Arundel
Arundel House School Club
Arundel House School founded an Aero Club in 1908. Club
member Cyril Burfield Ridley, born in Esher, Surrey on 15 January 1895, the son of Douglas and Victoria Ridley, built a Chanute
type biplane glider in 1910. Another pupil, Owen Wilson-Jones of Surbiton, built another glider the same year but this remained
unfinished.
In 1911, Ridley proposed a monoplane glider, but this appears to have not been built. Following school
he continued with aviation, working for Sopwith before joining the RNAS in June, 1916, rising to the rank of Flight
Lieutenant by April, 1918. After the war Cyril Ridley resumed flying with the RAF but, during a flight at Lindenthal, near
Cologne on 17 May 1920 his aircraft collided with that flown by Flying Officer J.D. De Pencier. Both aircraft crashed from
450 feet and Ridley and De Pencier were both killed.
It is a matter of interest that teacher and club secretary,
R.P. Grimmer along with one of his pupils, R.F. Mann, set up the company Mann & Grimmer to build model aircraft on a commercial scale in 1913, eventually progressing to full size aircraft by 1915.
Project Data
Project No | Type
No | Name | Alternative Name(s) | Year | Spec
(Requirement) | Status | Qty | Description | References |
| | Ridley
Biplane Glider | | 1910 | | Proto |
|
1S biplane glider | 1,2 | | | Wilson-Jones Glider |
|
1910 |
|
Pro(n) |
|
1S glider | 1,2 |
| | Ridley Monoplane Glider |
|
1911 |
|
Proj |
|
1S monoplane glider | 1,2 |
Project References - British Aircraft
Before The Great War, Michael H. Goodall and Albert E. Tagg (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2001)
- British
Aircraft 1809-1914, Peter Lewis (Putnam, 1962)
One glider only, no c/n or serial
Total Arundel Production 1
|