Aeroplane designed and built by Archibald Richardson with Harold Eagle and Leslie Hankie, 1916 / photographs collected by Harold Eagle

PXB 449
ON 429

fonds

1916

Graphic Materials, Photographs

824708

6 photographic prints - 12.5 x 16.7 cm or smaller - gelatin silver
4 negatives - 12 x 16.4 cm (half of 1 negative missing) - glass
1 p. textual materials - A3 - printed

The twin row rotary aero engine was designed by Archibald (Archie) Richardson (b. 1886?) probably in 1912. The engine was not a copy of existing technology although it used parts already available to cut costs.
In 1913, Richardson, together with his brother Mervyn and friends Harold Eagle, Leslie Hankie (b. ca 1894) and Ted Sparks, built an aeroplane and engine incorporating Archie's engine design.
Work on the engine commenced in 1913 in the engineering workshop at Rupert Cook's Brickworks in Enfield. Cook, Eagle's grandfather, financed his grandson’s Australian designed and built aero engine and airframe. The engine was made entirely by Eagle, including castings and forgings.
Leslie Hankie, a carpenter, built the airframe at his father’s joinery works in Concord.
Reference:
Library correspondence file

PXB 449 (photographic prints)
1. Harold Eagle in the cockpit of the aeroplane in the backyard of the house in Burwood Road, Enfield (which adjoined the brickyard where the aeroplane had its preliminary tests), early 1916
2. At Richmond, late 1916; left to right: Harold “Curly” Eagle with hand on wheel, Archie Richardson, person unknown to Norman Eagle [but probably Ted Sparks or the test pilot], and Leslie Hankie with the aeroplane
3-4. Aeroplane, Richmond, 1916
5. Hangar, Dept of Education Flying School, Richmond with aeroplane at hangar door
6. Aeroplane with a De Havilland model inside the Dept of Education Flying School hangar, Richmond, late 1916 (neg. at ON 304/1)
7. "Flying into history – 58 years late”, Aeroplane Press, vol. 32, no. 24, Wed 12 June 1974

ON 429 (negatives)
1. Aeroplane with a De Havilland model inside the Dept of Education Flying School hangar, Richmond, late 1916 (print at PXB 449)
2. Aeroplane on the airfield, Dept of Education Flying School, Richmond, late 1916
3. Front view of engine
4. Rear view of engine (half of negative missing)

Access via appointment - ON 429

Out of copyright: Created befroe 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

ON 304/no. 2 and PXB 449/no. 1 published in: “Flying into history – 58 years late”, Aeroplane Press, vol. 32, no. 24, Wed 12 June 1974

Richardson's twin row rotary aero engine is radial and balanced utilising Newton’s third law of motion - every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
It has two contra-rotating timber propellers. The outer section, crankcase and cylinders are mounted in a cradle, free to revolve, to which a propeller is attached. This propeller is left hand pitch, rotating anti-clockwise. The crankshaft, pistons and rods are of equal weight to crankcase and cylinders.
The second propeller is attached to the crankshaft and is right hand pitch, rotating clockwise. There is no gearing between rotating units of the engine, being equal in weight and equal pitch of propeller, both halves rotate in opposite directions at the same speed.
The engine was started by holding the outer propeller stationary and swinging the inner clockwise to energise the magnets. When the engine was running, the outer propeller was released and the opposite reaction began. The engine weighs 125 lbs and developed 100 h.p. Fuel injection allowed the engine to run in any position during flight.
The airframe had a 22 ft wingspan and 18 ft fuselage. It was high wing monoplane using 6 ft propellers.
Once assembled the aeroplane was tested by tying it to a tree and “flying” in circles. The engine was run at maximum revolutions for 36 hours, dismantled, checked and reassembled.
After completion in 1916, the aeroplane was towed to the runaway at Richmond for further testing by an experienced pilot who found the tail heavy and suggested alterations. When the pilot failed to return after six weeks, the designers decided to do their own ground tests. The aeroplane was to run at ground speed while a rider on a Henderson motorcycle with speedometer recorded the speed by riding alongside. The aeroplane quickly attained airspeed and left the motorcycle behind. The man at the controls, not being a pilot, landed heavily overturning the aeroplane.
Damaged beyond repair, it was towed back to Enfield where the airframe was hung by wires from the roof until 1935. Falling apart, it was then taken down and burnt. The engine was stored under Harold Eagle’s house in Strathfield until his son Norman Eagle rediscovered it ca. 1972. He began to restore the engine hoping to rebuild the aeroplane.
In 1993, Norman Eagle presented the engine, and a film of the 1916 testing, to the Powerhouse Museum. (Powerhouse registration number 93/399/1)

References:
Library Correspondence file
“Flying into history – 58 years late”, in Aeroplane Press, vol. 32, no. 24, 12 June 1974
Aero engine designed by Harold 'Curley' Eagle, 1916

- http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=135787&search=eagle+engine&images=&c=&s=

Dated by the donor