Aeronautical Syndicate

History

Horatio Claude Barber was an early pioneer of aviation in the United Kingdom. Having become enamoured with the new science of aeronautics, on his return to England from France he found a suitable workshop in some disused railway arches at Battersea and there began construction. Lacking engineering knowledge, he entrusted the work to a consulting engineer, Howard Wright. The monoplane was completed and delivered in the first week of June 1909 to Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, where Barber had erected a shed to house it.

Meanwhile, the Aeronautical Syndicate Ltd had been formed in the preceding April. The directors and only shareholders at that time were Charles Worsley Battersby and Herman Rudolph Schmettau. The former was a stockbroker of the partnership of R.C. May and Battersby and the latter a solicitor of the firm of Hays, Schmettau and Dunn, who appear to have acted for Barber and provided him with a poste restante address at that time. Barber was the Syndicate's general manager but he never became a shareholder. At the formation of the company Barber sold it his patents, monoplane and hangar, by which it might be inferred that the Syndicate provided him with the finance necessary for him to continue his experiments.

Barber's second machine, also built by Howard Wright and designed by William Oke Manning, was delivered to Larkhill in early 1910. Here it first flew on 5 March in the hands of Bertie Woodrow (b. 24 February 1888 - d. February 1969), his chauffeur. On 18 May, Woodrow signed a contract with Barber as test pilot for ASL, possibly the first officially contracted test pilot in the UK.

On 23 March 1910 Barber applied for Patent No 7289, "Improvements in Monoplane Flying Machines", which led to the Valkyrie series of canard monoplanes, ASL's most successful aircraft. The prototype was the last to have any conection with Wright, though it is unclear how much input he had in design or manufacture. This was the last of Barber's aircraft to be erected and fly from Larkhill. In September 1910 the Syndicate became the first occupant of the sheds newly erected at Hendon flying field, and from that point on all ASL's aircraft were built there. Having been taught to fly by Woodrow, Barber gained his RAeC Aviators Certificate, No 30, on 22 November of the same year, flying a Valkyrie. This led to the formation of the Aeronautical Syndicate School of Flying (also known as the Valkyrie School) at Hendon.

Maurice Ridley Prentice joined ASL in early 1911 and flew a great deal on their Valkyrie monoplanes. In July, Barber began to devote his time to more aeronautical research and Ridley Prentice took over the entire management of ASL. On 4 July 1911 the Valkyrie B was used to transport the first air cargo in Britain (a box of Osram lamps). Early in 1912 the twin-propeller Viking biplane was built, which was to be the last of Barber's designs. He continued his research and experimental work for a few months but in April 1912 withdrew from active aviation due to increasing costs. The company's aircraft and spares were to have been auctioned on April 24, but that was preempted by Frederick Handley Page, who paid cash for all the assets of ASL.

Company References

1. Airy Somethings - The Extraordinary Life of the Aviation Pioneer Horatio Barber, Terry Grace and Maggie Wilson (Publ. by authors, 2019)
2. British Aircraft Before The Great War, Michael H. Goodall and Albert E. Tagg (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2001
3. British Aviation, The Pioneer Years, Harald Penrose (Putnam, 1967)
4. English Electric Aircraft and their Predecessors, Stephen Ransom and Robert Fairclough (Putnam, 1987)
5. The Wight Aircraft, Michael H. Goodall (Gentry Books, 1973)