ED Abbott and Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes

[Apophenia]

A query by mrys about the 1930 Abbott Farnham sailplane has prompted me to list the built designs by E. D. Abbott Limited and Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes. All these designs were given names rather than designations per se - in fact, they never even received construction numbers. (So, perhaps this list belongs in the Aviation & Space rather than in Designation Systems?)

I usually put bio and corporate info at the beginning but, because the Abbott/Baynes lists are so short, I'll reverse that order here.

__________________________

E. D. Abbott Limited Aircraft- Thomas Cecil Letcher Designs

Farnham - 1930 high-performance competition sailplane, x 1
- Farnham: Single-seat, cantilever high-winged sailplane
- Farnham: Span 18.29 m; also referred to as 'The Alert'
-- Farnham designed by T. C. Letcher; first flew August 1930
-- Designed and built for Lionel H. Ellis and R. G. Russell-Taylor
-- https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/abbott-farnham-sailplane-alert.41323/#post-590714

Whitlet Hoverplane - 1931 biplane 'flight simulator',* x 1
- Hoverplane: Tethered, hoizontally-rotating aircraft 'form'
- Hoverplane: 1 x 350 cc Douglas HO2 engine; span (??) m
-- * Intended to safely introduce members of public to 'flying'
-- Built for the W.L. Hoverplane Syndicate, Farnham, Surrey [1]
-- Designed by T. C. Letcher and John Ronald Sturge Whiting

__________________________________________

[1] See attached image of The Whitlet Hoverplane from page 262 of Flight 1213, Vol.24, No.13, of 25 March 1932. There, the Hoverplane is shown on exhibit on the roof of Selfridges on Oxford St., London.

According to this Flight article, the Hoverplane was "built by A. V. Roe & Co., Ltd." but most sources say that contruction was done by E. D. Abbott Limited. Since Abbott were neighbours to W.L. Hoverplane Syndicate, why would the latter send work 200 miles north to Avro at Woodford?

__________________________________________

Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes Ltd. - Leslie Everett Baynes Designs

Scud I - 1931 single-seat parasol-winged sailplane trainer,* x 8
- Scud I: Span 7.72 m; based on Baynes' 1931 Brant Scud**
-- * Intended to fill gap between primary trainer gliders and sailplanes
-- * Flight referred to the Scud as an "intermediate glider"
-- ** Built at Croydon by Brant Aircraft Ltd./Waddon Aircraft Factory
-- ** 'Brant' was a name contraction of Baynes and partner F.W.J. Grant
-- Wooden 2-spar wing structure; ply-covered to rear spar, fabric aft
-- Wooden fuselage structure; ash longerons; entirely ply-covered
-- * Scud I home-build plans also sold along w/ optional parts [2]

Scud II - 1932 single-seat parasol-winged sailplane trainer, x 3*
- Scud II: Span 12.19 m; refined and enlarged Scud I deriv.**
- Scud II: Intended as true sailplane trainer, superior soaring perf.
-- * Scud II plans also sold along w/ optional parts & trailer [1]
-- ** Similar (but lengthened) diamond-section fuselage to Scud I
-- ** Entirely different wing; single-spar & much higher-aspect ratio

Travers Trainer - (Project) 1933 high-winged 2-seat monoplane
- Travers Trainer: Single-engined, folding-wing training aircraft
- Travers Trainer: Designed w/ Herbert Gardner Travers, DFC [3]
-- Wing folding and swinging for stowage design patented June 1935
-- Wing-folding concept adopted for the 1937 Carden-Baynes Bee

Scud III - 1935 single-seat high-performance sailplane, x 1*
- Scud III: Entirely new design; with optional auxiliary motor
- Scud III: Span 13.87 m; opt'l 9 hp Villiers inverted 1-cyl.**
-- 1 x built as Scud III sailplane; 1 x Auxiliary conversion
-- * BGA684 May 1935 Scud III conv. to moto-glider, Aug 1935
-- * BGA684 crashed as Auxiliary; re-conv. to Scud III std.
-- * BGA283 Aug 1936 Scud III conv. from undeliv. Auxiliary
-- ** Motorcyle 2-stroke by Villiers Engineering Co., Wolverhampton

Cantilever Pou - 1935 improved HM.14 Flying Flea, x 4* [4]
- Cantilever Pou: 1 x 31 hp Carden-Ford 4-cylinder; span 6.70 m
- Cantilever Pou: Prototype rebuilt from crashed HM.14 (G-ADMH)
-- * 60 x ordered but only 4 x built before UK ban on Pou en Ciels

Carden-Baynes Auxiliary - 1936 sailplane/motor-glider, x 1* [4]
- Auxiliary: Retractable aux. engine option for Scud III
- Auxiliary: 1 x 9 hp Villiers inverted 1-cyl.; span 13.87 m
- Auxiliary: Suggested by Sir John Carden; built by Abbott-Baynes
-- * BGA283 Jan 1936 Auxiliary; conv. to Scud III, Aug 1936
-- * BGA684 Scud III conv. to powered Auxiliary, Aug 1935
-- * Auxiliary BGA684 crashed; re-converted to Scud III std.

__________________________________________

[2] At least three home-builders completed Scud Is. These were:

Scud I: 1934, built by Harold O. Bradley; Adelaide, South Australia
Scud I: 1935, built by Arthur Baxter & Frank Reneham; Melbourne, VIC
Scud I: 193?, built by Keith Carter of Jersey Gliding Club; Jersey, CI
-- Carter used both Abbott-Baynes supplied plans and components

For more detailed production histories see: http://www.britishaviation-ptp.com/b/baynes.html

[3] H. G. Travers was a WWI RFC fighter pilot who remained in the RAF and RAFVR until 1928. He was a test-pilot for Blackburn from 1926-1928. Travers was a flying instructor from 1928 until 1934 when he joined Alan Cobham's National Air Display. He became a commercial pilot in 1935 but returned to the RAFVR in Jan 1939 (remaining in service until Feb 1954).

[4] Although built by Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes Ltd., technically, both the Cantilever Pou and Auxiliary were products of Carden-Baynes Aircraft Ltd which L. E. Baynes had formed at Heston in 1936.

 

[Apophenia]

E. D. Abbott Limited and Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes Ltd.

There is a fair bit of biographical info out there on the designers. Thomas Cecil Letcher had worked as a naval architect with the Cowes shipbuilders, J. Samuel White & Company, Ltd. In 1912, Letcher shifted to the firm's new aircraft department - Wight Aircraft - under Howard T Wright. Letcher was still designing and building ships on the IoW in 1926 (eg: the 38 ton Princess Freda which took troops off the beach at Dunkirk in 1940).
-- http://www.britishaviation-ptp.com/abbott.html

Leslie Everett Baynes, AFRAeS, had more extensive aviation industry experience. However, that history is well-covered elsewhere. For his later aviation projects, see:
-- https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/l-e-baynes.28348/
-- https://www.glidingheritage.org.uk/documents/articles/AbbottBaynesv2.pdf

Edward Dixon Abbott, on the other hand, tends to get short shrift. So, here, I will only cover Abbott's background. E. D. Abbott (b. 1898) joined the Royal Naval Air Service in Feb 1917. He flew Camels with No.6 Sqn until that unit was disbanded, then No.10 Sqn. Flt. S. Lt. Abbott claimed one kill before being shot down himself on 13 Sept 1917. Badly injured in the resulting crash, Abbott became a POW at Holzminden in Brunswick until repatriated in Dec 1918.

After treatment and recuperation, now-Pilot Officer Abbott, RAF, deployed to Archangel during the North Russia Intervention. In Jan 1920, P/O Abbott resigned from the RAF and joined the Design Department of auto-maker Armstrong Siddeley. In 1926, Abbott joined coachbuilder Page & Hunt Ltd. at Weydon Lane, Wrecclesham (just south of Farnham in Surrey). When P&H tanked in 1928, [5] Abbott bought out the firm and rebranded it as E. D. Abbott Ltd.

Sometimes just called 'Abbotts of Farnham', E. D. Abbott Ltd. was a luxury coachbuilder (when it wasn't converting older Rolls-Royce cars into delivery vans (much to R-R's chagrin). With his piloting background, Abbott attempted to expand his wood-shop trade by going into glider making. This was done under the E. D. Abbott Ltd. brand in 1930-31 with T. C. Letcher designs. However, when L. E. Baynes joined in 1931 to 'productionise' his Brant Scud training glider, a new branch - Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes Ltd. - was formed.

While at Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes, L. E. Baynes received some feedback and suggestions from Sir John Carden who had taken an interest in gliding. Sir John would be killed in the crash of Sabena Savoia-Marchetti S.73 (OO-AGN) at Tatsfield, Surrey, on 10 Dec 1935. Nevertheless, in 1936, Barnes proceeded with plans to establish his own firm of Carden-Baynes Aircraft at Heston aerodrome in Middlesex. The Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes Ltd. partnership was over but E. D. Abbott Ltd. carried on as a coachbuilder.

In 1935, E. D. Abbott Ltd. had been contracted to the MoS. The coachbuilders mainly converted trailers (as aerial-photography labs as well as transports for searchlights and radar units) but Abbotts also built some components for Spitfires and air-drop stores containers. An oddity was the creation of a 2/5th scale model V-1 flying bomb for wind tunnel testing by the RAE at Farnborough. But that miniature V-1 and the Spitfire parts were as close as E. D. Abbott Ltd. ever got to resuming their connection with aircraft production.

__________________________________________

[5] Some sources say that Page & Hunt Ltd. went into liquidation during 1928, other claim P&H closed in Sept 1929.