Chard
CHARD see also SNOWDON HEIGHTS
CHARD see also TWO ASH FARM
CHARD: Early fixed wing powered flight experiments, and, sensibly conducted indoors
Note: Pictures by the author.
Operated by: Mr William S Henson and John Stringfellow
Note: This illustration from the Science Musuem was scanned from the excellent book, British Aviation - The Pioneer Years, by Harald Penrose first published in 1967.
When I first saw a picture of this design, many years ago, I dismissed it as an obvious folly. However, having learnt to fly and taking an interest in aircraft design and the history of aircraft development, this design suddenly takes on a totally new aspect. It was in concept, for example, far more advanced than the heavily flawed design the Wright brothers devised, which was soon discarded.
Basically, it has all the attributes, common to all airliners flying today! A fuselage supported by a wing with a tail to aid both directional stability in yaw and pitch.
Location: In the loft of Mr Hensons lace factory which still stands and is used as Council Offices plus the town library. The town of Chard is on the A30/A358 crossroads about 10nm SE of Taunton
Period of operation: From or around 1848…. until? It would appear that after Mr Henson emigrated to the USA John Stringfellow built a steam-powered model in this building - and it flew!
NOTES: For a very long time the accounts of this model actually flying, and therefore being the worlds first mechanically powered although unmanned aircraft, were soundly discounted. The credit going to the Frenchman Félix du Temple who also used steam power and built a model which apparently took off, literally under it’s own steam, in 1857. (Other accounts say du Temple used a clockwork engine).
Stringfellow's model apparently had a twenty foot wingspan (which is hard to believe) and was launched from a descending wire. It apparently then flew, gradually descending, along most if not all of the loft. The total length of the loft appeared to be in excess of a hundred feet (roughly 30 metres) and ran the entire length of the lace factory. …
ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT
Around the turn of the 21st century I watched a TV programme presented by Adam Hart-Davis in which a modern replica, (I can’t remember if it was full scale), was proved to fly quite successfully, albeit over a very short distance. On the other hand it is reported that John Stringfellow also demonstrated the model in public at CREMORNE GARDENS, (see LONDON), and I would think that he surely wouldn’t have spent the time, money and trouble to do this if he felt it wasn’t almost guaranteed to succeed?
ON A WHIM
In early September whilst on holiday in Devon I decided to route home via Chard to see if Henson's lace factory still existed and on spotting a sign to the local library thought it would be best to make enquiries there. On arriving I said to my wife, "This is exactly the sort of building I am looking for," but had mistakenly remembered it as being a linen mill. On presenting myself at reception and explaining my quest, the lovely lady announced, "You are here, this is the building." She then went onto the internet to show me pictures etc, and, seeing my considerable glee and enthusiasm she arranged for me to see the loft itself (normally closed to the public) and take a picture. These days it is known as 'The Stringfellow Room' and is used for meetings etc and consequently somewhat divided up. But, what a privilege to actually stand in that loft and think about how significant this was to the development of powered aviation.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MODEL
I strongly suspect that not too many people realise the incredible importance of the 'model' to nearly all significant advances in fixed wing aviation, and this 'rule' still applies of course, albiet mostly the models are in wind tunnels. Another aspect is that Stringfellow's 'model' had dimensions similar to many single seat racing aircraft!
ANOTHER ASPECT
This lace mill is interesting in that, unlike most mills in the industrial revolution, the windows are much larger. This is because it was essential to provide as much natural light as possible to enable the workers to work on the very intricate designs.
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