PORTE & PIRIE glider (Lts. J.C. Porte and W.B. Pirie RN, Haslar, Portsmouth)

   Two reported attempts to fly the glider at Portsdown Hill from a trolley on a track both resulted in damage. Porte continued with his Demoiselle monoplane, and later became a director of the British Deperdussin Co. A project to fly the Atlantic in a Curtis s flying boat was stopped by the outbreak of war. In wartime he was the leading figure on flying boats at Felixstowe. The glider had equal span wings, notable for the heavy stagger, the trailing edge of the top wing being vertically in line with the leading edge of the bottom wing. Four pairs of N-shaped interplane struts spaced the gap, with ailerons mounted on each outboard pair. There were also rudders on each vertical strut at the wingtips. An elevator was carried on the tail booms and the machine rested on two skids on its launching trolley.
   The two officers sat side by side in the center section, Porte controlling the elevator and ailerons, possibly also serving as elevators, by means of a lever, while Pirie operated the rudders directly by a cable.

   Data
   Span 26ft