General History

When Louis Bleriot crossed the English Channel in 1909, the flight shocked the British public into realizing that their island nation was now accessible without the watchful eye of the British Navy.  The Valkyrie aircraft series was a pioneering effort made in Great Britain to get in the race and catch up.  At a time when the only British aircraft flying was A.V. Roe’s triplane, little-known pioneer, Horatio Barber began the development of another aircraft of his own design.

The Valkyrie is a canard configuration, which uses the front control surface as a lifting surface as well.  Despite its awkward appearance, it was a marked improvement over the Avro triplane.   The original Valkyrie Model A was powered by a 35 hp in-line Green engine.  The next model, the Model B, used a 50hp Gnome rotary engine while the Model C used a larger 65hp Green inline engine.  Approximately 11 aircraft were built between March 1910 and May 1911.  In 1912, the Valkyrie was used in training pilots by the fledgling Royal Flying Corps.

Personal History

This aircraft was purchased from the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island, New York in 1987.  It is a replica, which is similar in appearance to the original but using more modern materials and is not very exact in detail.  It has a modern engine and airfoil and was built slightly scaled down to be able to transport it by road without a special permit, as the original aircraft was 10 feet wide.   

Kermit Comment

The Valkyrie was the first documented use of a heavier-than-air craft to be contracted for freight service.  It carried a box of Osram lamps a few miles for 100 pounds sterling.