Talk:British Army Aeroplane No 1

expansion

needs expansion, but its a long & messy storyTheLongTone (talk) 19:49, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

Broomfield and May claim.

Why did Broomfield say it took place in May 1908? What benefit for Cody, or him? GraemeLeggett (talk) 15:54, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

Broomfield was an enormous fan of Cody. According to Walker, "Broomfield's original objective seems to have been to credit Cody with a flight antedating one that A. V. Roe was alleged to have made in June 1908, and so place him indisputably as the first man to fly in Britain." Roe's claim was of course later disallowed. — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 16:15, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

I think that could do with going in then for context. GraemeLeggett (talk) 22:39, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm not sure. I see it more as part of the general fabrications which surrounded Cody's life. Broomfield managed to stir up quite a lot of kerfuffle with it - his story was first published and later rescinded by a bona fide author and also got onto the plaque for the Cody Tree. I don't see the details as particularly relevant to the story of the plane itself. I'll try and write it up at Samuel Franklin Cody and you can then bring as much across here as you see fit. — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 09:55, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Only a sentence perhaps, something like "[Broomfield] publicized/promoted/claimed a first flight date of [ ] in order to ensure Cody was given credit for the first flight in the UK ahead of A V Roe. This was later shown to be false."? GraemeLeggett (talk) 12:10, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

I added a bit. Any better? — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 13:22, 19 January 2015 (UTC)