English: Sir George Cayley’s first successfully flew a model glider in 1804. By 1849 he had built a biplane glider which carried a ten-year-old boy. In 1853 his first full-size design, known as the ‘governable parachute’, was flown at Brompton Dale near Scarborough and in doing so it carried the world’s first adult aviator, whose identity remains unknown.

Sir George Cayley’s contribution to aviation should not be underestimated and in 1909 Wilbur Wright said “About 100 years ago, an Englishman, Sir George Cayley, carried the science of flight to a point which it had never reached before and which it scarcely reached again during the last century." This flyable replica of the 1853 machine was built in 1972 for a TV program on the life of Sir George Cayley. It was towed aloft by a car during filming at Brompton Dale. It also flew during filming of the IMAX film ‘On theWing’, some ten years later. Allocated the British Aircraft Preservation Council identity BAPC89, it was first put on display at Hendon before later moving to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. She came to Elvington in 1998 and was restored before going on display in August 1999. Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, North Yorkshire, UK.

1st September 2020