Frank McClean

by Philip Jarrett

  In August 1914 war broke out and Brewer quickly returned to Britain, where he found that most of his fellow-directors had joined the armed forces. ‘It was evident,’ he said, ‘that we could not reasonably serve our country and at the same time sue it in the action for infringement.’ Brewer therefore interviewed General Henderson, who was acting on the War Office’s behalf, and secured a lump-sum settlement of £15,000 for the use of the Wright patents for the Forces of the Crown. This did not include civilian use of the invention. The settlement was announced in the 16 October 1914 issue of Flighty which commented:

  The action by the British Wright Co against Mr Mervyn O’Gorman, the nominee of the War Office, has been proceeding quietly for more than a year past, following several months of earlier discussion, and we understand that the offer to accept £15,000, in settlement of the original claim of £25,000, was made by the British Wright Co in order to relieve the Government from an unnecessary embarrassment during the stress of war.

  Both sides are to be congratulated on their good sense in coming to this settlement.

  At the war’s end Orville decided to wind up the British Wright Company, which had been manufacturing aeronautical instruments, and the shares were liquidated at £1 7s per £1 share.

  As a result of the action against the British Government and the wartime manufacture of instruments, a payment of over £24,000 in dividends and share redemption money was made, of which Orville received some £12,000 in recognition of the invention. The shareholders who had backed the action received back four times the amount they had hazarded. As a result the British patent was more profitable than any of the Continental patents, and the friends of the Wrights, who had anticipated losing their money but getting a good run for it, were pleasantly surprised by the reward. In 1916 Orville had decided not to apply for an extension of the British patent. As Brewer pointed out, this amounted to a gift from Orville to the British aircraft industry, and this was warmly applauded by Lord Northcliffe.

  Naval activity

  On 31 December 1912 the first Naval Air Station had been commissioned. Established on the Isle of Grain at the estuary of the Thames and Medway, it had already seen some use by naval pilots, and on 27 December the Admiralty had announced that Lieutenant John W Seddon, BJC, who had been serving as a flying officer at the Naval Aviation School at Eastchurch, was to take charge of the new station with the rank of Flight Commander. The sheds at Grain, located close to the shore of the Medway, were soon occupied by ‘hydro-aeroplanes’, many coming from the Short Brothers factory close by. Flight reported that it was ‘the first of the chain of aviation centres which the Admiralty propose to establish along the coast’. So great was the naval aviation activity in the area that the regular published reports of flying at Eastchurch had ceased to appear, evidently prohibited by the Admiralty. Even the doings of the few civilians still flying from the site were seldom revealed.

  In January 1913 the Science Museum at South Kensington in London put on a temporary exhibition illustrating the history of aeronautics and the research side of the science. One exhibit was the Birdling monoplane lent by McClean.

  On Monday 13 January, despite a high wind, five aeroplanes took off from Eastchurch and descended on Dover. About noon, Commander Samson and Lieutenant Spencer Grey started from Eastchurch on 100hp and 70hp Short tractor biplanes respectively, and an hour later they were followed by Frank McClean on his 70hp S.36, Captain Risk in a 100hp twin-engine Short and Sub-Lieutenant Hewlett in a 70hp Henry Farman. All carried a passenger with them. After lunching with Captain Marley of the Dover Aero Club, Samson returned to Eastchurch, but the others decided to remain overnight. In its next issue Flight reported: ‘It appears that the visits of the naval aviators to Dover have been in the nature of prospecting expeditions, and the Admiralty are now negotiating with the proprietors of the aerodrome with a view to utilising it as a base for the naval wing of the RFC.’

  The 1913 International Aero Exhibition was held at Olympia, London, from 14 to 22 February. On the opening day the Exhibition’s patron, His Majesty King George V, the ‘first visitor’, toured the stands. At the stand of Mr Percy Grace, the agent for Short Brothers, where an 80hp tractor hydro-biplane was displayed, Frank McClean was presented to His Majesty, who ‘congratulated him most heartily on the magnificent performance he had accomplished in flying from Eastchurch up the River Thames into the very heart of London some months since on a Short hydro-biplane’.

  During the early part of 1913 McClean was flying the S.36 and S.58 at Eastchurch when the opportunity arose. By now the S.58 was being operated permanently as a landplane, and by late February the forward elevator was carried on short curved extensions from the nose of the nacelle, the booms having been done away with.

  On Sunday 23 February McClean and Lieutenant Gregory, RN, ‘carried out a practical experiment… with a view to ascertaining whether a pilot could reasonably find his way without a map or compass’. Setting off from Eastchurch in McClean’s 70hp S.58 ‘hydroaeroplane’ fitted with a wheeled undercarriage, they crossed the Thames at an altitude of 1,500ft and passed over Stanford-le-Hope. They hoped to follow the River Lea, but it was obscured by fog, and consequently they had to descend twice to ask the way. Eventually, after a journey lasting an hour and a quarter, they landed safely at Hendon Aerodrome late in the evening. McClean flew S.58 at Hendon the following day, and on the Tuesday afternoon he was invited to take part in a private race with M. Brindejonc des Moulinais on a Morane-Saulnier monoplane, Mr Valentine on a 70hp tandem Blériot monoplane and Mr Gates in the ‘Grahame-White brevet ‘bus’. He opted out, preferring to ‘do laps alone, his 62ft span [sic] not being quite the thing for pylon racing’. Having spent a week away from his home base, McClean left Hendon at 4 o’clock on the afternoon of Sunday 2 March, carrying a passenger, and made the return flight to Eastchurch in 50 minutes.

  The 6 March issue of The Aeroplane contained a proposal for the formation of a ‘Territorial Air Corps’, the author pointing out that:

  During the last year or eighteen months much has been said, and many hard words have been used over the policy of the War Office with regard to military aviation. The result of it is that there is now a chance of our having a respectable air fleet for the Army, and possibly for the Navy. Very little, however, has been done until the last six weeks or so with regard to the Territorials. The case for the Terriers stands as follows:- A few officers have taken their aviators’ certificates on machines of various makes at their own expense, and a certain well-known aviator, with his usual patriotic generosity, undertook the task of instructing several members of the London Balloon Section in the piloting and general management of aeroplanes.

  The S.40 was extensively rebuilt after its Thames flight, re-emerging in November 1912 as the S.58, an S.38-type biplane that bore scant resemblance to its original form. This picture of it was taken on 2 March 1913, as McClean was about to depart from Hendon after a rare visit to the famous London Aerodrome. It was initially intended to operate this aircraft as a seaplane, but its disappointing performance led to it being used only as a landplane. (FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM)

  And that is about all.

  As a result of the unusual public exposure occasioned by his appearing at Hendon, McClean was featured in the 15 March issue of Flight as that week’s personality in the ‘Men of Moment in the World of Flight’ series. At the time he was serving on three RAeC committees; the Executive Committee, the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee and the Competitions Committee, and had a good attendance record on all of them for the previous year. With regard to his re-election on to the Executive Committee for the coming year, The Aeroplane commented in its 13 March issue: ‘It will, of course, be universally accepted that everyone must vote for Colonel Holden, and Messrs. McClean and Ogilvie, three of the retiring members who are not only among the hardest workers, but whose knowledge of aviation generally is extensive and practical, the last two being pilots of the best class.’
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br />   The sad but valuable work of the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee was typified on 7 March, when McClean was among nine of its members, along with Harold Perrin, the Club’s secretary, who went to Larkhill on Salisbury Plain that day to investigate the fatal accident suffered by Geoffrey England, who had crashed in a Bristol monoplane two days previously. Perrin, along with Major Fulton and Major Gerrard, the Club’s representatives on Salisbury Plain, had already made a careful inspection of the wrecked aeroplane on the day of the accident, but on the 7th the committee members spent ‘a considerable time’ examining the wreckage, which had been left untouched pending the investigation. They then held an enquiry at the George Hotel in Amesbury, where they took the evidence of eyewitnesses and discussed matters with representatives of the British and Colonial Aeroplane Co Ltd. The enquiry was then adjourned until 12 March.

  The annual RAeC Dinner was held at the Royal Automobile Club on 13 March, and McClean was among the ‘distinguished members and guests’ who heard a speech by the guest of the evening, Colonel Seely MP, the Secretary of State for War. Flight remarked that Seely’s presence ‘gave a peculiar interest to the occasion in view of the possibility of a momentous utterance from him on the subject of the aerial defence of the British Isles’. Seely paid a generous appreciation to the members of the Aero Club, to which His Majesty’s forces owed so much, and suggested that they should endeavour to secure greater safety for aeroplanes, for not only would that be of incalculable benefit to the Army and Navy but to the industry itself. Replying on behalf of the guests, Mr W Joynson-Hicks made some ‘pointed remarks’ that, to judge from the enthusiasm aroused among the guests, were greatly appreciated. He described Seely’s speech as an excellent essay in ‘skating’, adding that, quite outside the realm of party politics, the nation’s position in regard to military and naval aviation did not redound to the honour of Great Britain. He hoped that Seely would shortly be able to announce that Britain’s aerial forces would be brought up to the level of Germany’s within the next twelve months.

  Despite McClean’s generosity towards the Admiralty, on 18 March he was obliged to ask the RAeC Committee why their Lordships had not yet paid for the last year of rent at Eastchurch, in accordance with the agreement. He was told that the Admiralty had not paid up because it objected to the costs of the Club’s solicitors. His reaction was not recorded.

  On 26 March Mr Winston Spencer Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, in explaining his memorandum on the Naval Estimates to the House of Commons, provided figures that illustrated the growth of the Naval Wing of the RFC.

  The aeroplane service plays a much smaller part relatively in the naval organisation than it does in military affairs, and, of course, in the Navy as well as in the Army, it is in its infancy. This time last year the Navy had five machines and four trained pilots; today it has 40 machines and 60 pilots. The anomaly of our having more pilots than machines is due to the unexpected non-delivery of machines which have been ordered, but, owing to one difficulty and another, have been delayed in delivery. Twenty more machines are expected to be received in the next few weeks, and by the date of the manoeuvres in July we shall have 75 naval machines and 75 pilots. By the end of the new financial year, for which we are now providing, we shall have 100 pilots and considerably over 100 machines in the naval wing…

  What Churchill did not acknowledge, of course, was the fact that the initial impetus for the development of British naval aviation had been largely provided by a generous gesture by a patriotic civilian and the enthusiasm and commitment of a few civilian pilots and officers from the lower ranks.

  A seaplane race round Britain

  In its issue of 1 April the Daily Mail announced that it was offering two substantial prizes totalling £15,000 to promote the development of waterplanes. The largest was a £10,000 prize for the first waterplane flight across the Atlantic in either direction, open to pilots of all nationalities and machines of both foreign and British construction, and the other was £5,000 for a flight round Great Britain in an all-British-built waterplane. Sir Charles Rose, Chairman of the RAeC, sent a telegram to the newspaper’s proprietor, Lord Northcliffe, the same day, stating:

  The announcement in your today’s issue of your magnificent offer of prizes for a circuit of Great Britain by hydro-aeroplane and flight across the Atlantic, affords further proof of the patriotism and generosity of the Daily Mail in all progressive movements, and especially in the development of aviation, about which the public is so much concerned at the present time in connection with the defensive security of the country. The assistance of the Royal Aero Club will be entirely at your disposal as in the past.

  In the following day’s Daily Mail it was announced that entries for both prizes had already been received. British airman Eric Gordon England and German aircraft manufacturer Edmund Rumpler had announced their intention to compete for the Atlantic prize, while Messrs Blériot Ltd and ‘Colonel Cody’ (Samuel Cowdery, who had made the first powered, sustained and controlled flight in Britain on 16 October 1908) had expressed their intention to enter for both competitions. ‘The best experts believe,’ the paper reported, ‘that the British prize may be won this year and the Atlantic prize before the end of 1914.’ ‘We wish to drive home’, the newspaper added, ‘the fact that, for an island and a naval Power, the waterplane, or aeroplane that rises from and descends on the sea, is the best of all aerial weapons. The Germans excel in enormous airships, the French in land aeroplanes. Our prizes are intended to produce a sea-going aeroplane for Britain that shall be capable, as we believe it will be, of seeking out and destroying any airship that leaves its country’s shores.’ Horace Short was quoted in full as saying:

  The Round Britain Circuit presents no difficulties whatever, except weather conditions. It is more than probable it will be won this year.

  The Atlantic crossing from the American side to this side is almost feasible now, taking advantage of south-westerly winds. From this side to America it is doubtful for at least eighteen months.

  Significantly, a tearsheet of page 5 from the 2 April 1913 issue of the Daily Mail, on which these responses are reported, is to be found among the Francis McClean papers in the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton. On the same page is printed a photograph of McClean flying through Tower Bridge in S.40 the previous year.

  At an RAeC Committee meeting on April 29 McClean was listed as being on the Grounds Inspection Committee, the Club Ground Committee and the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee.

  On 1 May 1913 an Indenture was signed between Aero Proprietary Ltd of the first part, Frank McClean of the second part and the Commissioners for executing the office of the Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland of the third part, granting the use of Eastchurch flying ground to the Admiralty ‘during the term of 21 years less three days calculated from 25th December, 1911, at a rent of £150 per annum, with right to determine after seven or 14 years’. It was agreed between Frank McClean and the Admiralty that the Admiralty might purchase the land, subject to leases, etc., at £16 per acre if notice was given by them before 24 June 1918.

  In fact, Eastchurch Aerodrome was taken over by the Admiralty in December 1914. McClean’s cottage, ‘Stonepitts’, was taken over in June 1917, and the land was purchased according to the agreement in June 1918.

  In the 1 May 1913 agreement the Admiralty were bound by the following restrictions:

  (a)

  That the number of flying machines in use at any one time under the liberty hereby granted shall not exceed 10 without the consent in writing of the Lessors which shall not be unreasonably withheld in any case when the Admiralty are willing to pay a reasonable sum by way of additional rent in respect of every machine in excess of 10.

  (b)

  That if more than two flying machines are in use at any one time under the liberty hereby granted each flying machine in excess of that number shall be in charge of an Aviator holding a Certif
icate recognised by the Royal Aero Club.

  In May and June details were released of the Daily Mail 1,600-mile round-Britain 72-hour race for seaplanes ‘entirely constructed within the confines of the British Empire’, including their engines. The race, set to take place from 6am on Saturday 16 August to 6pm on Saturday 30 August at the latest, was to start and finish on Southampton Water, and a passenger had to be carried. Competitors were free to start at any time and date from the earliest stipulated time, provided they completed the circuit by the deadline, and within 72 hours of starting. Both pilot and passenger could be changed during the contest, and there was a £5,000 prize for the winner. As shall be seen, McClean, with his passion for seaplanes, would find the challenge irresistible, though Shorts had apparently initially intended to enter a machine piloted by Gordon Bell, who was now the company’s chief pilot and had put the new Short private-venture S.61 tractor seaplane through its trials for the navy.

  C G Grey, editor of The Aeroplane, devoted his leader in the 29 May issue to ‘The Development of the Naval Air Service’. Under a cross-head entitled ‘The Extinction of the Naval Wing’ he remarked:

  Incidentally, it rather looks as if the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps, ‘one and indivisible,’ was quietly ceasing to exist. Of course, the beautiful scheme for a corps of ‘ultra-marines’ was – in the words of the theologians – ordained to be damned, but one scarcely expected the Naval Air Service to develop so quickly. One imagines that the dynamic force of the Right Honourable Winston Spencer-Churchill [sic] is somewhat responsible. The young man in a hurry may be a danger to himself and everyone else, but if he is efficient, as in this case, he gets things done.