M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
PHILLIPS multi-plane No.3 1904
Another multi-plane was tested at Furzle Down Farm, Mitcham and was found to be longitudinally unstable, although it lifted at a speed of 50ft per second, 34mph. The total weight was 600lb.
The machine, of which a photograph exists and some details, was a tractor driven by a 22hp petrol engine. The pilot sat behind the lifting surfaces, of which there were twenty. The machine had a cruciform tail unit with elevator and a rudder and was mounted on three bicycle wheels.
PHILLIPS multi-plane No.4 1906
This version was tested on fields at Mitcham, later to become the golf course. No details are known, but it was probably a revision of No.3.
P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
Phillips 1904 Multiplane
Horatio F. Phillips's Multiplane of 1904 put into full-size practice his theory of the venetian-blind arrangement of superimposed wings of very narrow chord which had been demonstrated on his steam-driven model of 1893. Twenty unstaggered surfaces formed the wings of the machine, which was fitted with a cruciform tail unit, the whole being mounted on an undercarriage of three wheels. The engine was of 22 h.p. driving a tractor propeller. When tested, the Multiplane was found to be unstable longitudinally and was not successful. Weight loaded, 600 lb.
