Hello Roger,
Thank you for paying our attention upon this very interesting figure of Aviation!
Lots of interesting info found on my research and so colorful! It was so difficult to decide what to post and what not to?! :-)
Here is something I thought to be more informative in a "nut shell"
Samuel Franklin Cody
1867 - 1931
First and foremost he was an aviator the first man
to fly a heavier than air, powered aircraft in Great Britain; he was
also a superb and successful kite flyer and designer, a well known
theatrical performer and a Wild West showman he was all this and much
more. His story begins in Davenport, Iowa and ends in the wreckage of
his aircraft in Farnborough, Hampshire and his journey between these
two places is a fascinating one.
He was born in 1867, one of five children born to
Samuel and Phoebe Cowdery. Very little is known about his teenage years
in Iowa, we only have Cody's own stories to go on and as he was very
good at embellishing the true facts I will omit these tales! We do know
that by the age of twenty one he was employed in a Wild West Show and
had changed his name to Cody. Although logical, it is an assumption
that this change of name was made only for theatrical reasons. William
Frederick Cody, Buffalo Bill, was by this time hugely successful in
both America and Europe with his traveling show. Samuel Franklin Cody
with his long flowing hair, beard and waxed mustache was often mistaken
for his namesake or for a member of his family, a mistake still made
today.
In 1890 Cody and his wife arrived in England by
which time they were both excellent riders and expert shots. One of
their first engagements, early in 1891 was at the Olympia appearing in
"The Burlesque of the Wild West." This show was, I believe performed on
roller skates and the manager of the show was shortly afterwards sued
by the Buffalo Bill Company for using the term "Wild West". The couple
also performed at Earl's Court and numerous Music Halls mainly, at this
time, in and around London. Cody soon expanded his act to include
children, and the mother of these children took over from his wife in
the act. This new "Cody and Family" act toured a number of European
countries with a very varied programme, the most popular being races on
horseback against cyclists, from which Cody invariably emerged the
winner.
In about 1897 Cody settled in England and decided
to try his hand at writing a series of "Western Melodramas", a form of
entertainment which was becoming increasingly popular with the
audiences of the day. By far the most popular of Cody's dramas was "The
Klondyke Nugget", a five act extravaganza which included in its cast
five horses and a donkey! The play successfully toured the country for
many years ensuring Cody a regular income.
Exactly how or when Cody became interested in kites is unclear, but by 1899 he was giving
demonstrations of kites during the intervals of his
plays. These kites were not the sort we see children playing with in
the parks today but huge box kites some being thirteen feet wide. His
main interest was in lifting a man into the air with a kite and to this
end he produced a train of five or six kites with a basket suspended
beneath the ‘carrier kite’ for a passenger. During this period in
1903/4 he set up workshops at both Crystal Palace and Alexandra Palace
and set about interesting the Army in using his kites in time of war
for signaling and observation.
In 1904 we find Cody in Aldershot, the home of the
Royal Engineers, giving demonstrations of his man-lifting kites. So
successful were these that he was made the Army's Official Kite
Instructor and he exchanged his show business world for a military one.
It must have been a strange sight, Cody giving instructions to the
soldiers still with his long hair and his waxed mustache and riding to
work on his white horse!
The first manned, powered aircraft flight in this country
As a natural progression from kites Cody turned his
attention to aeroplanes and after a series of adventures with boats
being pulled across the sea by a kite, gliders and airships he designed
and built an aircraft. So it was that on the morning of 16th of October
1908 on Farnborough Common, Cody's aeroplane ran across the ground
before lifting to an altitude of approximately 35 feet. This flight of
1,390 feet and lasting only 27 seconds was the first manned, powered
aircraft flight in this country ensuring Cody a place in aviation
history. The War Office then decided, in their wisdom, that there was
no future in aeroplanes and Cody was removed from the official
Farnborough scene. He now had to work on the development of his machine
without the aid of government finance but, with the help of just family
and a loyal band of friends, he continued to progress within the limits
of his own resources. In the following years successes were achieved
records were broken and many trophies were won but there were also many
disappointments and a number of crashes.
Cody was killed on the morning of 7th August 1913
piloting his latest machine. During his lifetime he was an extremely
popular figure with the British public but his great inventiveness and
skills as an aviator were perhaps not fully appreciated by the
Establishment of the day. Even though he had become a British subject
in 1909 and eventually his long flowing hair and western attire had
been replaced by a conventional haircut and suit he was still regarded
as the "American Cowboy" turned aviator. He may have embellished his
life story with tales of Indian raids and gold rushes etc. but
contemporary accounts tell of a kind, considerate, indomitable and
courageous man.
Within a year of his death the Great War had begun
bringing to an end the Golden Era of Pioneering Aviation, an era whose
one of the most colorful character must surely have been Samuel Franklin Cody.
Posted here with friendship,
Anamaria
From HERE!