The Bonney Gull was built by an eccentric that belived the Wrights had gotten everything wrong and that the secret to “True” flight was to emulate the birds as closely as possible. Till his demise Leonard Warden Bonney kept, studied and researched Seagulls with the hope that he would find the “right way to fly”.
In 1928 Bonney used all of his knowledge to create his aircraft. Not surprisingly at the time many of his ideas seemed extremly far fetched but were in fact ahead of their time.
Unable to find a willing test pilot, Bonney himself decided to pilot the contraption.
On May 4th 1928 Bonney took off in the Gull despite objections from his friends and family and attained an altitude of 50 feet before the Gull wobbled, fishtailed and plunged straight down, ejecting him from the plane on impact. He was later taken to the hospital where he died shortly after from his injuries.
James
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Topic: Quest: Guess what is depicted here (Read 993570 times)
