Cody Aircraft Mark II RAE-O178 during World War I

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War

A medium close up of Cody aircraft mark II with Edward Leroy (despite the name, Lela's son - see below for further details) and Blanche Leroy (Edward's wife) aboard. Edward is wearing a rather pointed cowboy hat and tasselled leather jacket.

Lela Cody's real name was Elizabeth King nee Davis. When her and Cody met (1890 / 1891) he had recently split up from his American wife Maud Lee and she was married with four children Lizzy, Edward, Leon and Vivian. Like their mother her children were soon enamoured with Cody, the three boy's joined Lela and Cody on stage with Leon and Vivian taking the name Cody and pretending to be his sons, whilst Edward took up the name Leroy and pretended to be Lela's nephew. Cody's only natural son was Frank. This is very different from the story that both Cody and Vivian told. In their version Cody met Lela when he was transporting horses from America to Britain to be sold to her father (he actually was a horse dealer, who numbered the Royal Stud amongst his clients). Cody's lack of a divorce caused problems for his family, as he died intestate, allowing Maud, after a very lengthy legal battle, to make a successful claim for part of his estate.

Frank joined the RFC and was killed in air combat in France 1917 giving his family the dubious honour of having the first recorded instance where both father and son were killed in the air. Vivian worked for the RAE for forty years ending up Head of the Fabric Shop until retirement. Leon worked in a sharp shooting act for a while before joining the Royal Navy working on kite balloons, at the end of the First World War he joined Handley-Page. Edward Leroy carried on working in the theatre for many years.

Cody built this aircraft in 1910; the previous aircraft had been in several crashes and was suffering generally from constant usage. The design of this aircraft followed similar lines to the previous one though the wingspan was shorter by around six feet and the wing area around a third smaller.

The single propeller was originally intended to be powered by two 60 hp Green engines (mark IIA) though problems with synchronicity meant that this was never carried out. This did mean that the aircraft was underpowered though alterations to the engine and the removal of excess weight partly solved this problem (marks IIB to IID). When this engine was replaced with a 120 hp Austro-Daimler, the aircraft performed well, and in January 1912 carried Cody and four passengers. It was eventually crashed by Lieut. J N Fletcher on the 5th April whilst Cody was teaching him to fly. It was also in this aircraft that Cody won his first Michelin Trophy.

Note the mid wing balancing planes are protruding slightly over the wing tip and the horizontal appendage on the rudder. In other versions of this mark the balancing planes protrude much further and there is no appendage on the rudder. This reflects the constant tinkering that Cody carried out on his aircraft to obtain better performance and handling.

british empire michelin cup cody aircraft mark ii royal aircraft establishment collection at the imperial war museum uk government artistic works great britain early aviation aviation wwi first world war propeller aircraft aircraft balloon france world war i

1910

Imperial War Museums

https://www.iwm.org.uk/

Public Domain