The British Army – Early Heavier-than-Air Craft
On 16 October 1908, British Army Aeroplane No 1, piloted by Samuel Cody, made its first short flight from Farnborough. This was the first officially recognised aeroplane flight in Great Britain. The aircraft was a single engine biplane of fragile aspect. Two pusher propellers were linked to the 50 hp Antoinette power unit by drive chains. The pilot sat with his back to the engine in a triangular canvas pram, manipulating a control wheel of the type normally associated with a tram.
Despite opposition from some in high quarters, army fixed-wing aviation slowly but steadily began to make its mark, another significant step taking place almost two years later. Two Bristol Boxkites were provided by the British & Colonial Aeroplane Company for use during the army annual manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. On 21 September 1910, Captain Bertram Dickson, who had recently left the Royal Field Artillery, demonstrated the flying and reconnaissance capabilities of his Bristol Boxkite, No 9. Later the same day he was joined by Lancelot Gibbs, flying his own ‘clipped-wing racing Farman’. Five days later a wireless transmission was made from the air to a portable station on the ground at Larkhill using the other Boxkite, No 8, flown by Robert Loraine.
Volunteer pilots for the Air Battalion had to learn to fly at their own expense and, if successful, were reimbursed £75 by the government. One officer, Lieutenant R.A. Cammell, RE, even brought his own aircraft, a Blériot XXI monoplane, which was also used in early wireless experiments in June 1911 and was acquired for the Air Battalion in August, being given the serial number B2. Not only officers became pilots, as on 4 June 1912, Corporal Frank Ridd became the first NCO to gain a Royal Aero Club ‘ticket’, as the flying certificate was commonly known.