M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
WATKINS monoplane (C. Horace Watkins, Cardiff, Wales)
This machine, constructed in 1908-1909, was designed and built entirely by Watkins, including the engine. The aircraft flew successfully on the occasions when it was possible to avoid the encroachment by people at the flying ground, which was often only early or late in the day. The original aircraft was flown as late as 1918 and is still in existence, being exhibited for many years at RAF, St. Athans.
The fuselage of the monoplane was a conventional braced wooden girder, uncovered except around the pilot's seat. The wings were braced from four pylons, two below and two above the fuselage, each of four struts. The undercarriage consisted of two pairs of vee struts with a cross axle sprung by rubber cords. This could be located in three positions, the rearmost was the flight position, the other two were for testing the engine and for taxiing.
The wing tapered towards the tips, had a scalloped trailing edge, and was fitted with ailerons. A balanced rudder, but no fin was provided, and this carried the maker's initials. The rectangular oil tank was of aerofoil section and was mounted above the engine, in the slipstream. Owing to the need to avoid the crowds, Watkins mainly flew at dawn or dusk and to assist his judgment of height for landing, he designed a height indicator. This consisted of two weighted cords, twelve feet and six feet long hung from springs in the cockpit which operated electrical switches when in contact with the ground, causing dashboard lights to operate.
Power: 40hp Watkins three-cylinder air-cooled fantype semiradial.
Data
Span 32ft
Length 21ft 6in
Weight allup 390lb.
Height 8ft
Speed range 25-70 mph
Range 180 miles
P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
Watkins Monoplane
The Watkins single-seat tractor monoplane was designed and built during 1909 by C. Horace Watkins of Wales. Watkins constructed every part of the machine himself, including the three-cylinder 40 h.p. engine which was also of his own design and used castings made in a local foundry to his patterns. Orthodox wooden construction with wire bracing was employed for the airframe, the undercarriage consisting of cycle tubing with brazed joints. Originally a tailwheel was fitted, but this was replaced by a tailskid after the first tests. Many ingenious features were incorporated in the design, among them being three positions for the attachment of the undercarriage. The first of these was immediately below the engine so that the front fuselage could be used as an engine test-bed; the second position was one bay to the rear of the first position, which permitted taxying under full power without risk of taking-off or of nosing-over; the third position was two bays behind the first position and incorporated the undercarriage just forward of the C.G. and in the normal flight location. The aerofoil-section oil tank was mounted in front of the centre cylinder of the engine for maximum cooling. Flight instruments comprised a spring-loaded vane-type indicator for air speed which was mounted on top of the cabane, a caged-ball form of inclinometer to indicate the degree of bank applied, and a vertical wind-vane to show side-slip or yaw. The tachometer consisted of a 4 volt D.C. dynamo which was driven by the engine and was connected to a voltmeter to register up to about 1,200 r.p.m.
Watkins found that when tests were made in broad daylight they drew sight-seeing crowds who damaged the gates and hedges of the land from which he had permission to fly, so he had to confine his activities to the periods before dawn or after sunset. To facilitate landing under these conditions of half-light, he devised a height indicator. This was made up of two vertical tubes in the cockpit, through which were trailed cords of different lengths with weights on their ends. Each was suspended from a light spring which was connected to a pair of switch contacts. When coming in to land, the weight on the longer cord - about 12 feet in length - would touch the ground first, the drag causing a green light to show in the cockpit. The machine would then be flattened out until the shorter cord, which was about 6 feet in length, touched the earth and lighted up a red light. The ignition was then cut off and the machine brought in to land from about 4 feet up at 25 m.p.h. The Watkins Monoplane is still in existence in Cardiff. Span, 32 ft. Length, 21 ft. 6 ins. Height, 8 ft. Weight loaded, 390 lb. Maximum speed, 70 m.p.h. Landing speed, 25 m.p.h. Range, 180 miles (estimated).
