On this day in History…

On this day, February 25^th 1911 the Board of Trade confirmed the W.L. Aero Engine Company's intention to change their name to

This name was first suggested to the Board of Directors on January 31^st and maybe at first it didn’t have brackets. However, by the time it was confirmed on February 15^th, somebody must have realised it could be shortened to A.B.C., something simple, catchy, easy to remember even 110 years later.

It was a new beginning. The 1911 Olympia Aero Show was just one month away!
The new All British (Engine) Company already had Stand number 10 booked but there was still lots of work to be done before contracts could be signed.

It was time to get the engines ready!




Sources: The National Archives, Reference BT 31/19614/111220

Well done- you’ve been busy with your research!

I have forwarded your post to the other volunteers at Milntown.

On this day, Saturday April 29th 1911, in the early hours of the morning the Windbus made its first appearance at the Brooklands racetrack.

"It is a motorcar driven by a propeller, and it is to be used with the object of securing data [...] for the advantage of aviators" writes The Motor while The Autocar adds some extra details and a typo... "We were not able on Saturday to do more than glance at the eighteen-cylinder A.B.C. engine which arrived for Mr. Flanders's monoplane".

This must have been referring to the Flanders F1 monoplane which was meant to have two propellers driven by a 100+ hp engine. Very powerful for those early days of aviation.
The All British (Engine) Co. originally planned to deliver a 120hp V12 but then settled for the 80hp V8 presented at Olympia the previous month.
Could this have been the very first A.B.C. engine delivered by Charteris to a customer?

The following pictures show Charteris at the wheel, his friend Alexander Lang of propeller fame in the passenger seat and someone who looks a lot like a young Bradshaw at the accelerator.
Yes! The driver didn't have control of the accelerator, this was done from the rear!!!
No idea who the others are but the lack of exhaust must have certainly helped keeping them all awake during the journey from Redbridge in the early hours of the morning.

Sources:
The Automotor Journal 6th May 1911, page 478
The Autocar 6th May 1911, page 645
The Motor 2nd May 1911, pages 538
Flight International 27th May 1911, page 463

Paul just reminded me.
A year later (in 1912) the Windbus was still in use at Brooklands for testing engines and propellers.

Lang even clocked it up test-hill at Brooklands in 11 2-5 secs (from standing start!) or 21.8 miles per hour.
The record at the time was 9 secs on a motorcycle!

There were multiple articles about this vehicle which must have been fitted with multiple engines and propellers but my favourite surviving record is certainly this picture with Charteris best friend in the passenger seat.

Lang's run up Test Hill was in February 1912 and a picture of the windbus with a Gnome rotary engine shows that it was not the ABC version.
Although there were numerous reports of the ABC run around the track they all appear to have been on the same day and the runs were curtailed when the propeller grounded on the notorious bump on the descent from Members Banking.
The report on the Test Hill run includes the reference to "Mr Partidge", the pseudonym Ronald Charteris used when learning to fly at Brooklands.