M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
MANNING-FLANDERS MF.l monoplane (W.O. Manning and Howard Flanders)
This aircraft is one that was not completed in 1910-1911, when it was originally conceived. The basis of it was apparently the Flanders F.l, which was abandoned in June 1910-1911 (q.v.) and which Flanders passed on to Manning, at the time when Manning was employed by the Coventry Ordnance Works. Pressure of work prevented Manning completing the design and construction, the aircraft being broken up at Battersea in 1912. A Crossley aero engine, intended to be fitted, was also not produced.
The was a conventional style tractor monoplane of the period, using a triangular section fuselage, uncovered behind the pilot. A central skid undercarriage and a cabane above the fuselage provided anchorages to brace the wings, which probably employed warping control in the original design.
However a replica aircraft based on some of the original drawings was built in 1974 by Personal Plane Services of White Waltham. The replica MF.l has flown successfully at intervals, including a Channel crossing in 1984, powered by a 65hp Continental flat four air-cooled engine.