What happened to A. V. Roe's first biplane?

Short answer

Brooklands circuit staff damaged it by carrying it by hand over a fence on the first race day on which Roe's shed served as a refreshment room. Roe repaired the machine, and a few more short flights were made before he was expelled from Brooklands.

Published: November 4, 2026 · Updated: November 4, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

What happened to A. V. Roe's first biplane?

Mignet HM 14 Pou du Ciel "La Cucaracha

A biplane for a £2,500 prize

Alliott Verdon Roe designed and built the aircraft in an attempt to win a prize offered by the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club, basing it on a powered model with which he had won a £75 prize from the Daily Mail at Alexandra Palace in April 1907. The club's committee offered £2,500 to the first person to fly a complete circuit of its three-mile (4.8 km) racing circuit before the end of the year. The biplane was built in Roe's brother's coach house in Putney and moved to Brooklands for testing in September 1907.

A borrowed engine

The engine proved insufficiently powerful to get the aircraft airborne. Roe ended up borrowing a French Antoinette engine of 24 hp (18 kW) to use instead.

Damaged, repaired and out of Brooklands

One of the conditions for Roe to occupy his shed at Brooklands was that it serve as a refreshment room on race days, and on the first such day the aircraft was damaged when circuit staff carried it by hand over a fence. Roe repaired the machine, and a few more short flights were made before he was expelled from Brooklands.