Grose and Feary
of Oakington, Cambridge. Early aeroplane.
1909 October. 'The two young aviators. Messrs, A. M. Grose and N. A. Feary, are hard at work in the barn at Oakington, the place they have selected as the birthplace of the “all British” monoplane, which they have entered for the Daily Mail £1,000 prize for the first circular mile flight by a machine of this description. They hail from the Metropolis, and have chosen Oakington the scene of their labours in order to escape from the "madding crowd" and to get beyond the reach of curious sight-seers. The village carpenter’s mate is at present the only outsider who is privileged to enter the barn, and he gains access by virtue of the fact that he is assisting the inventors with the rougher portion of the work. It is stated that some large meadows in the neighbourhood of Oakington will probably be the scene of the machine’s trial trips, and the inventors hope that these trips will take place in the near future, for they are very anxious to compete in the Blackpool aviation week, which is fixed for about three weeks ahead. If the machine is entered for that week it will be among a very few all-British competitors. Messrs. Grose and Feary have been pushing the work on in haste, but they have had a compulsory check recently consequence of the failure of Cambridge firm to supply certain essential fittings on a specified day. Interviewed by a pressman, the inventors remarked that London firms to whom work had been given had been quicker to recognise the necessity of urgency, and asked “ Don’t Cambridge people ever hurry ?” Assured that the Long Vacation was a factor in inducing somnolence in Cambridge, they intimated that the sooner term-time arrived the better they would like it....'[1]
1909 October. 'THE OAKINGTON AEROPLANE To Be Exhibited Shortly. Messrs. Grose and Feary, the two expert aeroplane engineers who are engaged in construction at Oakington have now announced that they expect to have the machine ready for inspection by the public by Thursday of next week. The inventors have decided to take this step in view of the number of requests which have been made for permission view the machine. As already stated, the inventors are working hard at their machine, which is a modification of Latham's Antoinette, and Blerits’s machine, in order that they may have it ready for the Blackpool flying week, which commences about the middle of the present month. The machine is of a type of which there are but few in course of construction in this country at the present time, and will be driven by a 20 h.p. four-cylinder air-cooled Advance engine, coupled to a Handley-Page propeller. A Cambridge firm, Messrs. Quinsee, are constructing the chassis, and a patent stabilising apparatus has been made by Messrs. Robinson, of the Premier Cycle Co, Regent-street, Cambridge. It is stated that later in the Term Mr. Feary, who has been appointed aeronautical instructor to the Regent-street Polytechnic Institute, London, will probably deliver a series of lectures in Cambridge on the latest developments in the science of aviation. It is possible, too, that a Cambridge Aeronautical Club will be opened by the inventors, if there appears to be sufficient interest in the subject among engineering students at the University and others in the district.[2]
1910 Built a monoplane, with Mr Feary, equipped with an engine from Advance Motor Manufacturing Co.