M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
SIRIE monoplane (M. Leslie-Miller, 2 Hamilton Terrace, East Partick, Scotland)
This inventor designed an unusual monoplane and named it after a tropical tree, the leaves of which resembled the wings of his machine. The curved wings were heavily swept back alongside the fuselage and had considerable dihedral. The rotary or radial engine was mounted inside the fuselage about one third the way back from the nose. There was a large rudder at the rear. The main wheels were mounted on twin skids, upon which the pilot was seated. There was a large tail skid. Two elevating planes were fixed at the at the front of the machine and were operated by rods. They could move in four different ways for both lateral and vertical control.
A scale model was made and numerous successful flights were carried out with it by the inventor but it seems unlikely that a full-size machine was ever completed.
Data
Span 18ft
Length 24ft
Elevators 6ft long
Журнал Flight
Flight, May 20, 1911.
The Sirie Monoplane.
[1175] Aeroplanes are usually classed according to their distinctive features, as the Bleriot, Farman and the Tellier, and the present one is no exception to the rule, except in this particular, that it takes its name not from its inventor but from the name of a tropical tree, which it resembles. The leaves of this tree are, in fact, miniature monoplanes, and soar through the air for long distances before they reach the ground.
The machine consists essentially of two large concave wings, somewhat similar in clinure to the wings of a crow when soaring. These wings are fixed to the main carriage, as indicated, and have a span of 18 ft. from tip to tip. In CROSSING one another they form a triangle, where the engine is fixed. The vertical plane between the wings is a control plane to prevent zig-zag flight. This takes the place of the usual tail in other monoplanes.
Two elevating planes are fixed at the front of the machine, and are operated from the carriage by means of rods. They can move in four different ways, so that by simply turning the right hand plane the machine swerves to the right. Planing up and down is accomplished in the same simple manner. The engine and petrol supply is conveniently placed to the operator. Numerous experiments have been carried out by the inventor on a model of this machine, and the results have been so highly satisfactory that he is led to believe that this type of monoplane will surpass in speed and stability many of the popular types of the present day.
2, Hamilton Terrace, East Partick. M. LESLIE-MILLER.
