Cody aircraft mark IC, Cathedral RAE-O70

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War
A good view of Cody aircraft mark IC (Cathedral - so named because of its size and the size of the hangar it required and the katahedral (lower at the wing tips) arrangement of the wings) dismantled and loaded on to a cart probably at Aldershot. Parts of the undercarriage and wing are clearly visible. There are several army and civilian onlookers.

It was in this aircraft that Cody made the first passenger carrying flight in Britain (Colonel Capper on the 14th August 1909) and several record breaking flights including one cross-country of around forty miles and lasting an hour and three minutes, passing over Aldershot, Camberley, Fleet, Farnham and Farnborough on the 8th September 1909. This was the furthest cross-country flight that had ever been made, anywhere in the world and the longest flight in time and distance in the British Empire. Only six other pilots and four types of machine had flown over forty miles anywhere in the world and all of these were aerodrome circuits not cross-country flights.