Kites War Kite designed by Cody It is not clear why Cody became fascinated by kite flying. Cody liked to recount a tale that he first became inspired by a Chinese cook; who, apparently, taught him to fly kites, whilst travelling along the old cattle trail. However, it is more likely that Cody's interest in kites was kindled by his friendship with Auguste Gaudron, a balloonist Cody met while performing at
Alexandra Palace. Cody showed an early interest in the creation of kites capable of flying to high altitudes and of carrying a man. Leon also became interested, and the two of them competed to make the largest kites capable of flying at ever-increasing heights. Vivian too became involved after a great deal of experimentation. Financed by his shows, Cody significantly developed
Lawrence Hargrave's double-cell
box kite to increase its lifting power, especially by adding wings on either side. He also developed a sophisticated system of flying multiple kites up a single line, which was capable of ascending to many thousands of feet or of carrying several men in a gondola. He patented his design in 1901, and it became known as the Cody kite. Balloons were then in use for meteorological and military observation, but could only be operated in light winds. Cody realised that kites, which can only be operated in stronger winds, would allow these activities to be carried out in a wider range of weather conditions. His kites were soon adopted for
meteorology, and he was made a Fellow of the
Royal Meteorological Society. In December 1901, he offered his design to the
War Office as an observation "War Kite" for use in the
Second Boer War, and made several demonstration flights of up to in various places around London. A large exhibition of the Cody kites took place at
Alexandra Palace in 1903. Later, he succeeded in crossing the
English Channel in a
Berthon boat towed by one of his kites. His exploits came to the attention of the
Admiralty, who hired him to look into the military possibilities of using kites for observation posts. He demonstrated them later in 1903, and again on 2 September 1908, when he flew them off the deck of battleship
HMS Revenge. The Admiralty eventually purchased four of his War Kites. His flight of 16 October 1908 is recognised as the first official flight of a piloted heavier-than-air machine in
Great Britain. The machine was damaged at the end of the flight. After repairs and extensive modifications, Cody flew it again, early in 1909. The
War Office then decided to stop development of heavier-than-air aircraft, and Cody's contract with the Army ended in April 1909. Cody continued to work on aircraft using his own funds. He was given his Army aeroplane, and continued to work on it at
Farnborough, using Laffan's Plain for his test flights. On 14 May 1909, he succeeded in flying for over a mile, establishing the first official British distance and endurance records. By August of that year, Cody had completed the last of his long series of modifications to the aircraft. He carried passengers for the first time on 14 August: first his old workmate Capper, and then Lela Cody. On 29 December 1909, Cody became the first man to fly from
Liverpool in an unsuccessful attempt to win the
Sir William Hartley Prize for a non-stop flight between Liverpool and
Manchester. He set off from
Aintree Racecourse at 12.16 p.m., but 19 minutes later he was forced to land at Valencia Farm near to Eccleston Hill,
St Helens, close to
Prescot, because of thick fog. Over the winter of 1909–10, Cody worked on a
new and improved aircraft at his shed on Laffain's Plain. During an early test flight while already airborne, the plane was caught by a gust of wind. Cody, who was piloting it, was not able to get it under control before it pitched forward and crashed to the ground. He was trapped under the wreckage where he was freed by his team, including his chief assistant Mr E Leroy. He sustained what were described as "serious injuries to his head and shoulders" but was taken home to recuperate and not hospitalised, and quickly recovered. On 7 June 1910, Cody received
Royal Aero Club certificate number 9 using the new aircraft, and later in the year won the
Michelin Cup for the longest flight made in England during 1910 with a flight of 4 hours 47 minutes on 31 December. In 1911, his
third aircraft was the only British machine to complete the
Daily Mail's "
Circuit of Great Britain" air race, finishing fourth, for which achievement he was awarded the Silver Medal of the R.Ae.C. in 1912. The
Cody V machine, with a new 120 hp (90 kW) engine, won first prize at the
1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition Military Trials on
Salisbury Plain. He had first prepared a monoplane, the
Cody IV, for the trials, but it was badly damaged in a crash before the trials began. His last aeroplane, the
Cody Floatplane, could be flown with either wheels or floats.
List of aircraft •
Cody War Kites (1901) •
Cody glider-kite (1905) •
Cody power-kite (1907) •
British Army Aeroplane No 1 (1908) or Cody No. 1 or Cody Cathedral •
Cody Michelin Cup Biplane (1910) •
Cody Circuit of Britain Biplane (1911) •
Cody monoplane (1912) •
Cody V biplane (1912) (for military trials) •
Cody Floatplane (1913) == Death ==