United Kingdom (1909)
Sport Planes – 1 Each Built

Prime examples of early aeroplane designs, American Robert Macfie’s three handmade flying machines were designed and constructed from 1909 to 1911, a mere 6 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight. After studying under legendary French aviation pioneer Louis Bleriot, Macfie involved himself in the budding British aeroplane circuit competition scene and became one of the first licensed pilots in Britain. Despite his moderate success in the flying scene, he received no orders for the aircraft and any further developments were cut short by financial troubles and the looming threat of what would become World War I.

The Creator

Robert Francis Macfie was born on 11^th November 1881 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was the son of Robert Andrew Macfie (1811 – 1893), a businessman in the sugar industry. His family business was connected with the sugar plantation at Kilauea, Hawaii which was managed from offices in California. Presumably, Robert’s birth in San Francisco was due to his family being located there at this time in connection with plantation management.

Macfie was of Scottish ancestry, despite not being born in Scotland (he had US Citizenship) and took some interest in the family sugar business which had connections in Hawaii and also a 250 acre (101 hectares) ‘Cocoanut’ plantation on the Island of Tobago (St. George Parish) in the Caribbean. By 1898, he was living in Great Britain, as he is recorded as having won a place as a Naval Engineering student at the Royal Naval Engineering College at Devonport. He studied as a Naval engineer for nearly five years, but following graduation did not go into the navy; travelling instead around the United States, Canada, West Indies, Central America, Australia, and South Africa. Presumably, some of this travel was connected in some way to the family’s sugar business. He had settled in Chicago by 1902 and between 1902 and 1904 he took a keen interest in the new field of aviation.

Back in Britain

By 1909, Robert Macfie was back in Great Britain and then went on to France in order to study the new field of aviation. Just six years after the flight by the Wright brothers, the field of aviation was brand new and one of the leading luminaries in the field was the Frenchman Louis Bleriot (1872 – 1936). Between about February and July, he studied under Bleriot and then returned to Britain.

By August 1909, Macfie was in Fambridge, Essex building his first aeroplane. Built around a wooden frame, the ‘Macfie Monoplane’ took just 6 weeks to build with the single largest delay being in obtaining an engine. Macfie had purchased a 35 hp Green engine from Green’s Motor Syndicate for £275, but it was delivered late and would not run. As a result, he switched to a different engine, a 220 lb V8 35 hp J.A.P. air-cooled petrol engine (38 hp at 1500 rpm). The engine had a bore of 85mm and a stroke of 95mm with a displacement of 263.68 cubic inches. When it was finished in September 1909, the ‘Macfie Monoplane’ was a single seater aircraft with a 28′ 6″ (8.7 meter) wingspan, made from canvas over wood.

Flown for the first time in September 1909, the Macfie Monoplane suffered a series of crashes which required the undercarriage to be rebuilt. The undercarriage was replaced with a Bleriot style undercarriage instead.

Abandoning Fambridge, Macfie went to Foulness Island instead for test flights. Due to bad weather though, he only got two flights. On 20^th November 1909, Macfie narrowly avoided disaster when his plane had a hard landing on the sands at Foulness Island and broke a wheel. The car sent to tow the plane then got stuck, and if it was not for a team of horses coming from a nearby farm, both car and plane would have been lost to the merciless tides at that location. The rest of his tests at Foulness had to be abandoned when the War Office ordered him off the sands.

Macfie then found himself without anywhere for test flights and even took his plane to Paris to try there but was rebuffed. During the Paris floods between the 20^th and 30^th January 1910, the Macfie Monoplane was so badly damaged it was irreparable and Macfie returned to a workshop at Blackfriars in London.

Improved Plane – The Empress

Building a new and improved version of his monoplane meant a new engine and Macfie selected a 60-hp water-cooled J.A.P. engine. Assembly of the new plane took place in Huntingdon, but the new 60 hp J.A.P. engine had not been delivered by the 10^th May, so the original 35 hp engine from the Macfie Monoplane was installed instead. This time, instead of facing forwards, the engine was turned backwards in order to push this new plane.

This new plane was christened the ‘Macfie Empress’, a single-seater once more made from canvas over wood but featuring a second tier of wings, creating a biplane. First flown on 12^th May 1910, it was successful, although underpowered and unable to turn properly. The plane was sent to Wolverhampton by the end of June for tests, but when Macfie got it back in on 9^th July, it was partially burnt and damaged by the weather to such an extent that it required reconstruction.

The New Empress – the ‘Circuit’

The damage to the Empress meant that Macfie was effectively building a new, third machine. Macfie wanted a better engine than the 35 hp J.A.P engine he had been using. The 60 hp version of the J.A.P. had still not materialised and, as a result, Macfie took a trip to Paris at the start of September 1910 to obtain a 50 hp Gnome engine for this new plane. The source of the engine was James Valentine, and Macfie went into partnership with him to complete the rebuilt Empress. Now rebuilt with a 50 hp engine, the plane was ready by the end of November 1910. Once finished though, it was known as the ‘Macfie Circuit’ and was intended for use in the 1911 Circuit of Britain contest. It had taken just three weeks to build.

By January 1911, Macfie had completed the test flights of the ‘Circuit’ for certification and he was one of the first qualified pilots in Britain. He gained his Aviator’s Certificate from the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom on 24^th January 1911, the 49th such licence issued in the country.

This rebuilt Empress, now ‘Circuit’, design featured a distinctive triple tail and long sledge-like skids underneath. The 50 hp Gnome engine was considered temporary as a more powerful 100 hp A.B.C. engine was preferred. Even so, powered by this 50 hp engine, the plane successfully completed test flights in March 1911 piloted personally by Macfie before heading for the competitive circuit. Here, under the pilotage of Mr. Valentine, the Circuit took part in competitive trials at Brooklands in April and July 1911.

Disaster

Despite the technical success of the Circuit as a plane and the potential for significant improvement with a 100 hp engine, Macfie received no orders for planes. With no money coming in and with his funds now exhausted, he had no choice but to give up. Circuit was sold to another pioneer who would modify her once more with a new type of tail known as the ‘Farman’ tail. Equipped with the Farman Tail, the Circuit was flying around Brooklands in April 1912, but neither Macfie nor Valentine were there to see it.

With no plane orders and his funds exhausted, he returned to the family sugar business until the outbreak of war in 1914. When the war started, he returned to Great Britain with ideas for tracked armored vehicles. Despite joining the Royal Naval Air Service (R.N.A.S.) he never flew during the war and his ideas for tracked vehicles were equally unsuccessful.

Conclusion

The Macfie Monoplane, Empress, and Circuit all had potential in their own rights. At a time when aviation was in its infancy, it was not considered odd to switch from monoplane to biplane as an advance. Macfie had certainly encountered significant obstacles to his aircraft development from the lack of somewhere to test it, a lack of a powerful engine, and the intervention of fate like the Paris floods. It is perhaps remarkable that Macfie was quite so persistent in his aviation endeavours despite all the setbacks. Macfie’s life story is undoubtedly a sad one full of lost chances and missed opportunities. He died an unrecognised pioneer in both aviation and tracked vehicles in 1948. having lived to see the dawn of both tracked armored warfare as well as the jet age.

Gallery

Illustrations by Ed Jackson

Credits

• Hills, A. (2019). Robert Macfie, Pioneers of Armour Vol.1. FWD Publishing, USA.
• Written by Andrew Hills
• Contributions by Captain Nemo
• Edited by Stan Lucian & Ed Jackson
• Illustrations by Ed Jackson – artbyedo.com