Arthur Phillips

c1908. Phillips 7-cylinder rotary engine built to power his Matchless flying machine. Unfinished. Exhibit at the Shuttleworth Collection.

Arthur Phillips (1872- ), early aviator

1872 Born in Ollerton, Shropshire

1901 Listed in Market Drayton as a cycle maker.

Engineer and cycle maker of Queen Street, Market Drayton, invented a convertiplane in 1908, referred to as the British Matchless convertiplane, presumably a reference to the intended powerplant. The machine was covered by his patent, No. 28,119, ‘Improvements in or appertaining to Machines for Navigating the Air’ of 1908.

The machine was built in scale form with a Douglas motor cycle engine and was flown on several occasions tethered by a rope. A seven-cylinder two-stroke engine of 12 hp was to be fitted and together with the structure of the machine is still to be seen in the Shuttleworth Collection

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