M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
DUNNE D.9 monoplane (Also referred to as the James monoplane)
This was a tailless pusher design of almost delta wing form. It was a single-seater with a protective cage above the cockpit, serving also as an anchorage for the bracing wires. The wheels on the twin skid undercarriage were covered by fairings. The power plant was a 35hp Levis five-cylinder inline two-stroke engine designed by H. Newey, mounted inverted in the nose, and driving the propeller by extension shaft.
Dunne was assisted by C.R. Fairey with the stressing and the machine was constructed in 1913 for a Mr. James by Levis Ltd. of Stechford, Warwickshire, motorcycle manufacturers. The name 'Leonie' and the initials 'AB', probably of Arthur Butterfield, one of the directors of Levis, were painted on the wheel covers.
The machine was wrecked on its first attempt at flight by hitting an obstruction on a playing field at Castle Bromwich, forestalling the proposal to fit floats for later trials on Edgbaston Reservoir.
P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
Dunne D.9
The D.9 was a tailless sesquiplane of somewhat complicated form designed by Dunne during 1913, with the assistance of C. R. Fairey in the stress calculations. The machine was not completed.
James Monoplane
The James Monoplane was built during 1913 by Levis Ltd., at Stechford, Warks., and was designed by a Mr. James in conjunction with Lt. J. W. Dunne. It was powered by the 35 h.p. five-cylinder in-line Levis two- stroke engine, which was designed by H. Newey, who was associated with the Levis Company, formed in 1909 by William and Arthur Butterfield as Butterfield Brothers. The engine was mounted inverted in the nose of the single-seat fuselage, on either side of which were the triangular-shaped wings with their leading-edges sharply swept back, resulting almost in a delta plan-form. The wing was braced from a cage-like cabane structure which acted also as a crash-pylon.
The original name of Mayfly was changed to Leonie, and the machine was to have had floats fitted for testing on Edgbaston Reservoir. Instead, however, it was equipped with a land undercarriage consisting of wheels and skids, and was taken to Castle Bromwich playing-fields, where it caught one wing-tip on a goal-post during its first take-off and was wrecked.
