M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
BUSH MOTORPLANE biplanes Nos.8 and 9
No.8 was built at Bath by the brothers in 1912. It was similar to a Caudron and was a single-seater intended to be powered by an inline engine.
No.9 was No.8 with the nacelle widened to accept a 50hp Gnome rotary engine, the propeller shaft of which broke on test. The machine was not fitted with a replacement as Eldon Bush went to Canada, returning in 1915 to join the RNAS in which service he was killed in 1917.
P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
Bush Motorplane
The Motorplane was built at Bath, Somerset, in 1912 by Eldon and Gilbert Bush following the proficiency which they gained with their own gliders and upon professionally-built aircraft. The machine was a single-seater somewhat resembling the Caudron tractor biplane. In its original form, as the Bush No. 8, the nacelle was of small cross-section and it was intended to fit an in-line engine. When it proved impossible to obtain an engine of this type at a reasonable price the Bush brothers accepted the loan of a 50 h.p. Gnome rotary, the nacelle being widened accordingly to accommodate it. The machine was then re-designated the Bush No. 9, and it was planned that Eldon Bush should demonstrate it at Hendon. However, while on test at Keynsham the propeller shaft broke and it was not possible to secure a replacement engine before he had to go to Canada on business. On his return in 1915, Eldon Bush joined the R.N.A.S. and was killed while flying on anti-submarine patrol from Fishguard during 1917. The youngest of the three Bush brothers became a pilot in the R.F.C. in 1916 and survived a severe crash in France in 1917.
