The film “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines” is notable for reproductions of 1910-era aircraft, including a triplane, monoplanes, biplanes and also Horatio Phillips’s 20-winged multiplane from 1904. Air Commodore Wheeler insisted on authentic materials but allowed the use of modern engines and modifications necessary to ensure safety. Of 20 types built in 1964 at £5,000 pounds each, six could fly, flown by six stunt pilots and maintained by 14 mechanics. The race takeoff scene where seven aircraft are in the air at once included a composite addition. Flying conditions were monitored with aerial scenes filmed before 10 am or in early evening when the air was least turbulent, for the replicas, true to the originals, were flimsy – and control, especially in the lateral plane, tended to be marginal.
The actual machine upon which they were based on was No.20 built by the Clement Bayard Motor Co in Paris. They were built at White Waltham using a welded steel tube fuselage, wooden wings (with ailerons instead of wing warping) and a 30 hp Ardem 4C02 engine. Initial flight trials were very poor and a 50 hp Ardem 4C02 and a two foot extension to the wing span was put in before they could fly well enough.
The replica of the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle was in its early form unable to leave the ground except in short hops. Extending the wingspan and fitting a more powerful Ardem 50 hp engine produced only marginal improvement. When Doug Bianchi and the Personal Planes production staff who constructed the replica consulted with Alan Wheeler, he recalled that the Demoiselle’s designer and first pilot, Alberto Santos-Dumont was a very short, slightly built man. A suitably small pilot, Joan Hughes, a wartime member of the Air Transport Auxiliary who was the Airways Flying Club chief instructor, was hired. With the reduced payload, the diminutive Demoiselle flew very well, and Hughes proved a consummate stunt flyer.
After filming they were dispersed:
PPS/REP/2 – PPS/DEM/1 to RAF Gatow, Berlin
PPS/REP/3 – PPS/DEM/2 to Sydney, Australia
PPS/REP/4 – PPS/DEM/3 to R.Jude at Laleham, UK
All Aero 