Streatham Common
STREATHAM COMMON: Early experimental flying site
Operated by: Horatio Philips
Location: E of the A23 Streatham High Road, S of the A214, roughly 7nm S of central London
Period of operation: 1908 only?
Runway: According to a paper read to “The Aeronautical Society” in May 1908 Philips became airborne about half-way across a 1,200ft field coming to a stop 30ft from the far side
NOTES: In the period of 1905 to 1907 (?), possibly a little longer (?), Horatio Philips built a most fantastic looking flying machine looking very much like a series of four very large Venetian blinds mounted on a framework with the pilot near the rear, the 20hp engine towards the front and a large 'tractor' propeller in the front of the engine. In fact this was his third machine of similar design, the first being tested, (unsuccessfully), in 1893 and the second, (also unsuccessfully), in 1904.
There appears to be reasonably good grounds for believing Mr Philips report that this latest machine, (having 48 sets of aerofoils mounted in four sets), flew for 500ft in 1907. The 'machine' was designed to be aerodynamicably stable, therefore needed no control imputs from the 'pilot'. If this is true,was this perhaps the first powered ‘free flight’ in the UK preceeding Samuel Cody’s at LAFFINS PLAIN by about a year?
It now appears that Philips presented a 'paper' to the Royal Aeronautical Society regarding his progress.
WHAT IS A FLIGHT?
Perhaps somewhat oddly viewed from today’s perceptions even Mr Philips did not claim that his 500ft ‘hop’ was a proper flight. It certainly didn’t end with a crash landing unlike Samuel Cody’s at LAFFINS PLAIN near Farnborough which has long been held to be the first powered flight in the UK. Which incidentally, the consumate showman, Cody himself never claimed to be a 'first flight'. There is a vast difference between an airborne 'hop' and a flight - which essentially is a circuit exercising the controls in all three axis. The famous first 'flight' by the Wright brothers was nothing of the kind. Just a short hop in ground effect - barely worthy of mention as many others had achieved this long before. Except that those 'hops' hadn't been recorded with a photograph.
Octave Chanute certainly seems to have believed that Mr Philips ‘hop’ claim was absolutely genuine and he was very clued up. I suppose the design of this aeroplane has always appeared so ridiculous that it was never taken seriously either at the time or since but it does raise the very serious question that neither practicality nor appearance should be taken into account when determining the first extended hop or straight-line ‘flight’ in the UK! This criteria, as said elsewhere, does not constitute a controlled flight as such but it does seem that both investigating and reconsidering Mr Philips achievement is now long overdue? An article about early “Hops and Flights” published in Flight in April 1959 says, “It is difficult – if not impossible – not to accept his 500ft “hop” in 1907 as a fact”
There is another very important aspect that seems generally ignored in many if not most books about early aviation history. It would seem that Mr Philips research and theoretical work into aerofoil design, (taking over in a linear historical route from Sir George Cayley when he died in 1857?), was taken up, confirmed and enlarged upon by F W Lanchester in England, G H Bryan in Wales and Ludwig Prandtl in Germany in the first decade of the twentieth century. This I suppose clearly illustrates what I would regard as an unsung tragedy in aviation history. In that the names of the people who really developed the understanding of aerofoil design stay forgotten whereas some of those that built and flew aircraft, (very daring, very romantic), remain as iconic figures in aviation history. Surely they should all be applauded and remembered?
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