The Aëronautical Journal January 1910 (UK): Samuel Cody

Vol. XIV No. 53 January, 1910

Technical journal from early days of aviation.

Includes four-page addendum with lists of Committees and their members, along with rules applying to each.

Contents:

• Notices
• General Meeting of December 10, 1909:
  • Presentation of Society’s Silver medal to S.F. Cody
  • The Limitations of Aerial Bombardment by International Law
• Calculations Relating to the Design of a Flying Machine
• Pressures of Air on Flat Planes
• Member’s Work
• Notes
• Reviews

Photo of medal being presented to S.F. Cody (Samuel Franklin Cody)

Some nice advertising: Handley Page Propellers, T.W.K. Clarke & Co Aeronautical Engineers, C.G. Spencer & Sons aeronauts to the Crystal Palace for Balloon Ascents.

Vertical fold. Some rust spots on cover.

48 pages + covers.

6-3/4” x 10”.

Samuel Franklin Cowdery (later known as Samuel Franklin Cody; 1867 –1913, born Davenport, Iowa, USA) was a Wild West showman and early pioneer of manned flight. He is most famous for his work on the large kites known as Cody War-Kites, that were used by the British in World War I as a smaller alternative to balloons for artillery spotting. He was also the first man to fly an aeroplane in Britain, on 16 October 1908

Later in 1907 the Army decided to back the development of his powered aeroplane, the British Army Aeroplane No 1. After just under a year of construction, he started testing the machine in September 1908, gradually lengthening his "hops" until they reached 1,390 ft (420 m) on 16 October 1908.

His flight of 16 October 1908 is recognised as the first official flight of a piloted heavier-than-air machine in Great Britain. The machine was damaged at the end of the flight. After repairs and extensive modifications, Cody flew it again, early in 1909. The War Office then decided to stop backing development of heavier-than-air aircraft, and Cody's contract with the Army ended in April 1909. Cody was given the aircraft, and continued to work on the aircraft at Farnborough, using Laffan's Plain for his test flights.

On 14 May 1909 he succeeded in flying the aircraft for over a mile, establishing the first official British distance and endurance records. By August 1909, Cody had completed the last of his long series of modifications to the aircraft. He carried passengers for the first time on 14 August 1909.

On 7 June 1910 Cody received Royal Aero Club certificate number 9 using a newly built aircraft, and later in the year won the Michelin Cup for the longest flight made in England during 1910 with a flight of 4 hours 47 minutes on 31 December 1910. In 1911, a third aircraft was the only British machine to complete the Daily Mail's "Circuit of Great Britain" air race, finishing fourth, for which achievement he was awarded the Silver Medal of the R.Ae.C. in 1912. The Cody V machine with a new 120 hp (90 kW) engine won first prize at the 1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition Military Trials on Salisbury Plain. He first prepared a monoplane, the Cody IV, for the trials, but it was badly damaged in a crash before the trials began.

Cody continued to work on aircraft using his own funds. On 7 August 1913, he was test flying his latest design, the Cody Floatplane, when it broke up at 200 feet (61 m) and he and his passenger, the cricketer William Evans, were killed.

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