Frank McClean

by Philip Jarrett

  This seems to me to express very well Frank McClean’s point of view. He enjoyed life and took what was coming to him without complaint. As I really only saw a lot of him in a relatively short space of his life between the ages of 32 and 38, I daresay that he turned many stones, about which I know nothing, but I have seen him as the genial host of a children’s party at his family home, Rusthall in Tunbridge Wells, as a balloonist, as a pilot of many experimental aeroplanes, as a wise Club committee man in the early days when nearly every problem was a new one, but chiefly as a stout-hearted leader of a long trip up the Nile in which I shared and during which the stones were sometimes heavy and sharp.

  He was a wealthy man for those days and he was prepared to spend his money freely in getting to the bottom of things which interested him and in which he could see benefit to the country His magnificent offer of providing aeroplanes for the Royal Navy, on which to learn to fly, as well as the aerodrome to fly from, was typical. The long series of his aeroplanes and seaplanes, a dozen or so, built for him by Horace Short, enabled Short Brothers to get going, and keep going, at a critical period when aviation in this country was staggering about apparently miles behind other countries in Europe. It is impossible to deny that McClean and Short did a very great deal to overcome the inertia in official circles and among the general public.

  In a fitting final gesture McClean’s ashes were scattered at Eastchurch, where he had spent so many happy hours aloft during aviation’s pioneer years nearly half a century earlier.

  APPENDIX

  Appendix: Frank McClean’s Aeroplanes,

  1909–1914

  This new listing is mainly based on the Shorts brothers’ order book. McClean’s own listing of his aircraft did not include machines ordered but subsequently cancelled and unbuilt, and also omitted some aircraft, so his personal numbering system has been appended in brackets after the appropriate entries. Therefore, instead of the aircraft being listed in the order they were acquired by McClean, which would be confusing, they are listed principally in order of constructor’s numbers, with the exceptions of the early Short aeroplanes, the unnumbered and unbuilt monoplane of 1910, and the Birdling monoplane. Entries for unbuilt and unfinished machines are enclosed in square brackets.

  (1). Short No 1 Ordered January 1909. Built at Battersea and Shellbeach, delivered July 1909, exhibited uncovered at 1909 Aero Show. (McClean No 1)

  (2). Short-Wright No 3 Built at Shellbeach, delivered 16 October 1909. Substantially modified in 1910. (McClean No 2)

  (3). Short No 3 Ordered by McClean 3 August 1909 and delivered in mid-1910. Span 30ft Oin, but actual configuration and powerplant arrangement unknown. An undated entry in the Short order book between 30 July and September 1910 records ‘repairs etc’ to this aircraft, so it seems that McClean (or someone else) might have attempted to fly it, but there is no record of its fate, though it was probably obsolete before completion and therefore short-lived. McClean did not even include it in his personal numbering scheme.

  (4). Short S.26 Colmore’s Green-powered Short-Sommer No. 3. Acquired by McClean late 1910/early 1911 and flown for naval training March–June 1911; ‘Samson’s Serials Navy Biplane No 1’, ‘The Dud’ and ‘Th’ owd Bitch’. (McClean No 3, but correctly No 5)

  (5). Short S.27 (Short-Sommer No.1; ex-Cecil Grace No.2) Acquired by McClean in 1911 (probably the machine advertised in the classified advertisements in Flight for 30 July 1910 and in eight subsequent issues up to 15 October 1910 at £300 without engine or £700 with 60hp ENV). Converted to Tandem Twin (see below). (McClean No 7)

  (6). Short S.27 Tandem-Twin (rebuild of above air-craft) (became ‘No.4 Biplane’ under an early Admiralty numbering system, recorded by Samson on 2 December 1911). (McClean No 11)

  (7). Short S.28 (Short-Sommer No.2; ex-Moore – Brabazon No.6, built at Eastchurch.) Entered for the 1910 Bournemouth meeting by Brabazon, not flown. Sold to McClean shortly thereafter; used for naval training, 1911. ‘Samson’s Serials Navy Biplane No 2’. Replaced by S.38 after crash on 1 May 1911. (McClean No 5, but correctly No 3)

  (8). Short S.32 (Short-Sommer No.5; ex-Cecil Grace No.3.) Built at Eastchurch. Was to be converted to multi-engine aircraft à la S.27, but the plan was cancelled upon Grace’s death. In McClean’s possession 1911, still single-engined, and used by Territorials). (McClean No 8)

  (9). [Monoplane for McClean, ordered September 1910. Not built.]

  (10). Short S.33 (Short-Sommer No.6.) Ordered September 1910. Delivered to McClean 12 November 1910.) Lent (?) to Cecil Grace. Being flown by Grace during Baron de Forest prize attempt; lost at sea. (McClean No 4)

  (11). [In January 1911, before departing for the Pacific, McClean instructed Shorts to build a ‘possible (and entirely at Mr Short’s discretion) new Multiple Plant Machine. This latter either for the Navy or other Pilots’. Gnome powered, it was to be ready for use upon his return in July 1911. Although this was not built, the idea clearly led to the S.39 and the conversion of S.27 as the Tandem Twin.]

  (12). Short S.34 (Short-Sommer No.7); copy of S.33 for McClean, delivered 8 March 1911 (first built for naval training; ‘Samson’s Serials Naval Biplane No 3’; became RNAS 1/B1/T1; Samson gained his aviator’s certificate on this machine on 24 April 1911; it was sold to Admiralty for £550 between September and December 1911). (McClean No 6)

  (13). Short S.36 Tractor Biplane, 70hp Gnome, for McClean. Shorts’ first tractor biplane built ‘ab initio,’ at Eastchurch. First flight 10 January 1912. (McClean No 12)

  (14). Short S.38 (Short-Sommer No 9) Customer listed as ‘F. McClean (Navy)’. Ordered by Samson during McClean’s absence to replace S.28, damaged beyond repair in naval training. Cost £600. Samson regarded it as a reconstruction of S.28, so gave it its ‘Samson’s Serial’ of ‘Navy Biplane No 2’. Started at Eastchurch 1 May 1911, delivered 23 May. Navy T2 and Navy 2. Used by Longmore for float experiments and by Samson for ship take-offs. Deleted between December 1914 and May 1915.

  (15). Short S.39 Triple Twin No.1; built Eastchurch and delivered 18 September 1911, bought by navy early 1912. RN T3 and Navy 3; (McClean No 10). Rebuilt as S.78 with same serial, incorporating as much of S.39 as possible.

  (16). Short S.40 ‘Biplane type 38 for McClean’ (Short-Sommer No. 10). Ordered 8 December 1911. Built at Eastchurch; used by Territorials. (McClean No 13A). Converted to floatplane April and May 1912 and used for Thames flight. (McClean No 13B). Reconstruction as S.58 completed 15 November 1912; see below.

  (17). Birdling monoplane (Blériot XI copy by Universal Aviation Co). Bought from H J D Astley by FKM, early August 1911. (McClean No 9)

  (18). Short S.42 Two monoplanes for McClean, but only one c/n allotted. Blériot-type, purchased by Admiralty, became M2 and 8. Second a/c begun but not completed.

  (19). [Short S.48 Hydro-monoplane with tandem 70hp Gnomes for McClean (McClean’s tandem-twin ‘Double-Dirty’ seaplane). Cancelled; not built.]

  (20). [Short S.53 Twin 70hp Gnome tractor biplane for McClean. No evidence of completion.] (21). Short S.58 Reconstruction at Eastchurch of S.40 (q.v.) as S.58 70hp hydroplane (wide-span S.38 nacelle type). Flying in Nov 1912, became Navy 904. (McClean No 14)

  (22). Short S.68 100hp all-British seaplane tractor biplane, McClean’s entry for 1913 Circuit of Britain (Green engine). Re-engined with Gnome while still owned by McClean and probably impressed as Navy 182. (McClean No 15)

  (23). Short S.80 160hp Nile Seaplane, built at Eastchurch. To Grain, 1 August 1915 as dual-control trainer RNAS 905. Fitted for torpedo and 100lb bomb. Allotted to HMS Riviera 17 August 1914, but not taken up. Reallocated to HMS Hermes 28 September 1914 (maker to fit bomb gear); on board later. Re-engined with 100hp Gnome October 1914, deleted November 1914. (McClean No 16)

  (NB. A military list of 30 April 1914, identifying aircraft that were candidates for impressment, lists four of McClean’s aeroplanes (S.36, S.58, S.68 and S.80), and then states: ‘In addition… Mr Maclean [sic] has 2 old Wrights which are about to be scrapped.�
� If this is accurate, it remains to be determined how McClean acquired the second Wright, and to whom it originally belonged.)

  Bibliography

  Note: The listing of titles in this bibliography should not be regarded as a recommendation of the books or an endorsement of their content. While some are indeed commendable works, many of the titles consulted contain errors and inaccuracies, and in numerous instances research subsequent to their publication has shed new light on the events in question. For example, it is now known that the aeroplane McClean flew under the Thames bridges on 10 August 1912 was S.40, not S.33 as stated by many sources, S.33 having been lost in the Channel on 22 December 1911.

  Much of the material in this book was gleaned from British aeronautical magazines of the pre-First World War era, namely The Aero, Aerocraft, The Aeronautical Journal, Aeronautics, The Aeroplane and Flight. In most important instances the issue concerned is cited in the appropriate place in the text.

  Books

  Air Ministry, A Short History of the Royal Air Force, Air Publication 125, 2nd edition (Air Ministry, London, 1936).

  Ashworth, C, Action Stations No. 9: Military Airfields of the Central South and South-East (Patrick Stephens, Wellingborough, 1985) ISBN 0-85059-608-4.

  Axten, J W, The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls 1877–1910 (Monmouth Historical and Educational Trust, Monmouth, Gwent, 1977).

  Barker, R, The Schneider Trophy Races (Chatto and Windus, London, 1971) ISBN 0-7011-1663-3.

  Barnes, C H, Shorts Aircraft since 1900 (Putnam, London, 1967).

  Boughton, T, The Story of the British Light Aeroplane (John Murray, London, 1963).

  Brabazon of Tara, Lord, The Brabazon Story (William Heinemann, London, 1956).

  Brett, R Dallas, History of British Aviation 1908–1914 (John Hamilton, London, 1934).

  Brewer, G, 50 Tears of Flying (Air League of the British Empire, London, 1946).

  Brockett, P, Bibliography of Aeronautics (Vol I) (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1910).

  ________, Bibliography of Aeronautics (Vol II) (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1921).

  Brooks, R J, Aviation in Kent: A Pictorial History to 1939 (Meresborough Books, Rainham, Kent, 1983) ISBN 0-90527-068-1.

  Bruce, G, Charlie Rolls – Pioneer Aviator (Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, Derby, 1990) Historical Series No 17. ISBN 1-872922-01-5.

  ________, C.S. Rolls: Pioneer Aviator (Monmouth District Museum Service, Monmouth, Gwent, 1978).

  Bruce, J M, Britain’s First Warplanes (Arms and Armour Press, Poole, Dorset, 1987) ISBN 0-85368-852-4.

  ________, The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps Military Wing, second revised edition (Putnam, London, 1992) ISBN 0-85177-854-2.

  Cole, C, and Cheesman, E F, The Air Defence of Britain 1914–1918 (Putnam, London, 1984) ISBN 0-370-30538-8.

  Cronin, D, Royal Navy Shipboard Aircraft Developments 1912–1931 (Air-Britain, Tonbridge, Kent, 1990) ISBN 0-85130-165-7.

  Crossland, Prof Sir B, and Moore, J S (eds), The Lives of Great Engineers of Ulster, Vol II (N.E. Consultancy for Belfast Industrial Heritage, Belfast, 2008) ISBN 780 956 040 107.

  Croydon, Air Commodore B, Early Birds: A Short History of how Flight Came to Sheppey (Publicity Matters, Sheerness, Kent, 2003) ISBN 0-95327-393-8.

  Dorman, G, Fifty Tears Fly Past: From Wright Brothers to Comet (Forbes Robertson, London, 1951).

  Draper, Major Christopher, The Mad Major (Air Review, Letchworth, UK, 1962).

  Driver, H, The Birth of Military Aviation: Britain, 1903–1914 (The Royal Historical Society/The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1997) ISBN 0-86193-234-X.

  Empson, R H W, The History of the Eatstchurch Air Station, Sheppey, 1909–1926 (Bonner & Co, London, ca.1927; reprinted in two parts in the Royal Aero Club Gazette for January and February 1955, Vol 9 No 1, pp 6–17 and Vol 9 No 2, pp 35–45, and also in Cross & Cockade International Quarterly Journal, Vol 40 No 2, Summer 2009, pp 40.071–40.087, as ‘Eastchurch: The Early Years’, with many additional illustrations.)

  Gamble, C F S, The Air Weapon (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1931).

  ________, The Story of a North Sea Air Station (Oxford University Press, 1928).

  Gibbs-Smith, C H, Aviation: An Historical Survey from its Origins to the End of World War II (HMSO, London, 1970).

  ________, The Invention of the Aeroplane 1799–1909 (Faber and Faber, London, 1966).

  ________, The Rebirth of European Aviation (HMSO, London, 1974) ISBN 0-11-290180-8*.

  Goodall, M H, and Tagg, A E, British Aircraft Before the Great War (Schiffer, Atglen, Pennsylvania, USA, 2001) ISBN 0-7643-1207-3.

  Grahame-White, C, and Harper, H, The Aeroplane: Past, Present, and Euture (T Werner Laurie, London, 1911).

  Harper, H, My Fifty Tears in Flying (Associated Newspapers, London, 1956).

  Hughes, D T, Flying Past: A History of Sheppey Aviation (The History Press, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2009) ISBN 978 0 7524 5228 9.

  Hurren, B J, Fellowship of the Air: Jubilee Book of the Royal Aero Club 1901–1951 (Iliffe & Sons, London, 1951).

  Jackson, A J, British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Vol 3, 2nd edition (Putnam, London, 1974) ISBN 0-370-10014-X.

  Kent Aviation Historical Research Society, Wings over Kent, No 1 (undated), containing Mac-Dougall, P, ‘The Navy Takes to the Air’, pp 13–16; and Collyer, D, ‘Early Club Pioneers’, pp 17–21.

  King, B, Royal Naval Air Service 1912–1918 (Hikoki, Hampshire, 1997) ISBN 0-9519899-5-2.

  Lautrec, J de et al. Dans le Ciel de Pau; 1909 Les Débuts de l’aviation: Wright (Éditions Cairn, Pau, France, 2007) ISBN 978-2-35068-092-7.

  Long, A, ‘John Robinson McClean 1813–1873’, in Crossland, Prof Sir B, and Moore, J S, The Lives of Great Engineers of Ulster, Vol II (q.v.).

  Longmore, Sir Arthur, From Sea to Sky 1910–1945 (Geoffrey Bles, London, 1946).

  McFarland, M W (ed), The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vols 1 and 2 (McGraw-Hill, New York, USA, 1953).

  Meynell, L, Men of Speed: The Hon. C.S. Rolls (Newnes Educational Publishing, London, 1955).

  Montague of Beaulieu, Lord, Rolls of Rolls-Royce: A Biography of the Hon. C.S. Rolls (Cassell, London, 1966).

  Morris, A, The Balloonatics (Jarrolds, London, 1970).

  Penrose, H, British Aviation: The Pioneer Years (Putnam, London, 1967).

  Raleigh, W, The War in the Air, Vol 1 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1922).

  Renstrom, A G, Wilbur and Orville Wright: A Chronology Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Orville Wright, August 19, 1871 (Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 1975) ISBN 0-8444-0131-5.

  Riddle, B, and Sinnott, C (eds), Letters of the Wright Brothers (Tempus, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2003) ISBN 0-7524-2584-6.

  Roskill, Captain S W, Documents Relating to the Naval Air Service, Voll 1908–1918, (Navy Records Society, 1969).

  Samson, Air Commodore C R, Fights and Flights (Ernest Benn, London, 1930).

  Short Brothers Limited, 1903–1978: Seventy Five Tears of Powered Dynamic Flight (Short Brothers, Belfast, 1978).

  Sturtivant, R, and Page, G, Royal Navy Aircraft Serials and Units 1911–1919 (Air-Britain, Tonbridge, Kent, 1992) ISBN 0-85130-191-6.

  Thetford, O, British Naval Aircraft since 1912, sixth revised edition (Putnam, London, 1991) ISBN 0-85177-849-6.

  Travers, E, Cross Country (Hothersall & Travers, Sittingbourne, Kent, 1990) ISBN 0-9515461-0-4.

  Turner, Major C C, The Old Flying Days (Sampson, Low, Marston & Co, London, 193?).

  Wallace, G, Flying Witness: Harry Harper and the Golden Age of Aviation (Putnam, London, 1958).

  Wright, Bishop Milton, Diaries 1857–1917 (Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, 1999) ISBN 0-9676359-0-X.

  Articles

  Aeroplane, The, ‘For Their Work Continueth…’, editorial, Vol 89 No 2297 (29 July 1955).

  Aeroplane, The, ‘Commemorating a Birthplace’, picture and caption, Vol 89 No 2297 (29 July 1955), p 163.


  Aeroplane, The, ‘Pioneers’ Memorial’, Vol 89 No 2298 (5 August 1955), p 197.

  Aeroplane, The, ‘Godfather to Naval Aviation’, Vol 89 No 2300 (19 August 1955), p 262.

  Anon. ‘Sir Francis McClean, AFC’, Royal Aero Club Gazette, Vol 9 No 10 (October 1955), pp 331–4.

  Baker, D, and Roffe, M, ‘Great Moments in Aviation-No 12’, Aeroplane Monthly (August 1995), pp 54–5

  Brabazon of Tara, Lord, ‘Sir Francis McClean’, The Times (16 August 1955).

  Brewer, Griffith, ‘The Life and Work of Wilbur Wright’, The Aeronautical Journal, Vol 20 No 79 (July–September 1916), pp 68–135.

  Brooks, R J, and Ellis, K, ‘Kent’s Cradle of Aviation’, Flypast (April 2009), pp 32–7.

  Carroll, T J, and Carroll, T R, ‘Wright Brothers’ Invention of 1903 Propeller and Genesis of Modern Propeller Theory’, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal of Aircraft, Vol 42 No 1, pp 218–23.

  Cheshire History, ‘A Pioneer Aviator from Cheshire: The Logbook of Maurice Egerton’, Part 1 in No 25 (Spring 1990); Part 2 in No 26 (Autumn 1990); Part 3 in No 27 (Spring 1991); Part 4 in No 28 (Autumn 1991).

  Ellis, K, ‘Kent’s Shrine’, Flypast (July 2009), pp 104–6.

  Flight, ‘A Dinner to Some Pioneers’, Vol 23 No 18 (1 May 1931), p 380.

  Flight, ‘Remembering the Eastchurch Pioneers’, Vol 67 No 2406 (4 March 1955), p 266.

  Flight, ‘The Eastchurch Memorial’, Vol 68 No 2428 (5 August 1955), p 182.

  Flight, ‘Sir Francis McClean’, Vol 68 No 2430 (19 August 1955), pp 246–7.

  Freeman, J W, ‘The Birthplace of British Aviation’, Aviation News (23 January–5 February 1987), pp 870–2.

  Grey, C G, ‘On the King’s Gifts’, The Aeroplane, Vol 31 No 5 (4 August 1926), pp 141–6.