HAWKINS-OGILVIE triplane (Capt. A.C. Hawkins, Bertram Ogilvie & C.I. Nairn of Napier, New Zealand based at Winchester, Hampshire and later at Brooklands)

   The partners built three machines between 1907 and 1910 in New Zealand. A pusher biplane powered by a 10hp Rex vee-twin motorcycle engine was mounted on a ramp for takeoff, but failed to sustain itself in flight. The 1910 machine, which had large ailerons below the bottom wing, was seen by Lord Kitchener on 11 March 1910, during a visit to New Zealand and he encouraged the experimenters to transfer to England for the greater opportunities, and to compete for the Baron de Forest Prize.
   A model of a triplane was made during the voyage and the full size machine was constructed by Handley Page, but after the end of 1910 and thus not in time to compete for the Prize. It was ready for testing near Winchester in early March 1911, when it was reported 'rolling'. Ogilvie was the pilot with Hawkins providing the financial support.
   There was a modest degree of success during the trials at Winchester and later at Brooklands before the finance was exhausted and the group returned to New Zealand. The machine was by this time of dated design.
   The aircraft was an inelegant tractor triplane mounted on a high chassis with long skids and a tall tail-skid. The two bay wings were staggered and joined by long pairs of interplane struts, the forward struts being positioned at the leading edge, and the outers at the extreme tips of the wings. The tips of the wings were squarecut, and were fitted with duplicated, curved cane skids and differential ailerons fitted to all three pairs. The ailerons were separate rectangular flaps, not inset into the main wings, but were hinged at the trailing edges.
   The fuselage girder was fabric covered from the pilot's cockpit aft to the tall sternpost, which supported the tail-skid below and carried a rhomboidal-shaped rudder above. There was no fin, only a strut to support the rudder post. The tailplane was rectangular, mounted on the top longerons and carried a one piece rhomboidal-shaped elevator, hinged along its narrow edge. Longitudinal stability was said to be automatically regulated by the action of the wind on the planes, the mechanism for this being covered by patent No.8212/1910.

   Power: 50hp Alvaston four-cylinder horizontally opposed, water-cooled.
   Data
   Span 24ft