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Lee-Richards circular-winged monoplane in flight. This is believed to be the second version of this aircraft. via Bill Rose trol. Lee made numerous flights from Febru- ary 1912 onwards and the trials were finally concluded in December. Some film footage showing Lee making one of these flights appears at the beginning of Ken Annakin’s 1965 movie Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and a moderately accurate non-flying replica of Kitchen’s aircraft was also used in this production. Recently reno- vated, it can now be seen at the Shoreham Airport Archive & Visitor Centre, West Sussex. _ _ _ Kitchen retained an interest in Lee and Richards’ flying activities, possibly offering them technical support. He also applied for a number of aircraft patents during this period, which included various circular and parabola-shaped wing designs. In January 1913, Lee and Richards moved down to Lon- don and hired an engineer by the name of James Radley, and his assistant Eric England, to build a new aircraft for them at Shoreham Aerodrome in Sussex. Their first design was a propeller-driven annular-wing monoplane, which took full advantage of all the preceding research and development. The appearance of this aircraft differed considerably from the earlier designs. The fuselage was enclosed with fab- ric and the pilot sat near the centre of the wing, which was braced with wire cables from an upright support. Completed by the end of 1913 at Shoreham, it demonstrated exceptional lift and was flown around a 5-mile (8-km) circuit by England. However, on his return to the airfield the 80hp (59.6kW) Gnome Lambda engine cut out as England made his landing approach and he crashed. England was unharmed, but the aircraft was a write-off. Some parts were salvaged from the wreck- age and construction of a second monoplane began in early 1914. The original design was further modified with additional elevators and a tricycle undercarriage fitted. In March 1914 England flew the aircraft, which appar- ently suffered from fairly bad yaw problems. Gordon Bell replaced England as the test pilot and further modifications were made to the control surfaces as trials continued. However, Bell lost control of the aircraft during a test flight in late April 1914 and crash-landed. He | 15 Aseries of pre-World War One wing designs produced by John Kitchen. via Bill Rose The original Lee-Richards circular-winged monoplane prior to completion. via Bill Rose Early Circular-Winged Aircraft