Yuku free message boards

The Windsor Model Aeroplane Club was formed in 1911 by Sydney and Fred Camm so that local boys could co-operate in model aircraft competitions including those arranged by Mr G.A. Broomfield of Aldershot. Mr Broomfield was in touch with Cody, and claimed to be in touch with famous people such as Sir Hiram Maxim, Wilbur and Orville Wright, A.V. Roe, Grahame-White, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland and T.O.M. Sopwith. Mr Broomfield recorded that he was impressed by two very remarkable young men from Windsor Sydney and Fred Camm, one destined to design the Hurricane aeroplane, which by winning the Battle of Britain prevented Great Britain from becoming a German colony, the other to become a great editor of technical journals and books on engineering in all its branches. (Quote from his Pioneer of the Air.)
The club premises was a shed in Arthur Road, Windsor, a stones throw from their home at 10 Alma Road. It had no lighting apart from an oil lamp. The members included Fred, Charles, George and Sydney Camm, S. Barton, Sydney Camm, A.W. Mainwood, J. Saunders, F. Stevenson, E. (Ginger) Stanbrook and R. Clayton. There were other members including Hendry, the son of the builder Sydney had been apprenticed to, and J.G. Starnes of Maidenhead. Charles Camm was one of the pilots when a man carrying glider was built in 1913 and George Camm was used to retrieve 'lost' models from the railway viaduct near their home and to buy Japanese silk from the dress shop in Peascod Street, to his great embarrassment, at the age of 12 years.
Sydney reported the clubs progress to Flight, including their competitions. Competition rules required that timed flights be from launch to landing or until the time a flight passed out of sight. This was the fate of several models, including one of F.J.s in August 1914. They were surprised to read that duration flights in Australia and the U.S.A. were much longer than in the U.K. and it was found that the air currents and wide open spaces abroad permitted longer glides. The Windsor club members made up to three models each per week, but crashes were frequent, and Sydney was unable to send detailed reports of all of them for inclusion in Flight.
The last surviving member, Bob Mainwood, grandson of a William Street, Windsor mineral water bottler, used to tell stories about the club, its successes and failures, with a gusto that lost nothing in the telling. Members with bicycles used to go to see real aeroplanes flying at Brooklands and Hendon including the French pilot Peygoud Loop the Loop and perform inverted flying. This feat was also performed by Hamel above Windsor Castle to impress the King.
Models became more sophisticated, and Sydney and Fred began to plan a man carrying glider. Sydney dreamed of fitting an engine so that they could fly around the Round Tower of Windsor Castle, as Sopwith had done in 1911. The materials are listed in Fred's manuscript printed in 1919 and included 135 yards of bamboo, 175 yards of piano wire, 7 feet of copper tube to make rigging eyes, 25 yards of double width calico, one square yard of 24 gauge brass sheet and a gross of 1 3/16 inch screws and nuts. All the tools required were hand-pliers, hacksaw, and a wood saw, with varnish also starch paste to shrink the calico. The cost totalled 3.
The first man carrying glider was completed and flown in 1913 with younger brother Charlie Camm occupying the position as Pilot and instructed not to touch the controls. Another flight with Ginger Stanbrook as pilot crash landed, breaking Gingers collarbone. He related this incident when a member of the Windsor Rescue Party (ARP) during the 1939-45 war.
One day, Sydney found an engine advertised for 25 but first it had to be tested.
It arrived at Windsor from Ireland, and one Sunday the club members took it through 10 Alma Road and into the shed in the back garden. It was bolted to the workbench, and still dressed in their Sunday best, complete with straw hats they took turns to swing the propeller. Suddenly it started with an unsilenced roar, which ruined the peace of that quiet Sunday afternoon.
Although claimed to be balanced, the vibration caused the heavy work bench to walk around the shed. The flailing propeller sent wood shavings and straw hats flying. The propeller made it difficult to get to the engine controls but eventually it stopped. The uproar brought the police, who gave the culprits a stiff warning. No one was any the better for being sprayed with oil.
The engine was taken to the club hut, but for some reason shortly thereafter the rent was overdue, and the landlord padlocked the door to prevent access. George Camm cut through the brickwork, removed the precious engine and tools, and rebuilt the wall, so that the landlord could never understand what had happened. With the outbreak of war in 1914 stopped all work on the powered glider, and it was never completed. It was broken up in 1919.
By this time Sydney was working for an aircraft company, Martinsyde at Brooklands, and was married in 1915 to Hilda Rose Starnes, the sister of founder club member J.G. Starnes. At Martinsydes his skills were soon noticed and he was promoted to the drawing office.
He was particularly impressed by the fast Sopwith Tabloid which, when converted to a sea-plane, won the Schneider Trophy. During the First World War Sydney regularly visited the Agricultural Hall at Islington to inspect captured enemy aircraft. In the early 1920s Camm joined the Hawker company in their Drawing Office and over the next ten years or so assisted with the design of a variety of successful biplanes.
In 1934 Camm started work on his most famous fighter aircraft, the Hurricane, designed around an engine by Rolls Royce, the equally famous Merlin. Sydney Camm had some concerns initially as it was Hawker's first monoplane design, and it featured retractable undercarriage which, once retracted, was sometimes reluctant to lower again! The design of the Hurricane was, as we all now know, brilliant, not only for its performance but also for its ease of repair after combat damage, but also for Hawker's decision to start constructing Hurricanes ahead of a government order. It was this foresight that gave us additional aircraft at a time when the country's defences were at a critical level in the prelude to the Battle of Britain. It was at this time, in 1941, that Camm was awarded the CBE. He was knighted in 1953.
The Hurricane is not the end of the story by any means. In the years after the war he was involved with the development of the Typhoon, Tempest, Fury, Sea Fury and Hawk as well as the hugely successful Hunter and of course the remarkable Harrier, amongst many other projects.
In his private life Sir Sydney had a variety of interests including golf, cycling and photography. It will come as no surprise that Sir Sydney also took a keen interest in the design of golf clubs and the flight that they imparted to the golf ball!
Sir Sydney was honoured not only in this country, but also in 1954 by the French FAI (Fdration Aeronautique Internationale) and the Americans in 1965 when he was awarded the Daniel Guggenheim Medal. Sir Sydney died the following year in 1966.
Sir Sydney Camm was a man who would fully merit the accolade of Flight magazine's Roger Bacon as 'the Total Aviation Person' and he deserves this country's thanks and gratitude for his remarkable achievements.