Aviation in Britain Before the First World War RAE-O693

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War
Close up of the gondola of Nulli Secundus I with Cody aboard and ground handlers holding on to it. Note the Union Jack hanging from the rear of the gondola. Cody was responsible for the design of the nacelle and spar frame that attached the nacelle to the airship envelope and kept the latter rigid. The construction of the frame from hickory, spruce and bamboo followed similar lines to the methods used for his kites and gliders.
It was in this airship that Cody and Colonel Capper of the Balloon School at Aldershot made their record breaking flight from Farnborough to London. The journey of 40 miles took three hours twenty five minutes and included circling St Paul's Cathedral. It finished at the cycle stadium next to Crystal Palace. At the time this was a world record for a non-rigid airship.

Colonel Capper was instrumental in the War Office deciding to use Cody's man carrying kites and appointing him as instructor. After this their relationship soured, due partly to Capper's bias towards airships rather than aeroplanes and his support of a rival aviator John Dunne. Cody's none military attitude also caused a certain amount of friction between the two of them. Their relationship did however remain cordial, and on 15th August 1909 in the mark IC, piloted by Cody, Capper became the first passenger to be carried by an aircraft in Britain.