Lieutenant Edward Teshmaker Busk,
London Electrical Engineers
The London Electrical Engineers was a Volunteer unit of the British Army's Royal Engineers founded in 1897. It pioneered the use of searchlights (S/Ls) for port defence before World War I and for anti-aircraft (AA) defence during the war. In the ...
. RE(T) (8 March 1886 – 5 November 1914) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
pioneer of early aircraft design, and the designer of the first full-sized efficient inherently stable aeroplane.
He was the son of Thomas Teshmaker Busk (1852–1894) and Mary Busk née Acworth (1854–1935), of Hermongers,
Rudgwick
Rudgwick is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Horsham (district), Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The village is west from Horsham on the north side of the A281 road. The parish's northern boundary forms par ...
, Sussex. After attaining First Class Honours in Mechanical Sciences at
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
in June 1912 he became Assistant Engineer at the newly formed Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, later the
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...
. Here he devoted much of his time to the
mathematics and dynamics of stable flight.
In the early years of powered flight inherent stability in an aircraft was a most important quality. Busk took his theories into the air and tried them out in practice. In 1913 this work was used in the R.E.1 (Reconnaissance Experimental), claimed as the first inherently stable aeroplane, and resulted in the development of the
B.E.2c
The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane designed and developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Most of the roughly 3,500 built were constructed under contract by private companies, including establis ...
.
The remarkable feature of this design was that there was no single device that was the cause of the stability. The stability resulted from detailed design of each part of the aircraft, with due regard to its relation to, and effect on, other parts in the air. Weights and areas were so arranged that under most conditions the machine would tend to right itself.
Busk was killed on 5 November 1914 while making an experimental flight in a
B.E.2
The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane designed and developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Most of the roughly 3,500 built were constructed under contract by private companies, including establish ...
which caught fire at Laffans Plain (now Farnborough Airfield), near Aldershot, burning him to death.
He was buried at
Aldershot Military Cemetery
Aldershot Military Cemetery is a burial ground for military personnel, or ex-military personnel and their families, located in Aldershot Military Town, Hampshire.
The cemetery was created in 1850s by the Royal Engineers during the building of A ...
with full military honours.
Frederick Lanchester
Frederick William Lanchester LLD, Hon FRAeS, FRS (23 October 1868 – 8 March 1946), was an English polymath and engineer who made important contributions to automotive engineering and to aerodynamics, and co-invented the topic of operations ...
wrote in 1916:
Busk's genius and his courage were recognised by the posthumous award of the Gold Medal of the
Aeronautical Society of Great Britain
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows ...
, and amongst the many letters of condolence received by his mother was one from King George V.
His youngest brother, Hans Acworth Busk (b. 1894), was reported missing on 6 January 1916, last seen flying a heavy bombing aeroplane against the Turks at Gallipoli. They were both survived by their mother Mary Busk (née Acworth, 1854-1935), author of a biography of her two sons lost while flying,
by sister Mary Agnes Dorothea Morse (1888–1960) and by brother Henry Gould Busk (1890–1956).
Memorials
* Busk Crescent, Farnborough.
* The Busk Memorial, R.A.E. Farnborough, a small lily pond and fountain with memorial plaque.
* Holy Trinity Church, Rudgwick.
* The Busk Studentship in Aeronautics at Cambridge University
References
* ''
Hunsaker, Jerome C. Dynamical Stability of Aeroplanes, U. S. Navy and Massachusetts Institute of Technology''
* ''Cross & Cockade International, Volume 14 - 1983, Number 3. E. T. Busk, an Irreparable Loss : Marvin L Skelton''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Busk, Edward Teshmaker
1886 births
1914 deaths
Royal Engineers officers
English aviators
Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England
Burials at Aldershot Military Cemetery
Accidental deaths in England
British Army personnel of World War I
Deaths from fire
People from Rudgwick