After days filled with great expectations exacerbated by an impatient Ottawa press, disbelieving onlookers, and high winds, on August 12, Baddeck No. 1 was flown in a test run but barely made it to a height of 100 feet. For the formal trial the next day, the audience included the deputy minister of militia, the quartermaster general, and the chief of the general staff. This time Baddeck No. 1 struggled to an altitude of 15 feet, then stopped and fell backward to crash-land on its propeller and rudder, destroying both along with the carriage, struts, and rods. The cause of the crash was incorrect balance; in other words, placing the engine too far to the rear of the aircraft. Although McCurdy and Baldwin promised to return to Petawawa within a month, they didn’t, and Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier’s government could be forgiven when it lost all interest in aviation, military or civil.[7]
Given the very public deaths of aviators (editors knew that blaring headlines like “Air Tragedy” sold newspapers), it was little wonder that aviators were regarded as the latest form of acrobats, closer to trapeze artists than to pilots and working without even a safety net. Until 1927, pilots would be ineligible to purchase life insurance, a cause of concern to their widows, and the U.S. government census classified their occupation as “entertainers.” To be fair, besides the headlined crashes, the insurance industry had no accurate statistics to go on. If the popular aviation song for the era was “Come Josephine in My Flying Machine,” less romantic was doggerel from the period that said it better:
There was an old woman who lived in a hangar,
She had many children who raised such a clangor
That some she gave poison, and some aeroplanes
And all of them died with terrible pains.[8]
Even the experienced flyer, it seemed, didn’t escape the inevitable. When the U.S. Army wanted to use aircraft in the Mexican campaign in 1912, out of the 14 pilots in its Signal Corps, eight had already died in crashes, the first of whom had been Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge. Charles Rolls, one of the two founders of the Rolls-Royce Company, was lauded for flying across the English Channel and back, something no one had done yet. But on July 12, 1910, before hundreds of spectators at Bournemouth, England, death caught up with him. His Wright Flyer’s stabilizer broke off in a vertical dive, the aircraft barely 40 feet off the ground, and he fell out. Rolls was found without a mark on his body, having died of a broken neck and becoming the first British aviation casualty.
Persuaded by this, the British government enacted the Aerial Navigation Act that year, drafted not for the safety of the aviator but to protect his audience — those on the ground who might be killed by crashes. The Home Office had nominal jurisdiction over civil flying, as it did over all means of transport. In the earliest legislation on safety, Parliament gave the secretary of state the power to prohibit flying over such areas as he might prescribe. Augmented by acts in 1913 and 1919, he also had the authority to regulate air navigation; issue, revoke, and suspend pilots’ licences; and “certify” aircraft. Several European nations followed suit, but not the United States or Canada yet.
The nearest to a national aviation authority the British and their empire had was the Aero Club of the United Kingdom. Its members were wealthy sportsmen who raced cars, sailed for the America’s Cup, skied the Cresta Run at St. Moritz, and in 1909 became “dedicated to spreading knowledge to advance the sport of aviation.” Meeting regularly, club members reported on aviation advances around the world and granted “Aviator Certificates” (the earliest pilots’ licences) to deserving colleagues. They also liaised with like-minded clubs overseas, one of which was the Aero Club of Canada. So socially well connected were members of the British Aero Club that in 1911 they were granted a Royal Charter. Like many of his subjects, King Edward VII enjoyed air shows and had even chatted at one with the Wrights.[9] Prompted by the death of Rolls, the Royal Aero Club became interested in why accidents occurred and on January 9, 1912, established a Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee to be coordinated by George Bertram Cockburn, an enthusiastic member.
That year, on May 13, a Flanders monoplane crashed at Brooklands Racetrack and burned. The club committee happened to be meeting the following day, and the Brooklands accident was discussed. It became not only the first in the British Empire to be formally investigated, but also the first on which a report was published. Copies of the report went into widespread circulation by June 8, 1912, and formed the basis of all British and Canadian accident reports in the future. It is reproduced here in its entirety:
BROOKLANDS ACCIDENT.
Report on the fatal accident to Mr. E.V.B. Fisher and his passenger, Mr. Victor Mason, when flying at Brooklands on Monday, May 13th, 1912, at about 6 p.m.
Brief Description of the Accident. — Mr. E.V.B. Fisher flying with a passenger on a Flanders monoplane fitted with a 60-h.p. Green engine had made two or three circuits of the Brooklands flying ground. He was making a left-hand turn when the aircraft fell to the ground, killing both the aviator and passenger. Almost immediately after contact with the ground, the aircraft was in flames.
Report. — The Special Committee sat on the following dates: — Tuesday, May 21st, Wednesday, May 22nd, and Tuesday, May 28th, 1912, and heard the evidence of two eye witnesses, both of whom were aviators holding certificates. The Committee also heard the evidence of the designer and manufacturer of the aircraft, and of the representative of the maker of the motor. The written reports of other witnesses, and the report of Dr. Eric Gardner, were also considered.
From the consideration of this evidence the Committee is of opinion that the following facts are clearly established: —
(1) That the accident originated while the aircraft was making a left-hand turn at about 100 feet from the ground. (Evidence as to height, in the opinion of the Committee, is not conclusive.)
(2) That the aircraft had turned through an angle of about 90˚ in the horizontal plane.
(3) That it then side-slipped inwards.
(4) That it struck the ground head first, with the tail practically vertical.
(5) That from the effect produced on the engine and other parts the velocity at the moment of striking the ground was very considerable.
(6) That the fire which took place originated subsequently to the fall, and was the result not the cause of the accident.
(7) That there is no reason to suppose that the structural failure of any part of the aircraft was the cause of the accident.
(8) That from the commencement of the flight the aircraft was flying tail down.
(9) That the engine was actually running when the aircraft struck the ground.
(10 ) That Mr. Fisher was not in any way incapacitated so far as the normal control of the aircraft was concerned by an injury to his left shoulder, which he had sustained on April 18th, 1912.
(11) That the passenger did not cause the accident.
(12) That Mr. Fisher was thrown, fell, or jumped out of the aircraft when the latter was a considerable height from the ground, his body being found about 60 ft. in front of the spot where the aircraft struck. The passenger remained in the aircraft: his position was such that he could not readily have been thrown out.
(13) Mr. Fisher was granted his Aviator’s Certificate No. 77, on May 2nd, 1911, by the Royal Aero Club.
E.V.B. Fisher in the cockpit of a Flanders F.3, this one fitted with a Marconi wireless. Fisher is in the rear seat.
Opinion. — The Committee is of opinion that the cause of the accident was the aviator himself, who failed sufficiently to appreciate the dangerous conditions under which he was making the turn, when the aircraft was flying tail down, and in addition was not flying in a proper manner.
A side slip occurred, and Mr. Fisher lost control of the aircraft.
It seems probable that his losing control was caused by his being thrown forward on to the elevating gear, thereby moving this forward involuntarily, which would have had the effect of still further turning the aircraft down. This would explain his being