This is quite possible as, according to The Aero of 4 January 1911, both McClean and G C Colmore, who had his repaired S.26 at Dover in readiness for an attempt on the prize, ‘… wisely recognising the risks involved, and knowing the capabilities of their machines, decided not to start…’. The reason for Grace’s change of mounts is undetermined, but he was certainly familiar with S.33, having flown it several times.
At about 9am on the morning of 22 December Grace left Dover and flew to France, but landed at Les Baraques, near Calais, as the weather militated against his chances of beating the 169 miles flown by Tom Sopwith from Eastchurch to Thirimont in Belgium on 18 December. He decided to fly back to Dover to be ready for a fresh attempt, and arranged with the captain of the mail boat Pas de Calais to take off some time after the vessel’s departure and follow its course from its smoke. Unfortunately the ship was some 10 minutes late leaving Calais, and Grace flew out to sea before it sailed, apparently becoming engulfed in the bad sea fog. He was heard passing over the North Goodwins Lightship and seen by a fishing boat near the East Goodwins, but then vanished without trace. A fortnight later his cap and goggles were found on the beach at Mariakerke, Belgium. A terse entry in the Short’s order book against the S.33 records the aircraft as being ‘Lost at Sea’.
One of the last photographs taken of Cecil Grace on 22 December 1910, before he left Dover on McClean’s Short S.33 (Short-Sommer No 6) to fly to mainland Europe in a last-minute attempt to win the Baron de Forest prize. After abandoning the attempt in France, Grace disappeared over the Channel on the return flight. (AUTHOR)
Cecil Grace prepares to take off from Dover in S.33 on 22 December 1910. Just why he chose to use McClean’s aeroplane rather than his own S.32 is not known. (AUTHOR)
In its issue for 4 January 1911, The Aero’s reporter wrote: ‘On Thursday, December 22nd, I saw him [Grace] leave the Swingate Downs.… His machine was the new type of Short biplane, far lighter and speedier than anything produced before by Mr Horace Short. It was driven by a 60–80 hp ENV engine, and had the Short patent wheel and skid landing device.’ The Short’s order book quite clearly states that McClean’s S.33 was the aircraft lost. In January 1913 a petrol tank believed to be from S.33 was washed up on the shore at Ostend.
Another contender for the de Forest prize was G C Colmore, the owner of Short S.26, who eventually withdrew. He left his aeroplane at Dover; and it was later bought by McClean. (AUTHOR)
CHAPTER 4
1911: Teaching the Navy and Army to Fly; Multiple-engine Aeroplanes
In the first half of 1911 McClean went on a Government solar eclipse expedition to the Vava’u Group in the Tonga Islands as a representative of the Norman Lockyer Observatory, of which he was a joint founder. Sir Norman Lockyer was in charge of the party which sailed on 31 January in the cruiser HMS Encounter and was due to return in late June/early July after recording the eclipse on 29 April.
From the outset Eastchurch had been frequented by naval officers and ratings who, McClean said, ‘wished to see what was going on and possibly get a joy-ride’. So before his departure McClean offered the loan of two machines to the Royal Navy and left a set of instructions with Horace Short, stating that the ex-Colmore S.26 and his own S.28, plus a new Short machine ‘similar to the Grace “de Forest” machine’ should be provided for navy use (this emerged as S.34, delivered on 8 March), and that three Gnome engines be provided for these aircraft. He also included an instruction to build a ‘possible (and entirely at Mr Short’s discretion) new Multiple Plant Machine. This latter either for the Navy or other Pilots’, also Gnome powered, for use upon his return in July 1911. McClean stated that this machine could be sold provided that ‘the latest type of similar machine will be ready for me on my return…’. In addition he instructed that the twin sheds formerly belonging to Rolls be put at the navy’s disposal to house these aircraft, adding that the Club was to make arrangements for housing the new machine when it was ready. McClean advanced £1,000 to cover the employment of a ‘first class competent mechanic’ to attend to the navy machines and the cost of the two new aircraft and the necessary Gnome engines. His cottage was to be made available rent-free for members of the RAeC Committee and the Secretary, and also for ‘persons teaching Naval Officers, and for Naval Officers’, though the users would have to pay their living expenses.
Short S.26, a Short-Sommer built for G C Colmore, had started life as Short ‘Job No 18’, a duplicate of Short 13, a Wolseley powered Short biplane for Maurice Egerton. Begun on 27 January 1910, it was modified during construction to emerge as Green-engined Short-Sommer No 3/S.26, and was delivered to Colmore on 2 June. He used it to win his pilot’s certificate on 19/20 June, and continued to fly it until 13 August, when, during the Scottish International Flight Meeting at Lanark, he came down into clump of trees, smashing his propeller and wrecking the lower wing. The repaired S.26 was acquired by McClean when it was derelict at Dover after Colmore had abandoned his attempt for the de Forest prize in December 1910.
The ‘multiple plant’ machine, which was eventually to emerge as the S.39 Triple Twin, was a direct result of McClean’s realisation that a single-engine aeroplane was not sufficiently safe or reliable for long over-water flights, a fact tragically confirmed by Grace’s disappearance.
On Saturday 14 January 1911 McClean flight-tested his Gnome-engined Short before handing it over for use by the navy. After a solo trial flight in the morning he made a five-minute flight with
Mr George Deverish (or Devenish) of Mitcham as his passenger. After lunch he gave the same gentleman another, longer flight, going round Leysdown and over Capel Hill, some three miles away, at a height of 700ft, and then circling the ground two or three times before planing to the ground opposite his shed. He then took up fellow Eastchurch pioneer J L Travers for a short flight, their combined weight being nearly 26 stone. This was followed by a solo cross-country, overflying Minster at 1,000ft and then passing over Neat’s Court, near Queenbor-ough. He then steered to the Sheerness golf links, where Vice Admiral Sir G Neville of the Home Fleet and other naval officers were playing golf. ‘He brought the machine to within 100ft of the ground,’ reported The Aero, ‘and then returned in good style to Eastchurch.’ After landing, McClean said that the fog was so thick high up that he lost sight of the ground and had to make repeated downward glides before he could determine his whereabouts.
On Sunday 22 January McClean took his sister Anna for a flight over ‘Harty Road Station, Capel Hill, etc’, and then made a second trip over the marshes with Mr Morris Bidder.
Credit where credit is due
In its ‘Editorial Notes’ in the issue of 25 January 1911, The Aero took the national press to task for reporting that, in referring to the government’s lethargy in matter of aerial defence, Colonel H S Massey had stated that ‘all the Admiralty could do was place two second-hand hired aeroplanes at the disposal of the Navy’. The journal pointed out that this ‘did not give credit where credit is due’, and actually made ‘an extremely patriotic action into a very ordinary commercial deal’.
Frank McClean Page 7