Description
Object description
British civilian worked as coppersmith and brazier with Handley Page Aircraft Ltd in Barking and Cricklewood, London, GB, 1909-1914
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as coppersmith and brazier at Handley Page Ltd in Barking and Cricklewood, London, GB, 1909-1914: prior apprenticeship as coppersmith; obtaining employment with Handley Page Ltd after trade test as coppersmith; nature of workshop and staff at Movers Lane site, Barking; construction of Handley Page Type E 'Yellow Peril' monoplane, 1912; first test flight of Handley Page Type E 'Yellow Peril' at Fairlop, 26/4/1912 including transport and erection of monoplane, story of test pilot Edward Petre starting engine of Handley Page Type E 'Yellow Peril'.
REEL 2 Continues: construction and test flight of Handley Page Type E 'Yellow Peril' including story of Edward Petre taking aircraft up on successful first flight at Brooklands, 27/7/1912; Edward Petre's subsequent career as test pilot; expansion of work force due to aircraft orders; move to larger premises at former indoor riding school at Cricklewood Lane, Cricklewood, London, 1911; entering Handley Page Type F into the British Military Aeroplane Competition at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, 8/1912; minor adaptations to 'true up' Samuel Cody's Cody V Military Trials Biplane 'Cody's Cathedral' during British Military Aeroplane Competition, 8/1912; Samuel Cody's success in landing and taking off from ploughed field.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of Frederick Handley Page; learning to weld; story of cheating time clock and revealing method to Frederick Handley Page following discovery of deception; pay; Frederick Handley Page's role in organising pleasure flights in Handley Page Type E 'Yellow Peril' from Hendon Airfield; story of refusing to fly in Handley Page Type E 'Yellow Peril'; representations made by Cricklewood factory workers for increased wages.
REEL 4 Continues: Frederick Handley Page's rejection of representations made by Cricklewood factory workers for increased wages; relations with John Alcock at Brooklands Aerodrome; Colin Bell's racing car at Brooklands; flight in Grahame-White Type X 'Aerobus'; sight of Adolphe Pegoud 'looping the loop' in Bleriot Model XI at Brooklands Aerodrome; opinion of Handley Page Ltd's Type F enclosed cockpit monoplane built for British Military Aeroplane Competition at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, 8/1912.