P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)

Batson Monoplane

   The Batson Monoplane was designed by Captain Arlington Batson at Maidstone and completed in September, 1910.


Batson Flying House

   The Flying House was constructed during 1913 by Captain Arlington Batson for a proposed transatlantic flight. Twelve wings were fitted, and the fuselage contained a sitting-room and bedrooms for the crew.



Comment from https://www.britishaviation-ptp.com

  Peter Lewis alludes to two aircraft built in Britain by Captain Arlington Batson.
  The first is given as a monoplane built in Maidstone in 1910. This author can find no further evidence of such a machine and, in light of the following, must conclude that it did not exist under the name Batson.
  The second is given as the Batson Flying House, constructed in 1913. However, per William E. Scarborough, The Batson Aero Yacht was the inspiration of Matthew A. Batson (1866-1917) of Anna, Illinois, a retired Army captain. In 1912, Batson came up with a design for an aircraft that he envisioned could hold ten men and fuel for several days, fly at a speed of 100 m.p.h., and make transatlantic flights to Liverpool, England. He then formed the Batson Air Navigation Company and relocated to Dutch Island in Savannah, Georgia to begin manufacturing his aircraft. Construction on the first aircraft began in April 1913 by a crew of locally hired workers. The first prototype was completed by November 1913, but technical and mechanical malfunctions took place with every test run and the Batson Aero Yacht never made it out of Savannah. As a result, the Batson Air Navigation Company faced financial troubles and was liquidated and ultimately sold at auction in July 1915.
  However, illustrations of the 'Aero Yacht' and the 'Flying House' show these to be one and the same, so one must conclude the aircraft had no association with British aviation.