Frank McClean

by Philip Jarrett

  In addition to these we had several compasses and instruments for map following and electric hand lamps. The maps to be taken had to be very comprehensive, as until the last moment (and not even then as it turned out) it could not be known in what direction we should travel. Large-scale maps round Berlin and two fairly large-scale maps of North Germany, as well as one of Denmark and Scandinavia, were, however, obtained at once, that being the dangerous direction and the one that would bring us most quickly to the sea. At the last moment we obtained maps of the whole of Eastern Europe.

  To guard against the possibility of a 450-mile run over the unbroken water of the Baltic Sea, the three British balloons were provided with waterproof canvas covers which could enclose their cars on all sides and extended up to the hoop above the car on the three sides away from the trail rope. Thus the front of the car could strike the sea without admitting water; and if the balloon were becalmed it could sit on the water for days until a wind sprang up. (AUTHOR)

  Food was almost entirely tinned or bottled, and consisted of sardines, tongue, chicken and fruit, with bread, butter, cheese and chocolate, while in addition to a large supply of water we carried a little beer and whisky and milk.

  There were three English balloons competing, the Banshee, carrying Messrs. Dunville and Pollock, the Zephyr, with Professor Huntington and Captain the Hon. C. Brabazon, and the Britannia with Mr Brewer and myself. They were taken over to Germany by Short Bros., aeronautical engineers to the Aero Club, and by Mr Perrin, the secretary of the Club. We followed on Thursday, the 8th, via Flushing, arriving in Berlin the following evening. Very little remained to be done except to get the bread and other perishable supplies, which were got on the Sunday morning.

  On Saturday there was a point-to-point balloon race of which we watched the start. The wind was then almost due south and the probability of an over-sea passage to Sweden seemed likely, but the following morning by daybreak it had veered round to the west and it was then that we got a map of Russia and some of the competitors obtained Russian money. During the morning it became west-north-west, and at 3 o’clock when the first balloon was started it was almost due north-west.

  The starting ground was at Schmargendorf, a suburb of Berlin, and was very rough and sandy. A squad of soldiers under a sergeant was detailed to each balloon to fill it and take it to the starting point. The lift of the balloon was twice tested before the start so as to make certain that there was sufficient but not too much buoyancy.

  Balloons massed at the Schmargendorf gas factory site in Berlin in October 1908 for that year’s Gordon Bennett Balloon Race. (AUTHOR)

  Inside the car there was none too much room although we had things hung on pulleys to the leading lines and all round the outside of the basket. A wicker shelf for laying maps and other things on was ready to be fixed outside, and the basket containing food was also outside as well as the grapnel and serpent and a large number of sandbags.

  Owing to the number of men helping it was possible to start the balloons at very short intervals. Some got away well but the majority evidently had not sufficient lifting power, and after rising a little came down almost on to the heads of the crowd of onlookers. The balloon that started ninth was the American Conqueror, which hit the wooden fence behind which the crowd was watching, and then went straight for a tower after a close shave with another balloon which was awaiting its turn to start.

  In the meantime, the Berlin had been sent off and we in the Britannia at No. 11 were receiving our final directions when a shout from the crowd made us look up and we saw the underside of the Conqueror get slack and then rise up to the top of the net. Our send-off was temporarily forgotten and all eyes watched to see what would happen next. At first clouds of sand were in the air above the descending balloon showing that they were discharging ballast to lighten their fall. Afterwards we learnt that they took to cutting away the bags complete, a somewhat dangerous proceeding for anyone below. We could see this burst balloon turning round and round sometimes looking a complete parachute and at others showing enormous rents almost up to the valve at the top. But it came down slowly, slower even than one often brings down a balloon when intending to land, and the only danger was the fact that they could not choose their place to come down on. They hit the top of a house, knocking down a chimney and making a hole in the roof, but escaped uninjured. As a matter of fact the probability is that a burst balloon will parachute but it is not an experiment most people would care to try. Another balloon also appears to have burst during the race with the same result.

  The cause of this accident was probably that the neck of the balloon was not large enough to allow the rush of gas out when they rose very quickly to clear the tower.

  When the Conqueror had fallen out of sight, we were again given our directions, and at 3.45 the order of “hands off” was given and we rose easily but gently away from the crowd and noise. Our direction was southeast, and at the height of 1,900ft where we found equilibrium the wind speed was about 12mph. First we crossed houses and saw below us the wreck of the Conqueror with its envelope lying across the roof and the car hanging down the wall. Crowds had collected in all the streets and on all the housetops and more crowds were running in from all directions. A possible accident is really the reason why many people collect to see balloons start, and they are generally disappointed; and even when there is not an accident you often see wonderful tales in the papers, as on the occasion when, at Hurlingham, owing to the strength of the wind the Corona had to have its ripping panel opened, and several papers the next morning described the tearing in pieces of the balloon.

  After leaving the town we kept south of the river Spree, crossing the Walzigar See at nightfall, after which we had a meal of sardines and pears. The sardines proved too oily when mixed up with maps and sand, and we did not try them again. It was at this time that the wind commenced to veer round, and when we had finished supper it took some little time to find out again where we were. But the numberless lakes around us reflecting the moonlight enabled us to locate our position. Steadily our course became more south except for a short period when a vertical current of air had taken us up from 1,000ft height to 2,500ft, and a long halt over one spot followed by a very slow drift to the east made us impatient. We allowed the balloon to drop to 700ft, and our course became south-south-west. If we had not done this we should have had a good chance of winning the race, but we could not tell that the wind would go right round and we wanted to be moving all the time. We passed a few miles to the west of Kottbus, the lights of which were visible to us for five hours and helped us to locate our position all that time with ease.

  Still trending more to the west we passed low over a large manufacturing district and over numberless quarries, passing chimneys which nearly reached to our own level. We had a light cord 200ft long hanging below us to give warning of rising ground, but it only once touched. If we had our trail rope out it would have been impossible to have kept so low for fear of doing damage. We then rose to between 1,000ft and 2,000ft height, and at half-past three we passed to the south of Finsterwalde going due west and at not more than three miles an hour. This course continued till daybreak when a low ground fog began to cover the country and for the time it was impossible to tell in what direction we were travelling. During the night Mr Griffith Brewer had managed to get in four hours’ unbroken sleep curled up among the sandbags and other paraphernalia in the bottom of the basket. When the sun rose I turned in for a couple of hours and had a good sleep in spite of the discomfort. On waking when I looked over the edge of the car I found clouds everywhere below but clear in the distance. From any height you never have an horizon but simply see the country disappear in blue haze. For this reason if you wish to take any altitudes of stars or the sun you must use an artificial horizon, but we did not carry any instruments for this purpose.

  Frank McClean (left) and Griffith Brewer in the basket of the Britannia at Berlin in 1908.

  (PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES)

/>   Gradually the clouds broke up and in a gap we saw a big river with steamers and barges and knew we were somewhere over the Elbe, but not until 9.15 did we find our exact position when we passed a few miles south of Wittenberg. From there till we crossed south of Magdeberg at one o’clock, 8,000ft up, all was easy. The sun warming the gas gave us a steady rise and the river below us made our map-reading easy. From then on it was different as we got into open country and finally lost our position when putting out the trail rope. A network of railways showed clear below us but apparently they were only minor lines as they were unmarked on the map.

  All this time we were falling gradually until at sunset we crossed a fair sized town at some 500ft. We shouted out to people below and were told it was Gifhorne. The wind had now risen considerably and we reached a town which we afterwards discovered to be Celle in just over the hour, travelling low and over open ground, and here we got rid of tins and bottles and other heavy articles to save ballast.

  At half-past eight when the moon had risen for some time but not enough to make the landscape clear, we suddenly found the appearance of the country change. For the moment we thought that a gale must have got up and hurried us to the North Sea, but on dropping low we found that it was heather-covered country with occasional woods. Knowing that we could not win, as any balloon to the north or south of us could get further than us, we now decided to land, and Mr Brewer held open the valve while I stood ready to cut the anchor free when he gave the word. As the 150ft trail rope touched, he called me to cut, which I did and then held on tight to await the bump. It came, and again we were up in the air at some 30ft, and looking over the car to see what kind of a place we should hit next. Then as we came down he pulled the ripping cord and with the next bump and a final struggle to rise again the balloon Britannia collapsed slowly on to the heather at 8.46pm, or almost exactly 29 hours after it had left Berlin. The car lay on its side and we crawled out through the tangle of ropes on to the heath none the worse for our 25 miles an hour bump. Then after lighting pipes, eating some chocolate and covering up the instruments, we rolled the sides of the balloon envelope over on to the middle, so that less surface should get wet during the night. Then, getting into our sleeping sacks we put our heads and bodies into the upturned basket, leaving our feet out in the heather and went to sleep.

  At six the next morning we woke to find a thick white fog hiding any landmark that might tell us our position so we got back into the basket and had some breakfast while the mist cleared a bit. Then we found that just ahead of us was an area of mud and water, but to one side were wheel ruts which we followed till we came to a regular track. It was still too misty to go far from the balloon so we went back and packed the small things and unfixed the valve and hoop, and as we finished this a cart came up with two men who told us we were 10km from Langwedel and that we could get assistance from some farmhouses a little way up the track. So I went in search of them and with some difficulty owing to lack of German words, made the owner understand that I wanted a cart to take the balloon to the station. With the assistance of four men we got the balloon packed and into a cart and left our camping ground at half-past eleven for Langwedel Station. For several miles there was only a track, and after being jolted in the cart for a bit we got out and walked.

  At Langwedel we had two hours to wait for a train to Bremen, from which place we despatched the balloon by boat to London and ourselves caught the night train to Flushing, reaching London on Wednesday night, the 14th of October. In the same train were Messrs. Dunville and Pollock, who in the Banshee had landed on the borders of Denmark, and at Flushing we were joined by Professor Huntington and Captain Brabazon who had landed near Brandenberg.

  So ended a most interesting trip. The Britannia, although two years old, proved perfectly gas-tight and after 29 hours in the air we still had eight bags of ballast left. This would have been sufficient for the whole of Monday night and would have compensated for the contraction of the gas the following afternoon when if we had been able to continue we should probably have had to land about 3 or 4 o’clock.

  Seven ballooning enthusiasts in the basket of Britannia during trip No 13, on 7 November 1908. This photograph was taken by Griffith Brewer, using a camera suspended from the balloon’s network. The rear four men are, left to right, McClean, Dunville, Hunt and Lockyen and the three in front are Pollock, Brewer and Bidder (FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM)

  The Banshee did better but was a brand new balloon only having had a trial trip before the race. They I believe, had 12 bags left after 37 hours in the air, which probably would have taken them for another 36 or even 48 hours. The Zephyr descended early [near Brandenberg] owing to a tear in the envelope.

  Thus the Banshee and the Britannia beat all previous records for duration in the air previously made by British balloons.

  In November McClean made three ‘local’ balloon flights, two in the Britannia, descending at Ashchurch on the 7th and at Chelmsford on the 14th, and one in the Corona on the 15th, when they descended near Godalming.

  A fascination with flying

  In August 1908 the aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright visited France to demonstrate the aeroplane invented by himself and his brother Orville, and proceeded to astound Europeans with his demonstrations of fully-controlled heavier-than-air flight. Brewer introduced himself to Wilbur at Le Mans at this time, and eventually became the British Empire agent for the Wrights’ patents. His fellow Aero Club and ASGB members were well aware of what was happening. On 8 October Brewer and Rolls were among those privileged to fly with Wilbur at Pau. Oswald and Eustace Short had already, in September, announced their firm intention to turn their factory over to the manufacture of aeroplanes, and when they heard of their customers’ experiences in France they decided that they should begin building aeroplanes straight away. Shortly thereafter they were appointed ‘Official Aeronautical Engineers’ to the Club.

  Wilbur Wright in typically serious demeanour in his Flyer at Le Mans in August 1908. His demonstrations of fully controlled flight astounded spectators, many of whom had hitherto dismissed the Wrights as ‘bluffeurs’. (AUTHOR)

  Wilbur Wright’s biplane outside its purpose-built hangar on the Hunaudières race track at Le Mans, where the first demonstrations took place. (AUTHOR)

  Wilbur kept no log of all his flights in France, but a syndicate composed of Aero Club members under the leadership of Lord Royston, and accompanied by Eustace Short as the syndicate’s engineer, visited France in the first week of December 1908 and inspected the Flyer. All syndicate members were formally introduced to Wilbur Wright by Brewer, and given flights of five to eight miles’ length.

  On 3 December McClean travelled to Paris, and two days later he travelled by train with Brewer to Le Mans and then back to Paris, having accidentally missed Wilbur at Le Mans. On the 6th he lunched with Wilbur Wright and then went again to Le Mans, this time with Wilbur and Eustace Short. On 7 December he first saw Wilbur make a solo flight, writing: All being ready, Wilbur Wright first made a trip by himself, circling round the ground, sometimes almost touching the tufts of grass and at other times far above our heads. I should say that 40 feet was about the highest that morning.’ To compensate for the previous fruitless journey, Wilbur then took Eustace Short aloft. After that it was McClean’s turn, and he was given a six-minute passenger flight, starting with a catapult-assisted take-off along a launch rail. He wrote:

  Then, with a very slight jerk as Wright loosed the wire catch [this means that the weights (some 1,000lb) at the top of a pylon 25 feet high, were released and gave by rope and pulley a starting impetus to assist the engine thrust], we glided forward along the rail. The engine without any silencer made a terrific noise close to one’s head, but this was soon forgotten as, without effort or shock, we left the rail and on a perfectly even keel raced across the plain. As we came to the far end Wright steered in a sharp curve with the machine at an angle of 10–15° from the horizontal and the tip of the left wing only a few inches from the sa
nd. Righting her again we rushed with the wind, rising this time to some 20 feet from the earth. All the time Wright was moving his two levers and the elevating planes in front never seemed at rest. The ground flew past below our feet and the wind whistled through the wires and supports.… After two rounds lasting six minutes and covering some three miles we returned to the starting point and, with the engine stopped, slid gently against the ground, coming to rest within 20 feet of our first point of contact.

  The speed of the machine was 25mph.

  Wilbur aloft in France. The Flyer was a demanding aircraft to fly, requiring constant inputs from its pilot, but Wilbur handled it with great skill. (AUTHOR)

  Wilbur then gave flights to Professor Huntington and Roger W Wallace, the RAeC’s Chairman. When Eustace returned to England, he and Oswald invited their elder brother, Horace, to join them, and he did so at the end of the year. McClean said that it was after the flights with Wilbur that ‘the Aero Club became heavier-than-air minded’. Brewer later wrote that: ‘Wilbur never took a fee for any of these passenger flights, and when it is remembered that many people were willing to pay hundreds of pounds for a flight in those early days, these four special flights were a favour of no small character.’

  Rolls had decided months earlier that he wanted a Wright Flyer. In this he was in company with McClean, J T C Moore-Brabazon and Alec Ogilvie. Ogilvie ordered his aircraft from Wilbur on 30 December, but at that time the Wrights had yet to decide who would handle their British business.