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Bircham
The Bircham Beetle was built at RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk,
was designed and built by Flt. Lt. A.L.A. Perry-Keene, F.O. L.A.W. Deane and F.O. A.J.R. Moss in 1924, all members of the
incumbent 7 Squadron.
The fuselage of the machine was allegedly built using the rear fuselage of a Bristol F.2B
mated to a new forward section. The wing was also allegedly from a Fokker D.VII but Orde-Hume [1] shows this cannot be true.
Initial power was by a 500cc Douglas and presumably first flew with that powerplant sometime in 1924. In September
1924 the machine was entered for the Royal Aero Club Grosvenor Challenge Cup, to be held at Lympne Aerodrome, on Saturday,
October 4, 1924, stated as being powered by an ABC engine. In the event the machine was not in the final list of entrants
and did not attend.
The eventual fate of the Beetle is unknown.
Unlike the machine, the officers' careers
proved more successful. Air Vice Marshal Allan Lancelot Addison Perry-Keene CB, OBE had a long and distinguished RAF career.
Born on 10 November 1898 in Gateshead, Durham, he was commissioned in the Royal Flying Corps in June 1917. He received a short
term commission as a Flying Officer in the newly formed RAF in 1919 and on 23 Jan 1935 was posted to India. During WWII, the
eve of the Japanese offensive into Burma saw him as Senior Air Staff Officer to 221 Group. In this capacity, Perry-Keene played
a part in the formulation of tactics which preserved RAF air superiority in the skies over Rangoon for so long, in the face
of overwhelming enemy superiority. Between 1947 and 1949, he served as the first Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Pakistan
Air Force. In his later years, Perry-Keene wrote an autobiography titled Reflected Glory - An Autobiography. It was privately
published in 1978. Allan Perry-Keene died on
16 March 1987 in Andover, Hants.
Laurence Archibald William Deane, born 21 April 1899 in Towcester, Northamptonshire,
was commissioned in the Royal Flying Corps in July 1917. He received a short term commission as a Flying Officer in the newly
formed RAF in 1919, leaving with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. Laurence Deane died on 8 August 1951 in Buckinghamshire.
Albert James Robert Moss was on born 21 November
1898 in Guilford, Surrey. On leaving the RAF with the rank of Flight Lieutenant, he was appointed Superintendent of Kai Tak
airport, Hong Kong on 11 September 1930 and became Hong Kong's director of civil aviation in the late 1940s. Moss died in 1979 in Worthing, West Sussex.
Project Data 
Project No | Type
No | Name | Alternative Name(s) | Year | Spec | Status | Qty | Description | References |
| | |
Beetle | | 1924 | | Proto |
1 |
1S, 1E low wing monoplane | 1 | Project References - British Light Aeroplanes
1920-1940, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2000)
Total Bircham Production 1
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