Frank McClean

by Philip Jarrett

  School for navy pilots

  At an RAeC Committee meeting on 21 November McClean had made proposals resulting from discussions with Admiralty officers. These were that the navy be granted permission to use the flying ground at Eastchurch for the instruction of officers and petty officers, who need not necessarily be members of the Club, and that a charge be made to the navy for these facilities. No time was wasted, and at a meeting on 28 November it was agreed that the navy would have use of Eastchurch for the flat sum of £150 per annum; that it would use not more than ten machines at any one time; and that no more than two uncertificated RN officers or men would be in the air at any one time. On 25 December the Admiralty entered into an agreement with the RAeC, McClean and Short Brothers Ltd, whereby for £150 it rented from them ten acres of ground near the RAeC’s aerodrome, with the proviso that the ground might be bought for £16 per acre as from 25 December 1918 if the Admiralty so desired. Thus England’s first naval flying school was established.

  Consequently, in a report dated 27 February 1912, the Technical Sub-Committee of the Standing Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence recommended that:

  The Naval Wing of the Flying Corps should be established for the present at the Naval Flying School at Eastchurch. For the immediate present its energies will be devoted mainly to elementary training in flying, so as to provide a nucleus of fliers for the first requirements of the Navy, pending the establishment of the Central Flying School, and to experimental work in the development of aeronautics for the Navy.

  These plans were confirmed in a Memorandum on Naval and Military Aviation issued by the War Office on 11 April 1912, and, as mentioned later, a formal Indenture was signed on 1 May 1913.

  For administrative purposes only the school at Eastchurch was to be under the orders of the captain of HMS Actaeon, a. torpedo school-ship in Sheerness Dockyard, and all of its officers and men were to be borne on Actacon’s books. This meant that the officers could live at Eastchurch. The Technical Sub-Committee produced a final list of twenty-two types of aeroplanes and hydro-aeroplanes recommended for purchase abroad or order in Britain at an estimated cost of £35,308, plus six large sheds and three portable canvas sheds to house them, at a cost of £3,800. The Sub-Committee was satisfied that Eastchurch Aerodrome, which was held by the RAeC on a long lease, was ‘quite suitable for a Naval Flying School of moderate dimensions’, and its use was granted to the Royal Navy on favourable terms. However, it was considered advisable for the government to enquire into the possibility of securing the freehold of the ground.

  The desire for independence had also been expressed by Rear Admiral E C T Troubridge, Chief of Staff, Admiralty, in a paper dated 23 January 1912 and entitled ‘The development of Naval Aeroplanes and Airships’. In a section headed ‘Royal Aero Club and Private Firms’, Troubridge stated:

  While every advantage should be taken of private assistance, the Navy should not lean unduly for help on any one private firm or the Royal Aero Club’s Aeronautical Engineers for Naval aeroplane development. If this is done, too much of a water-tight compartment is made, and the machines will be restricted in their development.

  At the present moment, Messrs Short’s machines have never done anything of very great importance to the aeronautical world. Therefore the Navy must not be unduly tied to them.

  It seems that McClean was made aware of Troubridge’s somewhat pointed remarks, for in the coming months he was to make several demonstrations of the naval potential of aeroplanes, using machines built by Short Brothers.

  CHAPTER 5

  1912: Waterwings

  Despite unsettled weather and gusty winds, both naval pilots and Territorials continued their training at Eastchurch in January 1912. A significant event occurred on Wednesday the 10th, when Lieutenant C R Samson, in command of the Naval Flying Establishment at Eastchurch and one of the three naval officers then training there, made the first aeroplane flight from a British warship. At 12.30pm he flew S.38, fitted with three flotation bags in case of an unscheduled descent on the water, from Eastchurch to Sheerness, alighting on the marshland behind the sea wall off Cockleshell Hard, on the Isle of Grain. A party of bluejackets then hauled the aircraft across the sea wall and beach to No 126 coaling lighter, and at 1.50pm the biplane was brought alongside the battleship HMS Africa. By means of a derrick the aeroplane was placed on planks extending from the fore turrets to the bows and projecting a few feet over the ship’s stem. Then, at 2.20pm, Samson gave the signal to ‘let go’ and the S.38 ran down the staging, passed the bows and rose to a height of about 100ft. He then flew over the destroyer Cherwell and then encircled Africa ‘at a height of several yards below her topmasts’. Gradually rising to 300ft, Samson then passed up the Medway crossed overland at West Minster, and flew back to Eastchurch.

  The wrecked S.28 was quickly replaced by S.38/Short-Sommer No 9, which was ordered from Shorts by Samson on McClean’s behalf. Used to train naval pilots in 1911, it was subsequently fitted with floats, as seen here, and used by Longmore for float experiments and by Samson for pioneering take-offs from ships. (AUTHOR)

  Frank McClean prepares to take his sister, Anna, for a flight in the S.36, which quickly became a favoured machine. By this time, May 1912, the rear fuselage had been covered. (FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM)

  January 10th was also a memorable day for McClean, for that was the day he made the first flight of his new S.36 tractor biplane. It was a resounding success. Flight and The Aeroplane reported:

  On Wednesday, the 10th inst., Frank McClean tried his new Short tractor biplane, which was just out of the factory. After running the engine for a short time, McClean took the machine up for its first flight, and was so satisfied with its behaviour that he had no hesitation in continuing to fly for the remainder of the afternoon. The machine showed itself to be very swift in the air, and in the opinion of the aviators watching the trials, must have been doing something like 55 to 60 miles per hour. A distinctive feature of the test was the perfect way in which McClean made his landings, and the very flat gliding angle of the machine, which owing to its small head resistance and general design, is very efficient in this respect.

  In a postcard to his mother, J L Travers, whose workload had been lightened by the addition of two draughtsmen to Short Brothers’ staff, reported ‘Tractor Biplane a great success’. McClean flew S.36 again the following day, and then lent it to the Naval Flying School and departed for Switzerland in late January. On Monday the 15th Samson, now promoted acting commander, and Captain E L Gerrard, RMLI, were out early on the aircraft and tested its speed during the day; it ‘slightly exceeded’ 56mph. They found it had excellent controllability, and Gerrard, who took it up to 700ft with a passenger, said it climbed remarkably well. ‘When the fuselage… is covered in,’ reported Flighty ‘she will be really quite fast for a biplane, although she was not designed particularly for speed.’ Lieutenant Arthur Longmore also flew it.

  On Sunday 28 January Barrington-Kennett smashed S.32 and it had to go for repair. Both the Tandem Twin and Triple Twin continued to be flown by naval pilots. Early in the morning of Monday 29 January the temperature was some degrees below freezing but weather conditions were good for flying, so Samson and Lieutenant Gregory made two excellent flights. Samson remained aloft in the Tandem Twin for more than two hours with Engineer-Lieutenant Randell RN as his passenger, and Gregory, with Lieutenant C J L’Estrange-Malone RN as his passenger, stayed up for over three hours in the Triple Twin. During these flights the wind rose considerably, and Gregory, flying at about 1,000ft, found conditions ‘very choppy’, especially when nearing the coastline and meeting the incoming currents from the sea. Upon landing he remarked on the Triple Twin’s great stability under such conditions.

  Grounding the Terriers

  On 5 February a Minute was sent from the War Office, presumably to the Officer Commanding London Troops, Royal Engineers, stating:

  I am commanded by the Army Council to inform you that the question of org
anisation of an Aviation Service for the Territorial Forces is now under consideration and pending a decision being arrived at in this regard it has been decided that the personnel of the London Balloon Company should not be trained in aeroplane work. It is therefore regretted that travelling grants for the Detachment of the Company carrying out training at the Flying Ground, Eastchurch, Sheppey, cannot be authorised.

  Even so, the following Territorials ‘took their tickets’: S P Cockerell (before going to Eastchurch), H D Cutler, A V Barrington-Kennett and C W Meredith. T O’B Hubbard and R H Kershaw qualified immediately after they had left Eastchurch. Although this suspended the official activities, the Territorials continued to train ‘in their private capacities’, with Jim Travers often instructing, frequently using the side-by-side dual-control trainer.

  McClean was back at Eastchurch on Saturday 10 February, when he flew the Triple Twin ‘in his usual skilful manner’. That same day Long-more crashed the S.36 and it went back to Shorts for repair at the navy’s expense. On the 11th McClean took Mr Fowler as a passenger in the Tandem Twin, flying ‘with great steadiness in what was undoubtedly a choppy wind’. Flight commented that ‘This machine, which is fitted with huge petrol tanks, showed herself to be very fast in the air even against the strong wind blowing’.

  Tragedy struck on 17 February when Douglas Graham Gilmour, one of the foremost English pilots, was killed when his Martin-Handasyde monoplane suffered a structural failure and crashed in the Old Deer Park at Richmond, Surrey, during a cross-country flight from Brooklands. McClean was among the group who examined the wreckage on the 20th as part of an accident enquiry instigated by the RAeC. At Eastchurch on that same day Lieutenant Longmore flew the S.36 with Lieutenant Spencer Grey as his passenger, and the latter was reported to be ‘much impressed with the speed and stability of the new machine’.

  On Wednesday 21 February Longmore, again with Lieutenant Spencer Grey as passenger, made an attempt for the Mortimer Singer Prize on the S.36. The prize, put up by Mr A Mortimer Singer early in 1911, offered £500 each to army and navy commissioned officers who, accompanied by a passenger also in the Regular Service (combined net weight to be not less than 20 stone), and starting from any recognised flying ground, or other starting point sanctioned by the RAeC, made the longest out-and-back cross-country flight in the British Isles on an aeroplane between 1 April 1911 and 31 March 1912. Longmore took off at 9am with sufficient fuel for eight hours, but after he had flown 100 miles ‘in excellent style’ the Gnome began misfiring badly when he was about 1,000ft up and a mile from the aerodrome. By cleverly judging his glide he managed to land within the aerodrome boundary with the engine stopped.

  On Saturday 24 February Sergeant Cutler of the Territorials took his certificate in a fine flight, with McClean acting as the RAeCs official observer. On that day McClean, ‘to whose generosity and energy the whole of the present forward state and activity at Eastchurch may be traced’, reported Flight and The Aeroplane, also flew his S.36 again, ‘which looked very fast when flying with other machines’. On the previous day Shorts had completed a new Blériot-type monoplane with a 50hp Gnome, ‘to which the well-known Short chassis has been adapted’, one of two ordered as S.42 for McClean but then taken over by the navy. Samson took it for its official test on the 24th by making a one-hour flight. It was allotted the temporary naval serial M2.

  On 27 February the London Balloon Company’s commanding officer, Captain Bidder, sent a letter to the Officer Commanding London Troops, RE. After reporting the progress made in aviation work, he continued:

  The cost of these weekend trainings to the War Office amounted to only about £5 per week, and for this expenditure men were being trained both as pilots and also in the ground-staff work. Should we be allowed to continue on these lines, I have no doubt but that by the Summer we would be able to put in the field at least half a dozen pilots and three squads of men trained in ground-staff work. Mr McClean has further promised that, should no army machines be available for the Summer training, he would be prepared to lend us two for that period…

  It would appear that for any scheme in contemplation trained men must be an advantage; and for this reason may I therefore ask whether there is any chance for the decision arrived at being altered, and the training on these lines allowed to proceed.

  First flown on 24 February 1912, only one Short S.42 Blériot-type monoplane was built Initially two had been ordered by McClean on 11 August 1911, but the second was uncompleted. This one was purchased by the Admiralty and allocated the serial M2; apparently McClean never flew it. (AUTHOR)

  The end of the Tandem Twin? Although the Admiralty declined to buy it, McClean lent it to the Naval Flying School at Eastchurch free of charge, and it was crashed while being flown by Samson on 11 March 1912 in an attempt to win the Mortimer Singer prize. (FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM)

  Sadly his appeal fell upon deaf ears, and the training was not resumed. In 1950 McClean commented with hindsight:

  A horrible suspicion is roused that if £5 a week had been given to the Balloon Company (or, in other words, if the War Office had been saved that enormous sum of public money) the training might have continued with the results looked forward to by Bidder.

  But flying in those days was beyond the comprehension of many who should have known better.

  The 29 February issue of The Aeroplane contained a long report by C G Grey on ‘Busy Eastchurch’, which he described as ‘one of the busiest, most workmanlike, and cheerful places in this country’. It now had twenty-eight sheds, ‘all with authentic aeroplanes in them’, ‘various cosy bungalows’, ‘a manufacturing establishment where the Short Brothers can really turn out machines in quantities’, and ‘on a moderately fine day half a dozen or more machines in the air at a time’. Shorts was in the throes of completing a new and considerably bigger workshop that would at least double the factory’s capabilities.

  Short-Sommer S.40, which McClean had ordered in December 1911, was active by early March, and it appears that McClean had made it available to the Territorials at this period. On 7 March McClean ordered Shorts to fit it with a ‘speed indicator’ and new tyres and wheels, and on the following day he instructed Shorts to ‘fix extra rudder off Biplane No 36’ to it, all of this work being completed on the 9th. The additional rudder might have been a preparatory modification in readiness to have the aircraft fitted with floats, as shall be seen.

  Sunday 10 March again saw McClean out on S.36, ‘his favourite machine’, taking Samson on a tour of the island by way of Sheerness. On the following day Longmore made another attempt for the Royal Navy Mortimer Singer prize in S.36, and covered 172 (Flight) or 180 (The Aeroplane) miles. Samson also made an attempt that day, flying the S.27 Tandem Twin, but crashed, damaging the engines. Bad weather then intervened for the last week before the time limit for the competition expired, and, as his distance had not been bettered, Longmore won the £500.

  The birth of accident investigation

  In Flight for 16 March it was announced that the RAeC had appointed a Special Committee, chaired by Colonel H C L Holden, to enquire into the causes of aviation accidents. The ASGB was invited to nominate representatives to serve on the committee, which, as the Public Safety and Accidents Committee, issued its first accident report in May 1912. One of the initial committee members was Frank McClean, who was also appointed one of the three RAeC representatives, along with Ogilvie and Samson, to enquire and report on all accidents at Eastchurch. This committee was the forerunner of the UK’s present-day Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

  On Wednesday 20 March Jim Travers travelled to London to tell McClean that Mr Barton, a pupil with the Territorials, had crashed school machine S.32 the previous day. McClean and Captain Bidder, a friend of McClean’s as well as a pupil of Jim’s, had to decide whether the pupils might use a newer machine. Jim’s aunt, Emmie, wrote: ‘They said of course Jim might but that is not the point. Maclean [sic] is an awfully decent man and very good natured but disgusted
with the Government and cannot keep the territorials going for ever.’ Jim Travers seems to have left Shorts in April 1912.

  On 29 March Shorts began repairing S.40 after it had been smashed by Sergeant Cutler on Sunday 24 March. It must have been quite badly damaged, as the job was not signed off as completed until 28 May. During this work, on 13 April, McClean instructed Shorts to supply a float undercarriage for the aircraft.

  A tragic accident occurred at Eastchurch late in May, when Seaman Pullen went inside the tail booms of the Triple Twin to remove the wheel chocks in readiness for take-off and ran into the rear propeller. He was killed when a blade fractured his skull.

  At the 11th Annual General Meeting of the RAeC on 21 March the chairman, Mr Roger W Wallace, ‘had the pleasure of acknowledging the generosity of a member of the Club who had placed aeroplanes at the disposal of the Admiralty for the instruction of naval officers and who had also lent machines to the Territorial Forces’.

  On 31 March McClean placed an order with Shorts for ‘l Hydro Monoplane fitted tandem fashion with 2 70hp “Gnome” engines’. This was designated S.48, but was cancelled and never built. However, an apparently similar machine, the S.46, was built for the Admiralty, though a photograph of it has yet to be found (see box ‘The ‘Double Dirty’, page 104.)

  On the afternoon of Saturday 6 April, during the Easter Holidays, McClean was aloft in the S.36 in ‘very unsettled’ weather, and he had ‘a particularly rough time when flying near Harty Ferry on Sunday afternoon’. On the following Tuesday evening he was again out on S.36, ‘flying in a considerable wind’ said to be 22mph on the ground. By 7pm, however, the wind had dropped to a calm, and he took up two passengers, Miss Marion Spicer and Mr Lancelot Spicer, ‘giving them a fine flight round the aerodrome at an altitude of about 200ft’.