Photograph:
The ANEC I which became G-AUET (c/n 1) after completion (Barrie Beckman)
Country of origin:
United Kingdom
Description:
Single-seat light aircraft
Power Plant:
One 15 kw (20 hp) [696-cc] Blackburn Tomtit two-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 9.76 m (32 ft)
- Length: 4.76 m (15 ft 7 in)
- Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
- Wing area: 13.47 m² (145 sq ft)
- Max speed: 119 km/h (74 mph)
- Stalling speed: 52 km/h (33 mph)
- Climb to 915 m (3,000 ft): 8 mins
- Fuel consumption: 97 km/4.456 lit (60 miles / Imp gal)
- Wing loading: 14.6 kg/m² (32.1 lb/sq ft)
- Power loading: 10.6 kg/hp (23.2 lb/hp)
- Empty weight: 132 kg (290 lb)
- Loaded weight: 212 kg (465 lb)
History:
The ANEC series of monoplanes, of which three were built in the United Kingdom, was designed by W S Shackleton and built by Air Navigation & Engineering Co Ltd (ANEC) at Addlestone in Surrey. It was probably the earliest light aircraft designed and built in Great Britain.
Of all-wood construction, it was made as small as could be so that very small converted motor-bike engines could be installed. One example (G-EBJO) was acquired by the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden in the UK in 1938 and in 2005 was re-built to airworthiness. It originally had an Anzani inverted VEE-twin engine but it was expected another engine would be installed when it was completed. The ANEC II was a two-seat variant and only one was completed.
Two examples of the ANEC I came to Australia. The first aircraft G-EBHR (c/n 1) was first flown at Brooklands in Surrey on 21 August 1923 piloted by Mr J H James. At this time it was fitted with a Blackburn Tomtit motor-cycle engine. It was flown in the Daily Mail Newspaper performance trials for light single-seat aircraft at Lympne in Kent in September 1923.A similar aircraft managed 141 km on 4.546 litres of fuel (87.5 miles per gallon) and later reached an altitude of 4,389 m (14,400 ft).
This aircraft was evaluated by the British Air Ministry in 1924 and later had the wing span reduced from 9.75 m (32 ft) to 5.6 m (18 ft 4 in). It was entered in the 1925 Lympne August Bank Holiday Races, becoming the ANEC 1A. It was then imported to Australia by Mr A G Simpson of Perth, WA who traded under the name Air Transport Ltd. It was registered on 24 October 1924 as G-AUEQ (c/n 3) but was damaged by flood waters at Maylands aerodrome, WA on 5 January 1927. The registration was changed to VH-UEQ on December 1930 and the Certificate of Registration lapsed on 30 September 1932. It was subsequently obtained by Mr C Fitzgerald of Goomalling, WA who intended to use it as a hydroplane.
A second machine was constructed for Messrs G A V Church and J G ‘George’ Boehm of Brisbane, QLD and was registered on 5 May 1925 as G-AUET (c/n 1). It is known to have made a test flight on 11 January 1926 but not much is known about its history. It was sold to Frank Sharpe (later Sir) but was rarely flown more than a metre above the ground due to the vibration of the controls. The registration lapsed on 4 May 1926.
Records also indicate in about 1930 a motor mechanic named Neil Granahan commenced construction of an ANEC I at Echuca, VIC on the Murray River proposing to fit a 9 kw (12 hp) Henderson motor cycle engine but it is not known to have been flown and was very much underpowered.