Three flights by Mr Badgery

Thursday, September 17, 1914

ON Saturday afternoon nearly 2,000 people were attracted to the show ground at Elwick to witness the first public flying machine demonstration in Tasmania by Mr Delfosse Badgery, the son of a Moss Vale squatter, and the first aviator to bring a machine to this State.

Two special trains were chartered to run from the city, at a charge of 2s. 6d., including admission to the show ground. Those who otherwise got there paid 2s. admission. Though the afternoon was chilly and showery, with occasional bursts of sun shine, the affair was well patronised.

There were scores of motor cars, and quite a crowd of cyclists and people in horse vehicles in and about the ground. A number of people occupied the grand stand, while the second stand, at the cattle sheds side of the oval, was crowded. Lady Ellison-Macartney and family were present, attended by Major Kerr-Pearce, and, among others, many prominent citizens.

Mr Badgery had advertised to give demonstrations of military aircraft work, including bomb dropping flour bags to be used for the purpose, trick flying, and aerial manoeuvring, none of which performances came off. All had seen moving pictures of aviators’ performances, read thrilling accounts of deeds of the airmen, and so all knew that men could fly: and to see it done filled everybody who had come to the ground with interested expectation.

They certainly did see Mr Badgery perform three short flights, but were disappointed at the limited character of the display. After a considerable wait the machine, a biplane of the Cordarian type, driven by a 45h.p. Anzani motor, was pulled out from under its canvas tent on to the oval, running along the ground easily on its rubber-tired chassis wheels, and the City Band played “See the conquering hero endure.”

The machine instantly shot forward

The airman clad in black rubber overalls and the regular thin tight-fitting bonnet-shaped headgear of the same material, took his seat on the biplane. The tractor screw, unlike the monoplane, the biplane screw acts as a tractor in front, instead of as a propeller having been set spinning round, the four men holding the machine back, near the posts on the cattle sheds side of the ground, released their grip, and the machine instantly shot forward, ran along the ground about 30 or 40 yards, then rose rapidly and gracefully, like a soaring bird over the land, in the direction of Glenorchy.

It was an exhilarating moment, and the spectators cheered lustily. Gleams of bright sunlight temporarily showed up the fragile-looking craft, outlining every part of it, and accentuating the beauty and novelty of the sight, towards which all eyes were upturned. The airman circled round at a good turning speed, and at a height of nearly 1,000ft., the loud throbbing burr of the motor being distinctly heard all the time, and it was noticed that the birds in the trees in and around the grounds flew away, as though quite scared.

After going a short distance in the direction of Elwick racecourse, the aviator put about, and returned toward the show ground, dropping rapidly and almost vertically for some 360ft., and took to the ground so very easily and gracefully, about the middle of the arena, that the people again burst into cheering.

Mr Badgery brought the machine up the oval to the side opposite the grandstand, and left his seat. Meanwhile, a slight scalding shower had come on, and he said it was raining hard and very cold up above, that the raindrops hit him in the face severely, and the wind he found to be very trying, while the freezing wind-pockets quite batted him during his few minutes aloft.

Lady Ellison-Macartney and her children came forward, and the airman was introduced to them by the Hon. C. J. Davies, M.L.C., and Sir Elliott Lewis, M.H.A. They had a good look at the machine. Mr Badgery explained its working, and he said that he had never before experienced such intensely cold rain and baffling wind simultaneously. He was surprised to find, upon alighting, that it was not raining on the ground.

It was deemed necessary to run the machine into its tent to be “wiped down,” thereby removing, as it was explained, the extra weight. This involved an interval.

Two more flights followed, each occupying about five minutes, and over the same course. In the second one, the aviator momentarily soared higher, and then came down again in another light and brief shower of rain. The third flight was similar to the other two, the ease with which the machine took to the air and alighted being such as to cause the spectators to cheer each time.

Immediately the aviator had alighted the third time the band played the National Anthem, and a crowd surrounded the machine, inspecting it. Some of the people were disappointed at not seeing trick flying, but it was explained that the weather conditions were not at all suitable.