Aeroplane – June 2018

AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 111

Archive

Ben Dunnell explores The

Aeroplane’s outstanding archives

to cast new light on past stories

Archive

T

he ‘fl ying car’ and the post-

war British light aeroplane:

two areas of aviation that

have led to more blind alleys

than most. Combine the two and the

outcome is unsurprising. The Chrislea

Super Ace was not a fl ying car in the

usual sense, but it was intended to

replicate certain aspects of vehicles of

the day, the idea being to produce a

more user-friendly machine with wider

appeal. Almost inevitably, it failed.

The Chrislea Aircraft story began

in 1936, its name taken from those of

its founders, Richard Christoforides

— known as ‘Chris’ — and Bernard

Leak. Just one example of its initial

design, the LC1 Airguard, took to

the air during 1938. This was a fairly

conventional low-wing monoplane

intended for training Civil Air Guard

pilots, but there was no demand

with the outbreak of war. When one

Monty Brown joined the fi rm in

1940, he wrote in a manuscript sent

to Aeroplane, “they shared a small

workshop off Mornington Crescent,

Camden Town, north London”. Soon

a move was made to a former furniture

workshop in Fortress Road, Kentish

Town, where Chrislea remained for

the duration of hostilities. It made

small components for other aircraft

including the Fairey Swordfi sh and

Bristol Beaufi ghter.

With peacetime work in mind,

Brown was tasked in early 1944 to

start making a wooden mock-up of

the cabin for a new high-winged light

aeroplane. Building began in earnest

when a move was made to a hangar

at Heston Airport in 1945. This

machine was the CH3 Series 1 Ace,

which — with a 125hp Lycoming

engine — made its maiden fl ight in

September 1946. It was anything

but conventional. The tricycle

undercarriage was unusual for the time,

and the controls positively unorthodox.

As Flight outlined, “all three

surfaces are operated from a single

wheel control. Lateral movement of

this wheel, from a fulcrum point at

the dash, operates the rudder; an up

and down movement from this point

controls the elevators; and the rotation

of the wheel itself operates the ailerons.

This arrangement is intended not only

to simplify control but also to leave

the fl oor space unobstructed. The

prototype is fi tted with a foot-operated

accelerator in addition to the normal

throttle control, and the brakes are

applied through a ‘dual’ pedal.”

Simplifying control may have been

the aim, but it didn’t work. Worse,

The Chrislea Super Ace: if ever there was an aeroplane that failed to live

up to its name, this is it...

ABOVE:

The fi rst Super Ace,

G-AKFD, fl ying

near Exeter in

April 1948. It was

sold to Australia

as VH-BRP during

June 1949, but

never made it — the

ship transporting

it caught fi re while

docked at Port Said,

Egypt.

ALL PHOTOS AEROPLANE

DEALING A

DUFF HAND

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