Holyport
Note: This map only gives the postion of Holyport within the UK.
HOLYPORT: Early experimental site
Operated by: Mr Johnny Benton
Location: Green Lane (Possibly Moneygrow Lane in more recent years?)
Period of operation: 1906 (?) to 1911
NOTES: This information was kindly sent by Richard Poad, the Chairman of the Maidenhead Heritage Centre, in September 2018.
"In 1906 he moved to Holyport...... He began to experiment with kites. One of his many man-lifting kites kept him airborne for three hours."
"He patented several devices, including
1910 System for longitudinal balance of flying machines and control of flying speed
1911 Spring system for supporting flying machines resiliently on wheels
1914 Collapsible spring skids for flying machines
1915 Provisional patent for a means of varying the effective lifting surface of flying machines and balancing the opposing wing tip resistances when turning and banking
Benton teamed up with a local camera maker to build their first B.1 Air Car, a bi-plane which managed a few hops in Green Lane just after Easter 1911. With bi-plane foreplanes and elevators, it was built entirely by hand and weighed 1000lbs, with a two stroke 35hp NEC engine driving twin pusher propellers."
So, typical of many early designs - too heavy, too draggy and seriously underpowered. This said, if an engine of twice this power could have been fitted, although it wouldn't perform well, it might well have flown successfully?
His 1915 provisional patent was way ahead of its time, and indeed it wasn't for a long time after that differential ailerons were introduced, and even then many light aircraft after WW2, like early Austers, didn't have these fitted.
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