Aero Club Exhibition and Contest

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The Aero Club Exhibition and Contest held in London in 1907 was a division of the International Motor Car Exhibition. The main event took place at Agricultural Hall, but the most notable activity seems to have been the contest held on April 15 at Alexandra Palace. Entries included airplanes, wing-flapping ornithopters and helicopters. One entry used a rocket. Contest rules stipulated that the flying machines should weigh between 2 and 50 pounds. The best flyer was a biplane constructed by A.V. Roe. The entry considered next-best was a vessel shaped like a box kite wit one aeroplane, wheels, and a propeller, created by W. F. Howard. However, the Aero Club (Judges: "Professors Huntington and Wayneforth, Col. Capper, Roger Wallace and P. Y. Alexander") awarded no one the first prize.[1][2]

Comment: "It is more than probable that there was not sufficient inducement in the prizes offered to bring out the best designed machines and that more than one 'dark horse' is in a position to bring out a man-carrying device when the psychological moment arrives."[1]

See: "Roe I Biplane" on Wikipedia.

File:1906.12.29 - Aero Club notice in Motor Car Journal.png
"Aero Club Institute" advertised in connection with the April 1907 exhibition and contest


Event names Aero Club Exhibition and Contest, International Motor Car Exhibition, Aero Club Section
Event type exhibition
Country GB
Locations London
Start date 1907-04-06
Number of days 9
Tech focus Airplane, LTA
Participants


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Wilbur R. Kimball, "English Aero Club Exhibition", American Magazine of Aeronautics Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1907.
  2. Hugh Driver, The Birth of Military Aviation: Britain 1903–1914; Royal Historical Society / Boydell Press, 1997; p. 23.