The Seddon Mayfly was a

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

biplane of unusual construction. It was designed by

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Lieutenant John W. Seddon and A. G. Hackett and built by Accles & Pollock. When built it was the largest aeroplane in the world, but it failed to fly when tested.

Design and development

Design of the Seddon Mayfly began in 1908, with the intention of attempting to win the prize for a flight between

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

given by the ''Daily Mail''. The design was based on a paper model, and Seddon took leave from the Navy to design and build and test the aircraft. It was built in Oldbury by Accles & Pollock, a company who specialised in the manufacture of steel tubing, and its structure made extensive use of intersecting pairs of steel hoops: over of steel was used in its construction Lewis 1962 p.432 The aircraft had two sets of biplane wings, the front pair of greater span than the aft pair. Control surfaces consisted of a forward-mounted biplane

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

s and a pair of diamond-shaped rudders mounted between each set of wings. The aircraft was intended to carry five passengers in addition to the pilot. Seddon Mayfly circa 1908 side view

It was powered by a pair of N.E.C. water-cooled engines mounted side by side between the two sets of wings. Each drove a single Beedle type

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

propeller. These were made of sheet aluminium, with the semi-circular blades supported at the ends by attachment to a radial tube. It was tested at the Midland Aero Club grounds at Dunstall Park near

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

but damaged an axleDunstall Park
''Flight'' 19 November 1910] and failed to leave the ground. It was eventually taken apart by souvenir hunters.

Specifications

References

Bibliography *Lewis, P., ''British Aircraft 1809-1914''. London: Putnam, 1962 * Winchester, Jim. ''The World's Worst Aircraft''. United States, NY: Metro Books, 2005. {{ISBN, 0-7607-6742-4 Biplanes 1910s British aircraft Tandem-wing aircraft Twin-engined tractor aircraft