Aviation in Britain Before the First World War RAE-O323

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War
A clear medium close up of soldiers working on Cody aircraft mark IA. This aircraft was the rebuilt version of the original aircraft in which Cody made his first flight. The main difference between that and the mark IA was the addition of the biplane lifting tail and moving the front rudder to behind the elevator.

Particularly with his earlier aircraft Cody made constant adjustments to the arrangement of the flying surfaces, often after crashes, in order to obtain better performance and handling. These changes mean that identifying specific sub-marks of Cody aircraft can at times be very difficult, it should also be remembered that because of this constant evolution of his aircraft Cody would probably not have classified them in such a detailed manner.