M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
BILLING biplane (Eardley Billing, Aero Construction Co., Shed No.2 Brooklands)
This single-seat tractor biplane was constructed at Brooklands using the wings of the Voisin pusher of C.A. Moreing. The engine was a 40hp ENV Type D. It was originally flown with an uncovered fuselage but fabric was added later.
The machine was in use from May 1911 to the end of the season, becoming nicknamed the 'Oozley Bird'. Eardley, who previously managed the Lane Gliding School, was the brother of Noel Pemberton Billing, and his wife ran the Bluebird restaurant at Brooklands until its closure at the outbreak of war.
Billing had previously made a ground trainer at Brooklands which was exhibited at the Stanley Show in November 1910. Two replica Billing biplanes were made in 1964 for the film 'Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines'.
The Billing biplane was crashed on 4 October 1911 by N.S. Percival, who rebuilt it as the Percival Parseval I at the end of 1911. (q.v.)
P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
Billing Biplane
The Billing Biplane, known also as the "Oozeley Bird", was a single-seat tractor built by Eardley Billing during 1911 from C. A. Moreing's discarded Voisin. Billing was, at that time, in charge of the Lane Gliding School at Brooklands. The engine was a 40 h.p. E.N.V. "D" and the machine was used by N. S. Percival at Brooklands on 1st. August, 1911, to complete the tests for his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate No. III. The fuselage was covered with fabric after the machine had been flown at first with it uncovered.