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G.A.C. Monoplane (D10068)

The Gloucester Aeroplane Company (no connection to the later Gloster Aircraft Company) were early pioneers in Gloucestershire aviation based in Barton Street.  Their first machine was the ‘G.A.C. Monoplane’, designed by J. A. Barnet and Campbell A. Ping.  Built during August 1910 it was a single-seat tractor fitted with a wingspan of 32 ft (9.75m), a 6ft (2m) diameter propeller and an empty weight of 305 lbs (138kg).  Although the aircraft was of a conventional layout, it had an odd control arrangement, whereby the rear wing spars could be individually moved, by separate pedals, to control the angle of incidence (in most aircraft this angle is usually fixed).  Despite looking like a fairly capable machine, there is sadly no indication that it ever flew and it later appeared for sale with the effects of the company’s owner, W. Peet, in bankruptcy, on 20 May 1913.  The engine was a 24 h.p. five-cylinder air-cooled rotary type made by the Phoenix Radial Rotary Motor Company Ltd, another pioneering aviation firm, based at the Vulcan Works on The Quay, Gloucester.  Their engines gained much admiration and the famous American aviator, Samuel Franklin Cody (who flew the first heavier than air machine in Britain in 1908) was so impressed that he ordered 6 engines from the company at a cost of £138 15s.  Sadly the ship carrying them to America sank and the engines were not insured - a financial loss that led to the demise of the company.  This photograph was taken at Gloucester Park, probably at the city’s summer carnival, as the bandstand can be seen through the gap in the canvas screens (which incidentally were supplied by Attwooll's, who still exist down at Whitminster).    The man on the left was possibly the owner W. Peet and if you look closely you can see a lady in a white dress with a black hat sat in the monoplane’s cockpit and more people behind her – it is likely that they paid for the privilege