EMPRESS biplane

   Fletcher produced his third machine in 1910 and it first appeared at the Manchester Aero Club Show in March, followed by testing on 8 August 1910 at Manchester Race Course, Castle Irwell. One of the 'pilots' who lifted the machine off for short distances was Jack Alcock of later Atlantic fame, who, as an apprentice at the Empress Works, assisted in the construction of all three of Fletcher's aircraft. Under pressure from the racecourse management after various crashes, Fletcher removed the aircraft to Brooklands, but after losing the case over the Gnome patents, the company went out of business.
   The biplane was a pusher on the lines of a Farman and was powered by an Empress seven-cylinder rotary engine. An Edwards four-cylinder two-stroke engine of 30hp was also fitted for a time, and reports indicate that either engine could enable the aircraft to become airborne.