126 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 22
1921 George Handasyde and Hamilton Fulton
set up the Handasyde Aircraft Company. They
were soon joined by Sydney Camm, but this
company ran out of money and was disbanded
in 1923, whereupon Sydney went to H.G.
Hawker Engineering as senior designer.
Meanwhile, Fred Camm had established a
reputation as a writer on technical subjects
such as model aeroplanes, model engineering,
electronics and wireless. He contributed widely
to several magazines aimed at the amateur
modeller and mechanic, writing articles and
providing answers to readers’ queries, and
also edited many magazines or acted as editor
for specialist sections. In addition he wrote
numerous books on a range of subjects. He
continued doing this throughout his life, until
his death in 1959. Consequently, in the inter-
war years Fred’s name appears in numerous
periodical publications aimed at the home
mechanic, such as Everyday Science, Practical
Mechanics and Hobbies. In his book The Design of
Model Aeroplanes, published in 1919, he included
a chapter on the construction of a simple full-size
biplane glider, concluding with a picture of the
second WMAC glider, which he says was of
“the Chanute type, but possesses interconnected
ailerons which are normally set at a negative
angle of 2°. It was found that excellent lateral
stability [was] obtained as a result of this, and
even in the most gusty winds it remained
perfectly steady in the air”.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
When I went upstairs in the Honiton bookshop I
found the small aviation section disappointing,
so I wandered around the other rooms. On
a table in one room I noticed two large red
books containing three volumes of a newsprint
magazine entitled Work: The Illustrated Weekly
Journal of Handicrafts, covering the period from
late September 1918 to the end of March 1920.
Fortunately they contained subject indexes, so
I searched for items of aeronautical interest. I
quickly found several articles by Fred Camm on
model aircraft, and also one by him entitled The
Training of an Engineer’s Draughtsman, providing
guidance on how to undertake an apprenticeship
in a drawing office. Subsequent research
revealed that Fred’s contributions to Work had
been missed by his biographer.
Then, in the issue for March 15, 1919, I came
upon the first part of a feature entitled Building a
Triplane Glider. This includes a full-page general-
arrangement drawing (see OPPOSITE PAGE) with
added detail sketches. But it is not by Fred; it
is signed “S. Camm”. The second part, in the
issue for March 22 the same year, completes the
instructions for building the glider and provides
a few more detail sketches.
To the best of my knowledge this is the earliest
aircraft design that can be definitely attributed
to Sydney Camm. Of 21ft 6in (6·5m) span, it
is a triplane built of spruce or white deal and
hickory, with the pilot perched in a plywood
seat on the lowest wing, which, with a span
of 18ft (5·5m), is shorter than the other two.
The single-surface fabric-covered wings have
sleeves housing the spars, the front spars also
forming the wing leading edges. Pegamoid
(a trademarked form of waterproof varnish)
was specified for the covering, but, failing this,
“madapollam” [sic: madapolam, a soft cotton
fabric], proofed with a solution of boiled oil
thinned with petrol or other solvent, could
be used. The four central-plane struts are of
ash, the remainder being of spruce. A single
central hickory skid undercarriage is provided,ABOVE The WMAC’s 25ft-span No 2 glider, bearing the legend “WMA & GC 2”, the initials presumably by this point
standing for the Windsor Model Aeroplane & Glider Club. Little appears to be known about it, although we know
that it was flown in May 1913 by Charles Camm, who was given strict instructions not to touch any of the controls.