THE KNOWLEDGE MEDIA INSTITUTE

History of Flight

Key events

Flights of fancy

Models

Aerodynamics

How planes fly

Historical development

Aero-engines

Flyers

Cayley

Lilienthal

Phillips

The Wright Brothers

Santos-Dumont

Cody

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Cayley - flights - movies

The earliest recreation of the coachman's flight was made for the film 'The Conquest of the Air' by London Films. Unfortunately it is a rather clumsy, and extremely inaccurate, depiction of the events of 1853.


The pilot Derek Piggott flew a full size replica across Brompton dale in a more accurate reconstruction of the flight made by Anglia TV. For safety reasons, the plane was much heavier than Cayley's original, and close observation shows the 'bungee rope plus Volvo' assisted take-off.


A scale model of the 1853 plane on Brompton dale.


In the summer of 2003 a replica built by BAE systems flew on the 150th anniversary of the original flight. It was less authentic than the wood and canvas glider flown by Derek Piggott, but much lighter. It had a light alloy tube airframe with conventional elevator and rudder controls.