M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
SWANN monoplane/biplane (Rev. Sidney Swann, The Vicarage, Crosby Ravensworth, Cumbria)
After attending the Blackpool Meeting of October 1909, the Rev. Swann was inspired to make an attempt to win the Daily Mail .1,000 prize, which was eventually won by Moore-Brabazon on 30 October 1909, before Swann's machine was completed.
The aircraft, which was manufactured by the Austin Motor Co. at Longbridge, Birmingham, was delivered on 17 November 1909 to Aintree Racecourse, from where Swann proposed to compete for the Hartley . 1,000 prize for a flight from Liveipool to Manchester. First tests took place on 19 November 1909, when taxiing only was carried out, but later tests on the 26th and 30th resulted in short hops and extensive damage.
During the following weeks a lower wing was added and the machine was tested in biplane form on 3 January 1910, but engine, and other troubles, convinced Swann that a completely new design was needed. The time limit for the Hartley prize had expired but a new Daily Mail prize of .10,000 for a flight from London to Manchester was then the incentive to proceed.
In its initial form, the aircraft had a high monoplane wing mounted above a wooden girder structure, which curved forward into twin skids and extended aft as a deep tail boom. A fixed tailplane was mounted on the top of the boom with a movable elevator at the extreme rear. There was no rudder. Widechord single acting ailerons, with curved, scalloped trailing edges were hinged to the rear spar and extended well past the trailing edge. The undercarriage consisted of two wheels on a cross axle and a long tail skid. The pilot sat behind the engine and radiator. The wing was built in three sections and was braced by wires and kingposts.
Power: 35hp ENV type D eight-cylinder water-cooled vee driving a 7ft diameter pusher propeller by belt and shaft.
Data
Span 36ft
Length 39ft
P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
Swann Monoplane
The Reverend Sydney Swann, Rector of Crosby, Ravensworth Shap, Westmorland, designed and built his single-seat tractor monoplane in 1909. The machine was based on the Demoiselle type and was powered by the eight-cylinder 40 h.p. E.N.V. "D" engine. It was not successful and, at the end of the year, was converted into a biplane.
After a year's testing and hops of about 30 yds., the Reverend Swann gave up his attempts to fly when the machine hit a sheep. The following measurements apply to the biplane conversion. Span, 36 ft. Length, 27 ft. Wing area, 500 sq. ft. Weight loaded, 1,000 lb.
