Aeronautical Syndicate
Aeronautical Syndicate Limited (ASL) was founded in 1909 at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain by Horatio Barber
See Aeronautical Syndicate Flying School, Hendon and Valkyrie Flying School
They were one of the world's first aircraft manufacturers.
Horatio Barber started the business in a railway arch at Battersea but in 1909 he moved to Larkhill on Salisbury Plain.
The first successful flights were in March 1910 with a tail-first pusher type. By September 1910 the fifth experimental design, the Valkyrie I, was flying powered by 35 hp engine by the Green Engine Co. It was photographed in flight, prior to dismantlement for removal to the new works and school at Hendon. The aircraft was a monoplane design, but without a tail, and the pilot sitting in front of the engine, which is in front of the main planes. In front of the pilot is a leading plane, beneath which is the elevator.[1]
In September 1910 the company occupied sheds at the London Aerodrome Company's flying field at Hendon.
In October 1910 a three-seater Valkyrie II with a 60 hp Gnome engine was flying.
Barber designed and built some 30 Valkyrie tail-first canard monoplanes for one, two and three people. They were powered by the 50hp Gnome engine.
The company closed in 1912.
1913 The company was wound up voluntarily[2]
See Also
Sources of Information
- British Aircraft Manufacturers since 1908 by Gunter Endres. Pub 1995
- The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing) by J. M. Bruce. Published in 1982. p35
- AA. [1] Image coutesy of Aviation Ancestry