1/72 Short No 2 Biplane: J. T. C. Moore Brabazon, 1909.

[pheonix]

Evening All,

 

In 1909 at Shellbeach on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, the first flight was made by J.T. C. Moore Brabazon in a British manufactured aeroplane. I have completed the build of a model of the aeroplane which made those flights which was originally part of the High Wings GB on this site, but sadly I ran out of time because life disrupted my plans. There is a build log here:

and here:

 

 

 

Oswald and Eustace Short started to build balloons at Battersea Arches in London for the Ministry of Defence in the early years of the 20th century. In 1908 the Wright brothers visited France and England to demonstrate their successful Flyer machine and the Short brothers became interested in powered flight. They persuaded their elder brother Horace to join them to form a company to build powered aircraft - Short Brothers. They set up an aircraft manufacturing facility at Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent and started to build 6 Flyers for members of the new Aero Club and thus became the first company to mass produce aeroplanes.

 

 

 

The Short brothers built a number of machines based on the Wright Flyer which incorporated some changes, including using “balancing planes” instead of wing warping for lateral control: these were called Short Biplane No 2 because their first design, Biplane No 1 was unsuccessful. Like the Wright Flyer from which this design was derived, this was a canard machine - the tail was at the front. Control of the elevator and rudder was by levers on each side of the pilot, and the “balance planes” by a bar controlled with the feet. It was launched via a wooden rail and counterweight like the Wright Flyers, but I have not included this feature on my model.

 

 

The Aero Club bought a farmhouse to the south of Leysdown called Mussel Manor, (now known as Muswell Manor), in February of the same year. The club also bought land around the manor including a golf course from which early flights by members of the club were made.

 

 

 

J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon bought a Short Biplane No 2 and between April 29th and May 2nd carried out three flights at Leysdown, achieving a distance of 500 yards on the third flight. He thus became the first Briton to fly a British built machine. The machine was powered by a Vivinus engine which he had taken from a Voisin biplane but In October the engine was changed to a 60 hp Green, a British built engine. The aircraft had two propellors which were driven by chains. With the Green engine installed, in October 1909 Brabazon flew from the launch rail to a marker post set at over 800 yards away and back, in doing so winning the Daily Mail £1000 prize for the first Englishman to fly a mile in a closed circuit in a British built aeroplane with a British engine.

 

 

 

On November 5th Moore Brabazon put a piglet which he named Icarus II in a waste paper basket which he tied to the front strut above the skid and flew with the animal to make it the first pig to fly, thus disproving the old proverb!.

 

 

 

Moore Brabazon was awarded the first pilot’s license in Britain by the Aero Club, (which became the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain in 1910), and was to become a leading figure in the history of British aviation, including becoming the Minister for Aviation. It should be remembered that when Brabazon made those first flights in 1909 there were no training manuals or flight simulators - one learned to fly the hard way - by experimenting with the real thing! An indicator of the dangers involved was that of the first four of Brabazon's contemporaries in the Aero Club to be awarded pilot’s licenses in 1909, two were killed in accidents in 1910, including C. S. Rolls (of Rolls Royce).

 

Bad weather stopped flying later in the year and by 1910 the Short brothers had so modified their design that they called the new machine Biplane No 3: the service life of No 2 was over.

 

 

 

This model was made from a variety of sources as I could not find any plans. I used the later Short No 3 biplane plans to start and modified them by increasing the wingspan, (which is published), and adding the chain drives and extra propellor. Other details were taken from contemporary photographs and photographs of the 1/10 scale model in the Science Museum in London which were Kindly provided to my by Arpie on Airfix Tribute Forum.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

P

[Blanketyblank]

Lovely work and the story behind it is a nice touch too.

[Jonners]

Quite superb, as always. Thanks for the history, too!

Jon

[cngaero]

Stunning work, absolutely first class.

I'm forever fascinated by the fact that the gap in technology between aeroplanes such as this and say a Eurofighter Typhoon is just a little over 100 years, quite possibly the lifespan of one person!

Thanks for sharing your images with us.

[Abandoned Project]

Wow! Awesome! 

[kapam]

Absolutely awesome!

The intricacy of the rigging is just amazing!

The presence of the "balance planes" is most curious and educational  - just a bit different to the Wright Bros. machine (which I might otherwise have presumed it to be). 🤔

 

[k5054nz]

As I said elsewhere this is a beautiful piece of work Stephen, she looks fabulous. I love each and every one of your builds but this is a real stunner. I love seeing builds of pioneer machines and this is a wonderful example. The forerunner of so many great aircraft from the brothers and their firm.

I think I said it in the WiP, but has anyone else here felt the urge to clean that memorial plaque upon seeing that photo?

[Brandy]

Another wonderful and inspiring build Stephen, and many thanks for going the extra length to add the background story. It adds context and a lot more interest to the model.

 

Ian

[Remus389]

You need some fine fingers and nerves of steel to do this. 👍

[Epeeman]

Stunning work on a very much little known aircraft from British aviation history - wonderful!

 

Regards

 

Dave

[NMLeonov]

This is an exquisitely and delicately detailed model of the Short No 2, I thank you for the history lesson and for sharing your work! If I were the pilot, I'd be mighty reluctant to name the first pig to fly "Icarus II!" 😅

[pheonix]

Thanks all for your kind comments - they are much appreciated.

 

P

[bigbadbadge]

Absolutely wonderful model,  great work and thank you for the backround information too, very interesting and enlightening too.

Great work. 

Chris

[Courageous]

Beautiful work Mr P, glad you found the mojo to finish her. Love it.

 

Stuart

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Great work Stephen.  Modelling skills of a very high order- an excellent scratch build.  Fascinating early aviation history as well.

Colin

[Gordon J]

Stunning model but I would not have wanted to fly in a plane like that. Something resembling a fuselage might have been nice.

[MDriskill]

Amazing work! That nice forest of rigging is well beyond my old eyes and hands for sure.

 

Also enjoyed the history. Amazing to think that only 8 years after this flight, several nations had vast numbers of aircraft fulfilling all kinds of roles with quantum leaps in performance.

[malpaso]

On 12/13/2021 at 12:51 AM, cngaero said:

Stunning work, absolutely first class.

I'm forever fascinated by the fact that the gap in technology between aeroplanes such as this and say a Eurofighter Typhoon is just a little over 100 years, quite possibly the lifespan of one person!

Thanks for sharing your images with us.

T.O.M. Sopwith’s grave is a few miles up the road from my home.  His life did span the changes you relate!

[Big Dave S]

Smashing work

[pheonix]

Thank you again gentlemen for the very kind comments. They are all appreciated.

 

P