P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
Lee-Richards Annular Biplane
The principle of the annular wing was the subject of a patent by G. J. A. Kitchen of Lancaster which was bought by Cedric Lee from Kitchen. Lee was joined late in 1910 by G. Tilghman Richards as an engineer on the project, which was built during 1911 as a single-seat tractor biplane with superimposed annular wings and was powered by the 50 h.p. Gnome engine. The machine was taken to Famine Point at Heysham for its trials, which were not particularly satisfactory, and the aeroplane and its hangar were wrecked during a gale on 4th-5th November, 1911.
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M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
KITCHEN annular biplane (John George Aulsebrook Kitchen, Scotforth, Lancashire)
Kitchen patented ideas for circular winged aircraft, with special aerodynamic features in 1910 and 1912. A biplane based on his theories was built in 1910 and housed at Famine Point near Heysham, Lancashire. The machine may have been tested, but did not fly before it was purchased at the end of 1910 by Cedric Lee, a wealthy engineer and textile manufacturer from Manchester. He was joined by G. Tilghman Richards, an engineer and member of Manchester Aero Club.
A period of testing and modification, to incorporate some of Richards' ideas ended with the machine overturning in a ditch and finally being destroyed, while under repair, on 15 November 1911, when a gale blew down the hangar. Thereafter the experiments were conducted with models and a full size glider, to test the conflicting views of Kitchen and Richards.
The Kitchen biplane was basically of nacelle and boom type, the uncovered nacelle housing the pilot with the motor mounted on the front, was suspended between the front center section of the wings. The two tail booms were unusual, being constructed with curved vertical members, and carried a pair of rudders and a single tailplane, behind the top wing. The undercarriage had a wide track and had twin skids and four wheels.
The circular wings with central aperture, were built with ribs fore and aft and were attached to inner and outer boundary members. The wings were spaced by a pair of interplane struts each side, together with pairs of diagonal struts connected to the lower longerons. Single-acting ailerons hung on the front interplane struts. The engine was a 50hp Gnome seven-cylinder air-cooled rotary.
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