Watson's First Aeroplane
Taken at Rossie, Forgandenny, Perthshire in late 1909, Watson's first aeroplane's unusual configuration is evident here. Unfortunately for Watson, it never flew successfully, achieving a few powered hops under its own power, before leading a more fruitful career as a glider with the Dundee Model Aero Club. via Philip Jarrett.
Based on Watson's rocking wing patent, it is assumed that his first powered machine was completed around mid 1909 since it is almost exactly like the illustration that accompanies the patent. Completion that year is confirmed by an article in the 9 July 1910 issue of the Dundee Courier newspaper, which gives information about Watson's second aeroplane, whilst mentioning his first was built a year earlier. Constructed within the workshops of the Tay Motor Boat And Engine Company of Dundee, the Watson No.1 was of reverse sesquiplane layout, with the upper wing being approximately one half the span of the lower wing. The main wings were in two separate sections, between which the pilot sat. He had no instrumentation of any sort. The upper wing was mounted at the apex of an A-frame, with the main wing forming the cross bar of the 'A' and with long skis being fitted at its base.
The wings were of simple rectangular planform; being of equal chord, the lower was braced by wire from the apex of the A-frame and from its base. There was considerable camber applied to the main wings and upper surface. This pivoted about its longitudinal axis to induce a turning motion as per the patent. Two small skids were fitted at the leading edges of the wingtips, but unusually the starboard wingtip skid was longer than that on the port wingtip, curving upwards at a greater angle.
There was no fuselage as such, the boxkite tailplane being positioned behind the A-frame by bracing spars. The entire tail section pivoted about its lateral axis, providing pitch, which was interconnected to an actuating column positioned below the upper wing. There was no moveable vertical tail, although the tailplane was fitted with end plates. Powered by a four cylinder 40 hp Dutheil Chalmers engine, the No.1's unusually configured powerplant was fitted in a rectangular frame ahead of and slightly above the main wing.
Dimensionally, the aeroplane was approximately eight feet to the top of the rocking wing, nearly fifteen feet from the tips of the skids to the rear of the boxkite tail, with a wingspan of approximately 20 feet. It was primarily constructed of bamboo bound with, according to a newspaper article (The Scotsman Weekend Magazine, Saturday 16 July 1961), "...Scotch tape, the wooden members being clamped together by light metal clips." The daughter of one witness to events, who worked at a local bakery recalled that Watson brought lengths of bamboo to be placed in the ovens, to enable them to be bent into shape. Only the wing and tailplane surfaces were covered in fabric. The aircraft's overall finish was somewhat rough and ready.
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There are rumours that Watson acquired his first aeroplane's engine from Paris domiciled Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont. This was a four-cylinder horizontally opposed Dutheil Chalmers motor made in small numbers by Dutheil Chalmers & Cie 81 - 83 Avenue D'Italie, Paris, France. The engine that was fitted to Watson's No.1 was of unusual layout, the propeller was mounted between two horizontally opposed banks of cylinders. Weighing 164 lbs, the water-cooled Dutheil Chalmers rated at 1,200 rpm, with a bore and stroke of 133 by 135 mm.
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The motor's unusual configuration has led to eye witnesses claiming that it was two separate two-cylinder horizontally opposed engines coupled together and driving a single propeller; Kerr Sturrock, who claimed to have made propellers for Watson's machine believed they were De Dion motorcycle engines.
According to James Watson, ten propellers were made for the No.1 by Kerr Sturrock, Joiners, Dundee, but each successive one was, "...smashed by the revolutions of this little engine before a propeller was designed and made of a suitable pitch and length."
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A small conical fuel tank was fitted above the engine between the uprights that formed the apex of the A-frame ahead of the rocking wing. Fuel flow to the engine was most likely via gravity feed.
A line drawing of Watson's No.1 that appeared in the February 1954 issue of Aeronautics magazine illustrating its general configuration, although the location of the engine is incorrect; it was centrally mounted on the lower wing, not to the side. via Philip Jarrett.
Although in many respects conventional aeroplanes of the day that borrowed from existing sources; boxkite tail surfaces - in fashion in Europe at the time, skids instead of wheels - a possible Wright influence, Watson's machines incorporated a totally original means of lateral control: the rocking wing.
Watson's idea was to provide control about the longitudinal axis in one moveable surface - the parasol wing mounted above the mainplane that was actuated by a single lever, which also moved the elevator, thereby dispensing with the need for a number of different controls in the cockpit.
Watson's first aeroplane was fitted with a skid undercarriage, which corresponds with stories that he adopted an assisted take-off device similar in which a weight was suspended, Watson laid down planks on the ground and lubricated them; the weight, which would drop, providing momentum for the machine was suspended from a tree branch. The weight was nominally an anvil, which came from family friends the Gourlays' blacksmith foundry in Dundee. A description of how it worked appeared in the June 1957 of Meccano Magazine, although the article described the means with which Watson's supposed 1903 glider became airborne;
"[The aeroplane] sat in a wooden cradle or on skids, which could slide freely on planks lubricated with lard or graphite. A rope hooked under the glider led forward to a pulley, then back under the plane, round another pulley and finally up and over the branch of a tall tree. On the end of this rope hung two 56 lb. weights and an anvil borrowed from a nearby smithy."
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David Urquhart, founder of the Dundee Model Aero Club and friend of the Watsons, recounted in a letter to James in 1954 the workings of the means of launching the aeroplane;
"The plane simply rested on the cradle, which had a shoulder on the back so the plane could not slip off. The only slip hook used was the one the pilot released to enable the weight to drop. When the plane reached the end of the rail it simply shot off."
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Based on an article that appeared in the 11 October 1909 issue of the Dundee Advertiser, it can be safely assumed that Watson carried out his first attempts at flying the No.1 in the third week of October at Forgandenney, about 25 miles west of Dundee. The article, which conveys the excitement that witnessing an aeroplane flight evoked among the public, was certainly written with help from Watson, who, helpfully advising the reporter of his intent, although not giving away too much, was wary of the attention he had attracted, preferring to; "keep a strict watch on his aeroplane, which he guarded all night."
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"The inhabitants of the quiet little village of Forgandenney, Perthshire, are agog with excitement at the prospect of witnessing the trial flight of an aeroplane in their midst. the appearance at the railway station on Thursday of apparatus suggestive of a flying machine attracted unusual attention and when it became rumoured abroad that the machinery in question was none other than parts of an aeroplane, the interest increased tenfold."
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"It was soon learned that the owner of the aeroplane, Mr Preston A. Watson, of the well-known firm of Messers Watson & Philip, had selected as the scene of the operations a field in close proximity to the railway station and from then till now the villagers have been kept in a ferment of excitement at the prospect of withnessing a trial flight of the machine."
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The article ends with the statement that Watson was to attempt a trial flight at the end of the week. Within The Aeroplane magazine, 2 November 1909 issue is further confirmation of Watson's intent to publicly demonstrate his machine, although there has been nothing yet discovered in the contemporary press that describes it actually getting airborne, hinting at a lack of actual progress beyond mere hops into the air.
In Alistair Blair and Alistair Smith's book The Pioneer Flying Achievements of Preston Watson (Librario Publishing Ltd, 2014) are accounts of attempts to get it flying, including an unfortunate crash, when flown by James Watson. These were provided by 12 year old Alex Patterson, who assisted in freeing the aeroplane from restraint on take off, by cutting a rope tied to the machine.
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"Preston spun the propellor [sic] and we cut the tethering rope. Away she bounded with us running barefoot in its wake. After a hundred yards or so, the machine suddenly lifted and rose to about the height of the farm buildings."
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With James at the helm, a number of 100 to 200 yard hops were achieved, which, considering the low power output of the little French engine was certainly commendable, but one of these led to the aeroplane diving into the ground, where it; "somersaulted forward, throwing J.Y. clear and breaking the propellor [sic]"
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As well as infuriatingly spelling 'propeller' with two 'o's instead of two 'e's, then inexplicably spelling it correctly in other parts of the book (!), the authors misquote these events as taking place in 1903, rather than 1909, however.
An illustration of the rear of a four cylinder horizontally opposed 1909 Dutheil Chalmers engine on display at the Paris Air Salon that year. Flight via the National Museums of Scotland.
Most likely as a result of the Dutheil Chalmers engine's low power output, Watson's No.1 failed to achieve successful sustained powered flight, and he placed it in store in a shed on the property of Mr James Bell at Rossie, Forgandenney, where he carried out his flight attempts, although there are eyewitnesses who claim he also attempted to fly it at Muirhouses' and Ley's Farms at Errol, although there might be some confusion with Watson's second aeroplane, which it is known to have flown at these locations.
A year later Watson gave the forlorn craft away to a group of local enthusiasts from the Dundee Model Aero Club, founded in November 1909. David Urquhart and two friends, David Robertson and William Gibb, recounted in 1961 how the Dutheil Chalmers motor was removed and the aeroplane was converted into a glider in the club house used by the modellers.
In the November 1910, No.45 issue of the Dundee City Echo it is recorded that the Dundee Model Aero Club was, "....successful in securing the support of a well-known gentleman in Dundee who has been experimenting for some time with a machine of his own design and construction, and he has kindly offered us one of his aeroplanes with which to make experiments." Accompanying the article was a caricature of David Urquhart holding a model aeroplane, its resemblance to Watson's rocking wing aeroplanes is particularly noteworthy.
When finished, the glider differed little from its original form, with the exception of a modified undercarriage, comprising two wheels attached to an axle and probably sprung with bungee cord. These were attached to the rear of the long curved skids. The four uprights that held the engine in place and the foremost 'A' frame bracing struts between which the conical fuel tank was located were removed from in front of the wing, but little else appears to have been changed on the aircraft.
Unusually the port wingtip skid is absent in an existing photograph of the glider in its modified form, taken with an individual, claimed to be David Urquhart in a semi reclined position in the pilot's seat holding the single control lever that hung below the rocking wing.
By June 1911 the glider had been completed and several flights had been made from a rise on the property of a Mr Geo. Ballingall of Newton, Warmit, in Fife. Within five months however, the keen members of the Dundee Model Aero Club were constructing a new glider. What they did with the earlier one is not known; there are some in the Dundee area that believe that it still lies undisturbed in a shed somewhere waiting to be rediscovered.
Next, read about Watson's second aeroplane: