Claude Grahame-White - Why build one plane when you can build dozens?

Consistently Eccentric History

English - May 26, 2023 21:33 - 57 minutes - 65.8 MB
History Society & Culture british english history comedy weird victorian georgian tudor stewart empire Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Previous Episode: The colony of New Caladonia (Darien Part 2) - Wherein things start badly and it gets worse from there

Next Episode: Sir Gilbert Heathcote - Tangential family history from London, New York and Derbyshire

This week we are trying to satisfy Emma's need for transport based history by talking about Claude Grahame-White, an early aviation engineer who loved to design planes, oh so many planes.

Convinced that planes were the key to future wars, Claude launched a one man crusade (sponsored by the Daily Mail) to ensure that the British would be the premier European force when it came to air power. Despite lacking both the creativity of the French and the discipline of the Germans. What resulted was a wild decade of creative output with dizzying highs and frustrating 3.3bhp lows.

Guest Host: Emma Heathcote

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