Clarke, T.W.K.
T.W.K. Clarke and Co.
Contents
History
Thomas Wigston Kinglake Clarke was born on 17 April 1873 in Marshfield, Gloucestershire, the son of James Strachan Clark and Jane Clark (neé Turner), of Ashwicke Grange Farm. Note that at this time, the family spelled their name without an ‘e’, which appears to have been adopted sometime between 1881 and 1891. Following the death of James Clark in 1876, the family moved to Bath, where Thomas attended Bath College from 1884 to 1892, then Caius College Cambridge from 1892 to 1896, obtaining a double “First” in Mathematics and Science.
Clarke was first employed as a Mathematical and Engineering Master at Bedford County School from 1897 to 1898 before joining Messrs. Perry & Co as an Assistant Engineer on the ‘Bakerloo’ Railway. In 1900 he enlisted in the Imperial Yeomanry, and saw service in the South African War, receiving a dangerous wound which was to bring blindness in later years.
Returning to the U.K., in 1902 he became a Lecturer in Engineering at Nottingham University, then the same at Seafield Park College, Hants, the following year. From 1903 to 1905 he was Assistant Engineer, Messrs. Sir James and WW Szlumper, Engineers to the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway. Clarke was appointed an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Engineers (M.I.C.E.) in February 1906, but it was the year before that he first became interested in flying, making small gliding models. In the same year he entered five models in the International Aeronautical Exhibition at Alexandra Palace and carried off 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th prizes. In 1906 he set up as an aeronautical consulting engineer under the name of T. W. K. Clarke and Co. in Union St, Kingston upon Thames, claimed have been the first in the country. His 'Clarke's Flyer' models were designed for sale to encourage interest in aviation, but like many pioneers, he used model flying as a useful experimental tool. According to The Aeroplane, he made a speciality of building machines to his clients’ own designs, but the majority of machines built by him were built, more or less, under conditions of secrecy, so almost no record remains. In 1909 he built a Wright-type glider for Alec Ogilvie which made record glides of about 1/4 mile. For the most part, however, Clarke and Co. concentrated on producing aircraft parts, most notably propellers and wheels. In 1911, the company moved to the Crown Works, High Street, Kingston upon Thames, and finally to High Street, Hampton Wick by February 1913.
Clarke joined the Aeronautical Society in 1907, served on the Council in 1911 and 1912, became a Fellow and held the Society’s Gold Medal.
In 1912 Clarke joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, though maintaining his connection with T.W.K. Clarke and Co, by now purely a supplier of models and associated parts. That company finally went into liquidation in 1923.
Clarke remaining with the RAE for the remainder of his career, though he did act as consultant on the Kennedy Giant. Blind for the last ten years of his life, he triumphed over this disability to invent a precision device now in use which is capable of measuring in half millionths of an inch.
Thomas Wigston Kinglake Clarke B.A., A.M.I.C.E, F.R.Ae.S., died on 3 January 1941 in Weobley, Herefordshire.
Company References
- Fleet Town Council Planning Committee (pdf download)
- Graces Guide
- Ancestry.com
- The Aero 8 Feb 1910
Project Data
| Project No | Type No | Name | Alternative Name(s) | Year | Spec (Requirement) | Status | Qty | Description | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 Biplane Glider | 1906 | Proto | 1 | 1S biplane glider. | 1 | ||||
| 1909 Wright Glider | 1909 | Proto | 1 | 1S biplane glider. | 1, 2, 5 | ||||
| 1909 Chanute Glider | 1909 | Proto | 1 | 1S biplane glider. | 1, 2, 6, 8 | ||||
| 1910 Biplane Glider | 1910 | Proj | 1 | 1S biplane glider. | 1, 7 | ||||
| Monoplane | 1910 | Proto | 1 | 1S, 1E canard monoplane. | 1, 4 | ||||
| 'Double Triplane' | 1911 | Proto | 1 | Triplane | 1, 3 | ||||
| Monoplane Glider | 1918 | Proto | 1 | swept wing monoplane glider. | 1 |
Project References
- British Aircraft Before The Great War, Michael H. Goodall and Albert E. Tagg (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2001)
- British Aircraft 1809-1914, Peter Lewis (Putnam, 1962)
- The Aeroplane 14 Sep 1911
- Aeronautical Journal Vol 14 No 56
- Flight 18 Sep 1909
- RAF Museum Clarke Chanute Glider
- The Aero, Vol. 3, No. 81 (Dec. 7, 1910)
- The Aero, Vol. 7, No. 119 (Feb 1913)
Production Details and Type Description
Three-bay unequal span glider with rectangular front elevator, later increased in area with triangular extensions, and twin rudders on rear boom extensions.
| Specification | |||||
| Span | Length | Height | Wing Area | Empty Wt | Max AUW |
| 39 ft | 31 ft | 368 sq ft | |||
| 11.89 m | 9.45 m | 34.19 m2 | |||
Single-seat biplane glider, of fabric covered wooden construction. The machine was based on the Wright No. 3 Glider, but was fitted with a biplane elevator in front and with a seat to enable the pilot to sit upright. The two-bay wings were double-surfaced and had an aspect-ratio of 6.5. Controls consisted of warping wings, the front elevator and the rear rudder; a fixed fin was incorporated between the elevator surfaces. Constructed for the most part silver spruce, the each wing consisted of a pair of transverse spars joined together at the tips by a piece of bent elm, a scafe joint being made between the two timbers. The ribs, at 1 ft. intervals, consisted of two small strips of rectangular section wood separated by distance pieces at intervals. Launching was by means of a weight and derrick.
| Specification | |||||
| Span | Length | Height | Wing Area | Empty Wt | Max AUW |
| 39 ft | 31 ft | 368 sq ft | |||
| 11.89 m | 9.45 m | 34.19 m2 | |||
Chanute-type biplane glider built for the Royal Aero Club. It had double-surfaced wings wings of equal span, and was equipped with a single elevator carried aft on twin booms, curved both in plan and elevation. The pilot was suspended through the lower wing, using his legs as "undercarriage".
| Specification | |||||
| Span | Length | Height | Wing Area | Empty Wt | Max AUW |
| 22 ft | 10 ft | ||||
| 6.71 m | 3.05 m | ||||
Equal span biplane glider, with forward elevator mounted on twin booms.
Single seat canard monoplane. The pilot sat high on the fuselage, a rectangular lattice framework of English ash, the lower members of which form landing-skids. The pusher powerplant, radiator, and combined petrol and oil tank formed a power unit, mounted on independent bearers across the framework, and supported on the upper longerons, was readily detachable. The near-elliptical mainplane was at the extreme aft, behind the engine, and built up of I-section ash spars, and silver-spruce ribs, covered with pegamoid fabric, while the similarly shaped elevator was located at the top of the upswept forward end of the fuselage. The single rudder ws mounted above the elevator. The two mainwheels were located just forward of the centre of gravity, with a smaller wheel also mounted below the front surface. One 25 h.p. Thames powerplant, built by The Thames Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd., and driving a Clarke propeller.
| Specification | |||||
| Span | Length | Height | Wing Area | Empty Wt | Max AUW |
| 30 ft | 20 ft | 150 sq ft | 750 lb | ||
| 9.14 m | 6.1 m | 13.94 m2 | 340 kg | ||
A tandem triplane, with a front elevator and biplane tail—making nine planes in all. The machine was mounted on four wheels, and control consisted of a lever and two steering-wheels mounted concentrically, the lower and larger steering-wheel operating a biplane rudder and the two front wheels ; the upper and smaller wheel operating the front elevator. In each of the two gaps of the rear triplane was a rudder, operated by the lever.
Tailless monoplane glider with considerable sweepback and tip mounted ailerons.
Total T.W.K Clarke Production7