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A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]

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TobiAlliBalogun1

The history of aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005, written by Tunde Decker.

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A History of Aviotion in Nigeria 1925 • 200S document Nigeria's air transport industry. It exammeJ th administrators, the responsibilities inheril~d by thtt NI"'lrlan Go colonial approaches to a dynamic internatiollol indu "Comparec1to rail, road and maritIme transport, CIVIl aVlolion II in the scholarly and popular lIterature, II jJ agO/nit Ihl pioneering effort is a welcome source ofmformal/"" On II Vlt economy .... .. .In practical terms. this enterprismg volumt: exan"rleJ tit!!hlSlOr segment of the transport infrastructure evolved m th •Ayodeji Olukoju, PhO Professor of Maritime Economic HIstory and Dean UnlversltyafLagos, Nigeria "Another history in the annals of aVIation In NIgeria Now 011 have an authoritatIve reference c1ocument. This well r is highly commenc1ec1." Captain Dele Ore President, Nigeria's Aviation Round Table "This ;s well written. well researched work. I wish I hoc1read a bnok III"'J tIll the aviation lnc1ustryas 0 young retiree from the Nlj1erioll A'r",y In I1178 • Adoml Okotle, Former Public Relations Manager, Murc International Airport, Lagos,
.A~ =a '=I 1Ii.&to~y 01 .A~ ~,'J;ii~ ·"1ff"D =a=.. YI =..~·~=..VI=..=a .~ llB =..=-=.. .(Iap e)~ja =..II=..iSlJ ~ =..=..~=a Copyright © 2008 Tunde Decker Tunde Decker: mobile: +234 (0) 8057774778 e-mail: t_deker@yahoo.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission of the the copyright owner. Registered with the National library of Nigeria: ISBN: 978-978-088-587-8 Design + Production: Klipart Limited: mobile: 0802 300 60 I0 e-mail: klipartltd@yahoo.com Printed in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Published by: Dele-Davis Publishers. 76-78, Ibeshe Road, Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria. 1- ... BlQ6 Printed 2008 Cover iIIust.ration: The Emir's Herald - One of the earliest safety measures in Nigeria's Aviation industry. Cover illustration by: Conrad Olasubomi Decker Tunde Decker ii iii
Dedication and To God the Almighty who in the true meaning of flight ascended into heaven flashing us a beacon that we may not go blind by this low level of flight Man calls aviation. Yet we are made to fly Uke the eagle. our arms end in fingers To spread in floatation In the understanding That though the sky is full We are made to fly. We Are Made To Fly. Even When we fly There is no place in the sky Forthe sky is full Of density and gravity Of the things unseen Rosemond Adunni Taylor, My mother, who hungered for my food, clothed me in dire need and sent me to school with all her strength. Yet the birds make way In glides and soors. In turns and flutter And defiance of fact. That the sky is full - from an unpublished collection of the author. iv
Contents Dedication ii vii Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations List of Figures Foreword Introduction One: Two: Three: Four: Five: vi ix xii xiii xiv Flight and Conceptulisation The Beginningsof Aviation Overview of Flight Pioneers The Wright Brothers and their Exploits Wright Brothers influence in Europe Reaction to Wright Brothers Claim and Feat The State of Aviation in Europe 8 Prelude to 1925 Pre-colonial/Pre-Aviation Transport Systems Human Porterage The Canoe The Camel Donkeys The Horse Road Transport Maritime Transport 22 1925 The Imperial Antecedents The First Aircraft Landing 31 Development and Management of Landing Fieldsand Aerodromes 45 Aerodrome and Landing Field Administration 1925 - 1945: Early Safety Measure The Emir's Herald Animal Diseases via Aerial Traffic Aerodrome and Airport Administration 1945 - 1960: Six: Seven: Eight: The Emergence of Kano, Maiduguri and Lagos as international centres of aviation: Kano Maiduguri Lagos Airport and Infrastructural Development Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 (MMA2) Ibadan Airport Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Akure Airport Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport Benin Airport Calabar Airport Enugu Airport Jos Airport lIorin Airport Kaduna Airport Maiduguri Airport Port Harcourt Airport Sokoto Airport Yola Airport Owerri Airport Markudi Airport Others Air Route Development 76 Early British American strategy Early Passenger Services Regulations,Lawsand Management: 85 The International Law Precedence The Establishment of West Africa Air Transport Authority British Navigation Acts Nigeria Civil Aviation Acts 1964 Air Transport Licensing Regulation 1965 Airspace Management: 101 Search and Rescue Air Search Uncertainty Phase Alert Phase Distress Phase Ground Search and Rescue vii
Nine: Ten: viii Kano Rescue Coordinating Centre Lagos Rescue Coordinating Centre Air Traffic and Aerodrome Control Officers Provincial Administration Nigerian Railway Nigerian Marine Ground Signals for use by Ground Search Parties Ground Signals for use by Survivors Deterioration of Airspace Infrastructure Twelve: Nigeria Airways and the Aftermath: The Beginnings Foreign Policy Pursuit The Dutch Management 165 The Role of Union and Professional Bodies Role of International Agencies Eleven: Air Power in the Nigerian CivilWar 158 Management Crisis: Alhaji M. T. Bature Group Captain Bernard Banfa Air Vice Marshall Anthony Okpere Major General Olu Bajowa Air Vice Marshall A. D. Bello Captain Wilson Atabo Captain J. B. Ibrahim Captain Mohammed Joji EarlyAviation Professionals: Beginnings, Growth and Challenges 120 PolicyFor..iulatlon and Implementation 133 Background Regulation Deregulation The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria The Nigeria Airspace Management Authority The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority Accidents Investigation Bureau Government PolicyObjectives and Statements in 200S: Legislation Funding Airport Development and Maintenance Facilitation Airport Security and Safety Ground Handling Air Navigation Services Aeronautic Search and Rescue Aeronautic Meteorology Safety Regulations and Oversight Accident Investigation and Prevention Air Transport licensing Economic Regulation of Airports and Air Navigation International Operations and liberalization Airline Industry and Ownership Structure Participation in International Organisations Consumer Protection Insurance Aviation Charges Aviation Manpower Development Role in Aviation Administration and Development Airport and Route Development The Lagos - London Route Training and Development Aircraft Tyres and Use The Aftermath liquidation and Sale Entrance of Virgin Atlantic Airways Thirteen: Private Sector Participation 190 Fourteen: Funding 197 Fifteen: Postcript 203 Glossary 206 Appendixes: 207 Airports in Nigeria Domestic Airlines as at 2005 Foreign Airlines in Nigeria as at 2005 Aircraft Manufacturers and Type Nigeria Airways General Managers/Managing Directors 1956 - 2004 Ix
Acknowledgments Nigeria Airways Board Chairmen 1959 - 1992 Some Nigeria Airways Pilots Air crashes in Nigeria: 1943 - 2006 Nigeria's Aviation Ministers: 1955 - 2006 I express profound gratitude to Deba Uwadiae who inspired this project and mentored me throughout my sojourn in Nigeria's aviation industry as Aviation News Reporter and Editor; and to all past and present members of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) whose encouragement sustained my interest. Special gratitude goes to Mrs. Sola Adekola, Akin Olukunle, Tunji Oketunbi, Supo Atobatele, Sam Adurogboye, Edwin Nwachukwu, John Osadolor, Charles Olufuwa, Horatious Egua and Lateef LawaI. Special gratitude also goes to the following notable stakeholders in the aviation industry who sacrificed their time to grant interviews during the day and late evenings: Dr. Steve Mahonwu, Captain Samuel Ohiomah, Captain Dele Ore, Mr. J. A. Olatunji, Dr. Omotosho Ogunniyi (late), Engineer Babatunde Obadofin, Mrs. Modupe Aduke Ogunwale, Captain Ufot Ekong (late), Dr. Mrs. Kema Chikwe, Senator Idris Kuta (late), Mrs. Ibijoke Olatunji, Captain Jerry Agbeyegbe (late), Dr. Makanjuola Owolabi, Engineer Zakari Haruna (late), Sir Richard Branson, Engineer Sheri Kyari •• Colonel S. D. Yombe, Mr. Samuel Onwutuebe, Engineer Frank Oseh, Engineer Bernard Kenine, Mr. John Akpaida, Mr. Ochemeh Abah, Mr. Peter Ogaba, Reverend Adomie Okotie, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi, Mr. Kunle Martins, Alhaji Musiliu Yinusa and Mr. Rasheed Yusuf. I express gratitude to Professor B. Oloruntimehin, Professor Ade Adefuye, Professor Anthony Asiwaju, Professor Akinjide Osuntokun, Professor Babatunde Agiri and Professor T. G. 0 Gbadamosi who as father-figures taught me History and nurtured my aspirations as a historian. I also express gratitude to Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, Professor Adebayo Lawai, Professor Abayomi Akinyeye, Professor Rufus Akinyele, Dr. Kehinde Faluyi, Dr. Nina Mba (late), Dr. Hakeem Harunah (late), Dr. J. G. N. Onyekpe, Mr. Leo Dioka, Dr. Olufunke Adeboye, Dr. Eno Blankson Ikpe, Dr. Michael Ogbeidi, Dr. Tunde Oduwobi, Dr. Ademola Adeleke and Dr. David Aworawo, all of the Department of History and Strategic Studies, University of Lagos for their guidance during my academic training as an undergraduate and post graduate student in the Department. To them I remain ever grateful. I am also grateful to Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, Dr. David Aworawo, Captain Dele Ore, Engineer Sheri Kyari, Mr. Basil Okafor, Rev. Adomi Okotie and Mr. J. A. Olatunji who read through the manuscript and offered useful suggestions. I however take responsibility for any shortcomings whatsoever. x xi
I am grateful to the entire congregation of the Lagos Christian Church for their spiritual guidance and leadership throughout the period of this research. Specifically, I thank Evangelist Chris Ogbonnaya and his wife Rolayo, Evangelist Shedrach Obasa and his wife Augusta, Mr. and Mrs. Tony Ogbokri, Evangelist Bayo Ajadi and his wife, Chinyere, Johnson Daniel, Muyiwa Ayorinde, Mr and Mrs. Jonah and Bridget Nwachukwu, Mr. and Mrs. Kes and Dorcas Esievo, Mr. and Mrs. Peter and Bunmi Aghahowa, Mr. and Mrs Ikeddy Isiguzo, Dr. and Mrs Phil and Stella Osagie, Dr. and Mrs Akporuarho, Mr. and Mrs. Emmanuel and Pat Ochai, Mr. and Mrs. Akinjide and Joke Akinjimi, Mr and Mrs. Dayo and Bunmi Adeshina, Mr. and Mrs. Leye and Mary Adeniji, Mr. and Mrs. Wale and Keke Adeyemi, James U James, Bode Olagoke, Clement Odum, Benjamin Phillip and Joel Akpan. I am grateful to Mr. Oludotun Adefolu and late Mrs. Dorcas Adefolu who fed and housed me during my research trips to Ibadan. . d to my research assistants, who worked hard with the understanding that I had little to give, I express special thanks: Olasubomi Decker, Solomon Adefolu, Julius Adesoye, Samuel Amos, Evans Airhekholo, Timinipere Swebi, Thomas Igene, Sola Olarewanju and Amidu Ibrahim. A very special gratitude is reserved for Olaere, my wife and my two daughters: Omodunfe and Omolero for their unending patience and encouragement during the many hours put into this project. Without their tolerance and understanding, this project would not have been completed. Abbreyiations Federation Aeronautique Internationale Royal Air Force PanAfrican Airways Public Works Department Sudan United Mission Civil Aviation Department Aerodrome Control Officer Controller of Civil Aviation Secretary to the Colonial Government East Coast Fever Air Traffic Control Second World War British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight Information Centre Aerodrome Development Programme Nigerian Airports Authority Visual Approach Slope Indicator System Instrument Landing System United States Army Air Corps First World War United Nations International Civil Aviation Authority Nigerian Air Force West Africa Ai r Transport Authority West Africa Airways Corporation Ministry of Civil Aviation Order in Council West African Council British West Africa Director of Civil Aviation International Aerodio Limited Federal Aviation Administrat 'n British Navigation Act Civil Aviation Act Air Transport Licensing Regulation International Distress Frequency joint Standing Committee Flight Information Region FAL RAF PAA PWD SUM CAD ACO CCA SCG ECF ATC SWW BOAC FIC ADP NAA VASIS ILS USAAC FWW UN ICAO NAF WAATA WAAC MCA OiC WAC BWA DCA IAL FAA BNA CAA ATLR IDF JSC FIR xli xiii
ATPL CAFU SCPL BCM CPL ATS PPL NCATC NCAT LFC UNDP ADC FCM DSRAM DERAM NIMET AIPB SARPs ATL NMPE NUATE ATSSSAN lATA AFRM USSR AFCAC SFEM SITA FGN VOR DME AVM ASCON BPE MCM AON MAKIA NAIA PHIA xiv Air Transport Pilot license Civil Aviation Flight Unit Senior Commercial Pilot license British Civil Aviation Authority Commercial Pilot license Air Training School Private Pilot license Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre Nigerian College of Aviation Training Lagos Flying Club United Nations Development Programme Aviation Development Company Federal Civil Aviation Authority Directorate of Safety Regulation and Monitoring Directorate of Economic Regulation and Monitoring Nigerian Meteorological Agency Accident Investigation and Protection Bureau Standards and Recommended Practice Air Transport licensing National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers National Union of Air Transport Service Employees Aircraft Traffic Senior Staff Service Association of Nigeria International Air Transport Authority African Airline Association Union of Soviet Socialist Republics African Civil Aviation Commission Second-tier Foreign Exchange Market SOCietyof International Aeronautic Association Federal Government of Nigeria Very High Omni-directional Radio Range Distance Measuring Equipment AirVice Marshall Administrative Staff College of Nigeria Bureau of Public Enterprises Moroccan Civil Aviation Authority Airline Operators of Nigeria Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Port Harcourt International Airport VIP AOC NCARs FMN NAMA NASI NNPC CBN UBA Very Important Person Air Operators Certificate Nigerian Civil Aviation Requirements Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria Nigerian Airspace Management Agency Nigeria Air Safety Initiative Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Central Bank of Nigeria United Bank for Africa xv
List of Figures Fig I Fig2 Fig3 Fig4 FigS Fig6 Fig 7 Fig8 Fig9 Fig 10 Fig II Fig 12 Fig 13 Fig 14 Fig 15 Fig 16 Fig 17 Fig 18 Fig 19 Fig 20 xvi Foreword The Glider of the Wright brothers flight in 1902 Wright brothers Flyer I on its first flight, 1903 The Wright Brothers and the Model A The Trans Saharan Trade Route The DeHaviliand 9A aircraft in 1925 Herbert Victor Rowley Imperial Airways' Air Route, 1930s British Overseas Airways Corporation VC 10aircraft Aerodrome Index Murtala Muhammed International Airport Terminal, Lagos MaliamAminu Kano International Airport Terminal, Kano Maiduguri Airport Terminal, Borno British American Air Route in the Second World War TheDC7 Kano and Lagos Search and Rescue Units TheB26 TheMIG 17 NigeriaAirways Passenger Chart 1970 1988 NigeriaAirways DC3 Early Days of the Lagos - London Route Compared to rail, road and maritime transport, civil aviation has received inadequate attention in the scholarly and popular literature. It is against this background that Tunde Decker's pioneering effort is a welcome source of information on avital sector of the Nigerian transport economy. The book has benefited from his primary training in History, a subject in which he obtained the Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees of the University of Lagos. To this has been added the flair of the journalist, following the author's stint as a correspondent of Aviation Week and Tours. This book contains valuable insights into the aviation sector since the I920s, when civil aviation made its debut in West Africa. With Kano as an early hub, the regional and continental air network was developed to link the colony with the metropolis. However, while much of the narrative focuses on civil aviation, this book contains a chapter on air power during the Nigerian civil war. In practical terms, this enterprising volume examines the historical context in which a critical segment of the transport infrastructure evolved in the colonial and post-independence periods. It contains valuable information on aviation policies, personalities and professional bodies. However, it does not pretend to be the final word on the subject but will serve as a useful source-material and an introduction to more in-depth studies. This history of aviation in Nigeria is directed at scholarly and popular audiences in Nigeria and abroad. This volume by a dynamic young author is warmly recommended to anyone with an interest in Nigerian air transport and ancillary industries. Ayodeji Olukoju, PhD Professor of Maritime Economic History and Dean of Arts University of Lagos, Nigeria 2008
Introduction there was an outbreak. The fourth anchor was the forced landing of one of the airplanes (in which the French President General Charles De Gaulle was travelling) in the French Camerouns in 1940. This incident and subsequent ones resulted in the elaborate consideration of search and rescue organisation particularly for aircraft which were often declared missing within colonial boundaries in West Africa. The cooperation of the colonies was considered vital in the bid to curb the occurrences. The fifth anchor was the industry's reaction to the legal and regulatory regimes established and supervised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), specifically from 1945 onwards. Though the industry had before then used the British Navigational Orders as a regulatory framework, global considerations and standardisation of air transport from 1945 ensured that the new regime of ICAO superseded national frameworks. Even after Nigeria's independence in 1960, the national regulatory regimes established to run the industry took cue from the legal regimes of ICAO. The sixth anchor was a post-colonial so to say, development; and it was this anchor which established politics as the underlying factor in the running of the industry. When Chief Samuel Akintola presented the idea of a national airline to the Nigerian parliament in 1958, he was partly inspired by the decision of Ghana to establish Ghana Airways. Additionally, the parliamentarians were inspired by the prospects of asserting national sovereignty after independence. This euphoria, and that of the subsequent role played by Nigeria in the decolonization processes of African countries in the I970s and I980s, ensured steady funding of Nigeria Airways which was eventually established. However, when grim realities confronted the airline from the middle I 980s, government was forced to reconsider its stand and for the first time, economic considerations forced government to deregulate the industry. For the first time also, domestic considerations brought about a paradigm shift in the industry. Private airlines were licensed and the monopoly of Nigeria Airways was challenged. Privatization thus increased the role of economics. Even at this, many of the private airlines fell short of the economic demands and left the scene. By 2000, the seventh anchor had dug deep into the consciousness of the industry. This was the global open skies and air liberalization policy. The authorities .Initiated series of policies and actions meant to accommodate the global trend on the home front. Parastatals were established and strengthened to undertake the task of contributing effectively towards ensuring that Nigerian airports were categorized This book is in no way exhaustive. It only provides an overview of the advent and historical development of Nigeria's aviation industry in the period covered. In doing this, it has opened spaces, which should be filled by further research. Such should lead to a wholesome documentation of the industry comprising the effort contained herein and the efforts of some other writers who have contributed in other ways towards realising such goal. The thesis of its findings is that the industry in the period was reaction driven and politically motivated, resting on seven anchors of reaction. The first was contained in the actions of the colonialists through the statement expressed by the British Under Secretary of State for Air, Sir Samuel Hoare during the debates in the House of Commons on March 12, 1925 that later in that year, flights would be made to Nigeria. He had convinced the House that the French and the Belgians had taken greater interest in air route development in the North western hinterlands of Africa. Thus, the series of the early landings of aircraft on Nigerian soil and the consequent identification and development of landing sites were the evidences of British effort to ensure that they compete favourably with, if not overtake, the ambitions of the French and Belgian colonists in Africa. The first one and a half decades of development in the industry resulted from this after the first aircraft landing in 1925. The second anchor rested on the urgent reaction by the British to the onslaught of Hitler's Germany from 1939 onwards. This as discussed in the book revealed that the construction of the early aerodromes which attracted the attention of the aviation authorities was the result of the urgent need to add to the effectiveness of the war strategy employed by Britain and the US in Africa - a strategy through which Nigeria became a beneficiary of planned aerodromes. These were inherited by the Public Works Department after the war; and further contributed to the developments that followed. The third anchor was the reaction of the aviation authorities in Nigeria to the East Coast Fever (from East Africa) believed to be transmitted across the boundaries of colonial states through aerial traffic. This reaction consumed the activities of the authorities to the effect that almost two decades were dedicated to the strategies meant to prevent its infiltration and spread. One of such activities was the delimitation and redefinition of boundary lines of the aerodromes. The ultimate attention given to the issue was by the then Governor General of Nigeria, Sir Arthur Richards through the enaction of the 1944 regulations to curb the possible spread of the disease. However, there were no indications to suggest xviii xix
Man when flying must stand free from the waist upwards so as to be able to balance himself as he does in a boat so that the centre of gravity in himself and in the machine may counterbalance each other, and be shifted as necessity demands for the changes of its center of resistance. 3 effectively towards ensuring that Nigerian airports were categorized among some of the globally recognised hubs of air travel. This was in addition to other areas like air traffic control, and navigational aids which were also reformed. The reformation notwithstanding, the industry held promises of further challenges going by increasing domestic demands and global air management. It is hoped that this book will help provide general historical information about the industry for academic purposes particularly for students of transport history, for the use of aviation practitioners and stakeholders, for policy makers; and for general readers. For veterans and professionals in the industry, it is hoped that it will refresh the memory. ONE Flight and conceptualisation IS May 2008. Man had conceived of flight long before the invention of the first aircraft. Centuries-old civilizations and cultures are replete with myths, legends and folklore that told of men, animals and gods who flew or made use of creatures with wings. One of the very prominent stories isthat of Persius, son of Zeus, head of the Greek gods in Olympia who used Pegasus the winged horse to fly. The earliest men who lived in caves also had ideas about flight. They started off by throwing stones at each other and at their games. These were unmanned flights. The objects had enough steam to cover minimal distances only and needed replenishment by human boosters for another flight. In the Midwestern region of Nigeria, there is the fable of the flying tortoise that attached feathers unto itself and flew across a large sea in search of food during a prolonged famine season. Such myths and legends resulted from man's belief that flight is not the exclusive preserve of birds. One of the earliest and elaborate written documentation of flight observation was that of the Italian inventor, artist and painter, Leonardo Da Vinci. His life and study of aerodynamics, aerostatics and aeronautics ushered in a new period in the history of mankind's attempt at flight from conceptualization to observation and to the study of the concept. I Leonardo made his first sketches and wrote his first notes on flight in Milan, Italy in 1482.2 He realized that by himself man does not possess the ability to engage in flight like birds. According to him, man must be aided by a machine that would enable him fly. He did not see man as a passenger of this means of transport but as co-instrument of the transport machine. He stated: Tunde Decker Lagos. xx It was very obvious to Leonardo from the out set that the solution to his problem was to be found in the flight of birds. Thus to him it seemed logical to unlock the mystery of birds' wings in order to transpose it to the 1
Flight and conceptualisation Flight and conceptualisation mechanical sphere. Leonardo realized that the analysis and recording of all the phases of winged flight required the observation of nature, accuracy and speed, and produced several drawings to represent the phases in a strange extraordinary manner with front views, profiles and three quarter views. 4 For a quarter of a century, Leonardo persisted stubbornly on building mechanical wings copied from those of bats, which he regarded asthe essential basis of any flying machine. He wrote: Remember that your flying machine must imitate no other than the bat. because the web is what by its union gives the armour or strength to the wings. Ifyou imitate the wings offeathered birds. you willfind a much stronger structure, because they are pervious. that is. that their feathers are separate and the airpasses through them. But the bat is aided by the web that connects the whole and isnot pervious. 5 Leonardo repeatedly failed, yet his positive attitude amazed scholars of later centuries. Aside from artistic imagination, he had no option than to resort to the down to earth necessity of getting his 'aircraft' off the ground. To do this, he relied on human muscle to operate the levers of the machines he experimented with in order to ensure movement. What later European writers wondered was how Leonardo intended not only to move the crafts but also to raise them above ground. The wings of Leonardo's machines however remained stationary, the motors and levers lacked movement and the muscle of his 'pilot' was not enough to break gravitational pull. Mathe commented: No matter how many devious mechanical contrivances he used.... all he succeeded in doing was increasing the weight of the machine by adding more and gears and levers particularly grave handicap when one remembers the kind ofmaterials available at the time. 6 By increasing the weight of his 'crafts', Leonardo created more problems than he set out to achieve. The challenge afterwards was to search for ways to achieve greater propulsion than the muscle of his 'pilots' could bring about. His aircraft had become heavier, more complex and needing greater thrust to escape gravity. Mathe described his astonishment: In the circumstances. then. what is one to think of the sketches of 'pilots' which occur from time in Leonardo's notebooks? Did he really believe that the man who is shown moving a lever operating a set of ludicrous paddles was actually going to take offin his machine? Did he think that the four hapless individuals who are pedaling furiously. 2 suspended under a 'flying wing' were going to lift it above the ground? Could he have hoped that the two convicts strapped to the enormous wheels which they were supposed to turn like squirrels in a cage, were really going to take their craft aloof? And what can one possibly say about the pilot, enclosed in his perfectly astonishing machine shaped like a cup on two ladders. whose superhuman task is to become airborne by beating the air with a pair of oars? It seems to us unthinkable that Leonardo could have been so deluded and could have failed to realize that there could be no question of biceps or calf muscles generating enough power to overcome the relentless effects ofgravity.7 Finding it impossible to leave the ground by means of flapping or artificial wings or by the muscle of his 'pilots', Leonardo thereafter decided to concentrate on the study of the air's own capacity to lift objects off the ground. According to him: An object offers a such resistance to the air as the air does to the object. You may see that the beating of its wings against the air supports a heavy eagle in the highest and rarest atmosphere. close to the sphere ofelemental fire. Again you may see the airin motion over the sea. fillthe swelling sails and drive heavily laden ships. From these instances, and the reasons given, a man with wings large enough and duly connected might learn to overcome the resistance of the air,and by conquering it, succeed in subjugating it and risingabove it. 8 With these assumptions, Leonardo actually considered the basic assumptions of the Wing Theory. 9 Basing his deductions on the analysis of the gliding flight of birds and the motion of falling leaves, he determined and measured the aerodynamic components of the air and then invented instruments in other to better assess them. These instruments came to be known as the first anemometers, barometers and inclinometers of aeronautic history. Then drawing on the new data provided by his observation, he did work which was centuries ahead of his time, and accurately foresaw the possibilities of the glider, hand glider and the parachute, which though unconventional by modern standards, was considered functional. Even though he was unable to resolve the crucial problems needed for the take off of his flying machines, Leonardo had a full mastery of the theories of 'lift', which he had already anticipated and used in his hydraulic and ballistic experiments. While deliberately leaving aside the insoluble problem of propulsion, Leonardo also designed and drew what was considered as his most prophetic vision of all: the aerial 3
Flight and conceptualisation Flight and conceptualisation screw. This consisted of two super imposed disks driven by a rotary mechanism. It was indeed an early form of the hehcoprar." Perhaps Leonardo's aeronautical failures were due to the lack of an autonomous energy supply, which ruled out mechanical progress in the period he lived. With modern energy source at his disposal, later European scientists considered that it is possible Leonardo would have come very close, in the then entirely new field of aerial locomotion, to the solutions which were eventually adopted four centuries later. It is not known whether or not Leonardo was inspired or influenced by the works of someone who lived earlier than he did. It is not certain that this happened. II However, after the death of Leonardo, scientists of different nationalities in Europe continued to observe and study the science of flight in lighter-than and heavier-than-air forms. Before then, about a hundred years after the death of Leonardo, John Wilkins a Briton, seemingly placed the possibility of achieving flight in the hands of later scientists. In summary, he considered four possible ways in which man might fly: With the spirit of angels With the help of fowls With wings fastened to his body and; In a flying chariot He questioned the practicability of the first three but forecasted the evolution of a more refined enabling machine thus: the moon which was extraordinarily prophetic. In his book, From Earth to the Moon, three men and two dogs were fired from the mouth of a gigantic canon sunk in the ground in Florida across the peninsula from what later came to be known as the Cape Kennedy launch site in the United States The men rode a ten ton missile around the moon and back to earth and were rescued from the pacific ocean from a ship. It was observed that this description showed great respect for scientific fact: He calculated carefully the energy required to flyaway from the earth. Verne did not have his explorers land on the moon. He knew that the moon was desolate and uninhabited. Since he could figure no believable way to fire his travelers back from the moon's surface, he had them circle the moon and swing back. 14 Other illustrations of flying machines by Jules Verne in another book of his, Robur the Conqueror, have been found to have close resemblance to those drawn by Leonardo in his notebooks. During this period of science fiction, man realised that the air around him was a thing and not the nothingness he thought it was. Also the barometer, invented in 1643, had provided proof that air was in fact, a gas that not only had weight but also responds to changes in temperature and pressure. Eventually, as scientific sophistication permitted the isolation of lighter-than-air gases, it became logical to think of a bubble of such gas floating like a cork in a sea of denser air. Scientists who conducted experiments between 1600 and 1900 built upon these realizations. Speculations and experimentations gave birth to more reasons for further development. By the late eighteenth century, the realizations had given rise to the invention of the balloon; and the usage of the first smoky fire and later hydrogen to raise the balloon off the air. 15 The hot air balloon had a close resemblance to the pyramid shaped parachute of Leonardo and was an evidence that the inventors of the time concentrated on how to achieve the 'lift' needed to take off the ground, with an obviously less impact than the law of thrust propounded by Newton. The flying balloons constructed by Joseph and Etienne Mountgolfer were however still far from achieving the heavier-than-air flight. Their instruments were light and could only be controlled by air. According to Leonardo's theory, a powered and sustained flight is achievable and sustainable if the flying objects offer as much resistance to the air asthe air does to the object. This, as observed by Leornardo is what keeps the eagle flying by the beating of its wings against the air. The eagle's flight provided one of the earliest evidences of nature on powered flight. Even though the hot air balloon was powered by hot air, it offered less 5 Iffowls can so easily move itself (sic) up and down in the air without as stirring the wings, .... it is not probable that when all due propositions of (a suitable apparatus) are found out, and when men by long practise have arrived to any skill and experience, they will... come very near into the imitation ofnature. 12 While man was still searching for ways to achieve powered and controlled flight, his imaginations, as in the case of Leonardo, again took greater control of the desired reality. The research of earlier century scientists were turned to what was then considered unachievable reality called science fiction. By the beginnings of the 171i> century, fiction writers popularized the idea of flight including space flight. During a 100 year period, such writers as Francis Godwin (1562 1633), Samuel Brunt (c. 1727), Cyramo de Bergerac (1619 1655), and others described flight to the moon and elsewhere. A man named Restif de la Bretonne ( I 734 1806) pictured explorers cruising over wilderness areas of Australia on a combination of batwings and umbrella-like devices. 13 Also, Jules Verne, a Frenchman writing in the nineteenth century, described a manned flight to 4
Flight and conceptualisation resistance to the air than the flying of the eagle's wings and so was at the mercy of air. Thus the period of the air balloonists was a period of further experimentation particularly in the nineteenth century. This gave way to further research on heavier-than-air experiments by scientists like George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal. It resulted in the construction of gliders and kites from which the Wright brothers and other twentieth century aviation pioneers proceeded further to achieve powered heavier- than-air flight. By the end of the nineteenth century, a great deal had been achieved in building the foundation on which scientists in the twentieth century based their theories and assertions. Man developed his mindset from the era of myths and legends to laying down the bases of flight. Within this period however there were constant conflict between imagination and reality on the one hand and prophecies and delusions on the other. Laying the foundations of aviation engaged the minds of artists, painters, scientists, philosophers, storytellers, writers, astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, statesmen, and inventors. Thoughts on aviation gradually developed, culminating in further research and finally in visions not only about its possibility, but also about its advancement in the future that was available then. By 1900, the stage was set for practical demonstration and application of what man had learnt in the over 4000 years of his thoughts, beliefs and research on flight. Notes Aerodynamics is the study of forces acting on objects inthe air. Aerostatics isthe science of lighter-than-air aircraft. Aeronautics isthe science of aviation. 2 Jean Paul Richter, The Notebooks ofLeonordo Da Vinci, Dover Publications Inc. New York Volume II, 1970, p. 278. 3 Jean Paul Richter,lbid, p. 278 4 Jean Mathe, Leonardo's Inventions: Drawings and Models, Minerva Publications,ltaly 1969,lbid. p. 42 5 Jean Paul Richter, Op. cit. p. 278 6 Jean Mathe, Op.cit. p. 50 7 Jean Mathe,lbid. p.42 8 Jean Paul Richter, Op cit p.279 9 ''The object of Wing Theory is the investigation and calculation of the aerodynamic forces which act on a wing or system of wings, following a prescribed motion in a fluid medium, usually air. The theory is based on the assumption that the medium is continuous and it can be shown that the assumption does not lead to any appreciable errors except at very high speeds or at very low pressures .". See A. Robinson and J.A. Laurmann, Wing Theory, Cambridge University Press, 1956, p. I 10 See Angela Crome, Hovercraft, Brockampton Press, 1960, p. I I I I Roger Bacon who lived between 1214 and 1294 only engaged inthe speculations about 6 Flight and conceptualisation flight, particularly that of the air balloon. See J. L. Nayler, Aviation: Its Technical Development, Peter Owen/Vision Press, London, 1965, p. 6 12 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 7, 15th Edition, Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. 1983 p. 381 13 Ibid 14 U.S. on the Moon: What It Means ToUs, U.S. News and World Report Book, The Macmillan Company, 1969,p44 15 This was the experimentation of Joseph and Etienne Mountgolfer in France. When hydrogen was used, the effect on the movement of the balloon in the air was considered an astonishing accomplishment. The local peasants in France whose territories the balloon flew over were so alarmed by the apparition descending from the clouds that they attacked the 'monster' with scythes and pitchforks, tearing it to pieces. See The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Op cit. p. 382. 7
TWO Overview offlight pioneers The beginning of 1900 was for aviation very dramatic, witnessing the transformation of knowledge into the invention, development and usage of the aircraft. The rate at which this was done was remarkable. From Europe to North America the men who undertook the task were regarded as lunatics whose actions must be curtailed by law. I Several of those recorded to have pioneered early human flight in late nineteenth century Europe died in circumstances witnessed by their admirers and followers. One of those was Otto Lilienthal a German aviation pioneer and researcher. He too like Leonardo Da Vinci had conducted research on the flight of birds and had built flying machines known as gliders.' He was killed in 1896 while experimenting with his flying instruments. He had several followers who worked with him on his experiments but who after his death seemed afraid to continue from where he stopped. Only of one them, named Percy Pilcher was known to have continued but who also died flying in a glider in 1899.3 He was recorded asone who would have achieved the feat of the Wright Brothers before they did if he were alive. In 1897, a French national named Clement Ader tested his powered flying machine called Avion III. However only the test occurred, the flying machine did not fly.' In 190 I, an American Wilhein Kress completed the construction of a tandem wing float plane which was later wrecked in the same year before its first take off attempt.iln 1903, another German named Karl Jalho, a civil servant in Hanover completed what was considered "a little more than a large powered kite." 6 According to Gibbs Smith; The Beginnings of Aviation It had a 9 hp petrol engine and a primitive pusher propeller. but there were neither tail unit nor controls forward of the planes. and only rudimentary. rudder and elevator device. On August ie: he made a running jump' claimed to be 18 metres; then in November. with the structure modified to biplane form, the machine made another hop of 60 metres. These tests took place; probably down hill, on the Vahrenwalder Heide. north of Hanover. They are not claimed as true flights. even in Germany. where the word 'Flugsprung' (leap into the 8 The Beginnings of Aviation air) had been used for them. He therefore may make the major claim to be the first German to leave the ground in a powered airplane." 7 However, by December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved what has been recorded in aviation history, as the first successful heavier- than-air flight in an aeroplane with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk North Carolina, USA. This shall be considered in detail later. In 1909, Louis Bleriot made the first flight across the English Channel in a monoplane in 36 minutes, cruising 30 metres above sea level but who later landed on a field damaging his undercarriage. On May 2, 1909, Moore Brabazon, a Frenchman used aVoisin biplane to fly on the Isle of Shepeg and Leysdown in France. He escaped being killed in a 45 minute flight which ended in a crash. Brabazon was considered a lunatic on a suicide mission, and was charged to court for constituting public nuisance. There was also Samuel Franklin Cody, a Texas cowboy and buffalo hunter who later became the first British citizen (and perhaps the first man) to fly an aeroplane in Britain. By 1900, he had built a kite and in 1904 was engaged by the British war office to made kites for the army. Such was to be used for watching the movement of the enemy. In 1907, he rebuilt one of his kites and filled it with a petrol engine to drive a propeller. The machine with no one on board, set off at Farnborough Common in Hampshire and was off the ground for about four and half minute. He had his first crash a year before Brabazon in 1908. On April 23, 1910, another aviator, Claude Grahame White took off in a small plane and reached Lichfield 188 km north of London before strong winds blew his bi-plane off the air and damaged it on the ground. Also in 1910, Louis Paulham in competition with Grahame-White, operated the first night flight, taking off by a car light at 2.30 a.m., getting lost in the air for three hours and using the light from a moving train to find his way back to the ground. In the same year, another man, J.B Moissant took 22 days of several crashes to shuttle London and Paris a distance of about 400 kilometres. Between June 14 and 15, 1920, British aviators John William, Alcock and Author William Brown made the first non stop trans Atlantic flight in 16hrs 27 minutes. In 1927, US • aviator, Charles A. Lindbergh flew from New York to Paris in 37 hours between May 20m and 21st. In 1929, US explorer Richard Byrd flew over the South Pole. From AprilS to April 24 1930, British aviator Amy Johnson made a solo flight from Britain to Australia; and from May 47'" in 1931 flew from England to Cape town using 3 days, 6 hours and 25 minutes. Of all the experiments considered above, the one considered as the most documented and the most elaborately planned was that of the Wright brothers. Of course, from the above, their flight experiments were not the first, but they were the first to achieve heavier-than-air 9
The Beginnings of Aviation The Beginnings of Aviation flight. This we shall now consider. The Wright brothers had always been interested in the problem of mechanical flight and conducted several personal studies to unravel the mystery. Finally in 1900, they determined to begin experiments on their own. Their initial lessons in which they got the assistance of Professor Octave Chanute a Frenchman - followed Otto Lilienthal's system of mastering the art of floating, before attempting sustained flight by means of the attachment of a motor. Their gliders were also modeled along those of Lilienthal and Pilcher. In order to execute their work under the most auspicious conditions, they changed the scene of their operation to the neighbourhood of Chesapeake Bay in North Carolina where they made use of the steady wind. It was here that they made their first flight in 1902 when a distance of 200 yards was covered in 26 seconds. The glider they used was very much larger than that used in 1900 and measured as follows: sail area, 312 sq. ft; length, 5ft 3 in. span 35 ft; rudder 14sq.ft; total weight, I 17 Ibs. In form, it consisted of two flat canvas surfaces arranged one above the other with the operator flying at full length in a suitably shaped space in the lower sail. In front was a rudder for controlling the elevation while behind it was a vertical rudder for the horizontal motion. This rudder behind was shaped like a bird's tail. After this trial, Orville and Wilbur reduced the tail in size by half to enhance stability. During the tests, the Wrights noticed the need to overcome maintenance of stability in the air. This has been described by some as perhaps the most valuable lessons learned by the Wrights. The Wright brothers and their exploits The Wright brothers were children of a reverend who himself believed that flight was the exclusive preserve of angels. 8 This opposing belief by their father did not hinder the brothers from pursuing what they believed could be within the domain of man's ingenuity and manipulation. The two brothers were actually bicycle makers in Dayton Ohio in the United States; and they became accustomed to the basic engineering scrutiny that bicycle repairs afforded them. However, one thing that was obvious from their documentation of the historic process of achieving heavier- than-air flight was secrecy. 9 This brought two separate attitudes to their successes even in the United States. Some completely disbelieved their story after they had achieved success while others attempted to scrutinise the reports that followed their declaration. 10 While these attitudes prevailed in the United States, Wilbur Wright travelled to Europe where he substantiated his claims for his machine in the presence of French and English nationals. Thus, while Wilbur was proving his ingenuity in Europe, those on the home front were waiting with skepticism and doubts. It was when Wilbur was able to demonstrate the air machine in Europe that the brothers were given credit fortheir success in the United States. II 10 Fig. 2 The 1903 Wright Flyer I on its first flight. December 17. 1903 Source: http://www.First-to-f/y.com/in(ormotion/Homework!wright...Photos.htm 11
The Beginnings of Aviation By 1903 the brothers had progressed so far as to build a new glider, equipped with a motor, built in their own factory according to their own designs. The engine was air-cooled and was described as conforming more to the American notions of automobile construction. It had four cylinders and each cylinder had a bore and a stroke that were 4 inches by 4 inches. At 1,020 revolutions, the glider developed 12 hp and its total weight was 250 Ibs. The airplane had a sail area exactly double that of its predecessor and its total weight (including the operator) was 745 Ibs. In all, four flights were made during the year with this machine. The best of them covered a distance of 0.48 mile in 59 seconds or at the approximate speed of30 mph. After this flight, the Wright brothers again transferred their scene of operations to their own home in Dayton, Ohio, because of the facilities offered by their cycle factory in repairing breakages. There, Orville and Wilbur parleyed with the local press and reached an understanding with them that no information on their experiments should be published. With this, they proceeded to build yet another aeroplane. In this, the engine, used in 1903 was also used but the cylinders were enlarged to 41/8 inches with an increase of 5 hp obtained. 12The 1904 flyer they built revealed no striking differences over that of 1903, but with increase in engine power and more skillful manipulation; it produced better results. One hundred and five flights were made over a period of twelve months, the best of which covered a distance of three miles in 15 minutes, 17 seconds or at a speed of 34 mph. The elevation was at an average of 10 feet with a liftof 53 Ib per horsepower. The whole machine had a weight of 900 Ibs. As a result of practices the Wright brothers were able to return to their starting point on several occasions. Hitherto, all flights were conducted to get to their destinations only.I) By 1905, their successes had become so pronounced that all further experiments were ceased towards the end of the year. By this time, the news had spread and public curiousity was keen." Though uncomfortable with the increasing publicity, the brothers continued testing their machines, and with every experiment came an improvement on the former. The plane the Wright brothers built in 1905 was called the "White Flyer" in which many improvements were made over previous models and had 625 sq.ft. sail area. Its two superimposed planes had a span of 40 ft and a breath of 6ft. These planes were formed of birch wood frames fitted with canvas to provide the gliding surface. They were held in positions by a number of vertical stays that were further reinforced with diagonal piano wires. There were two steering tails on this flyer one behind each other. The flyer used the same engine as used in 1904 but was improved with some attention to caburation that it was raised to 20 12 The Beginnings of Aviation hp. This engine was carried between the two planes and it drove two large wooden propellers of a diameter of about 6ft in opposite direction by means of enclosed chains. The propellers were some yards apart. The position of the operator was flat on his chest in front of the engine and with his head slightly beneath the level of the elevation planes. Control was effected by means of ropes attached to the front planes and the rudders. The total weight of the machine was 925 Ibs complete with operators and fuel. The performances of the White Flyer were recorded as follows: September 26, I I miles in 18 minutes 9 seconds; September 30, 121/5 miles in 19 minutes 55 seconds; October 3, 15, 25 miles in 25 minutes and 5 seconds; October 4,203/4 miles in 33 minutes 17seconds; October 5, 24 miles in 38 minutes 3 seconds. These were accomplished at an averaged height of 10ft and at an approximate rate of speed of 38 m.p.h. Inall, 49 flights were made during 1905 and the liftof the machine was found to be 461b per hp. In 1906, the Wright brothers concentrated on improvements on the engine. They also reduced their flying activities to reduce the increasing wave of public curiousity. In 1907, they occupied themselves with the perfection of details to their aeroplanes. It was in this year that the brothers first entered into negotiation with some governments in the United States and Europe." However, the Wright brothers' claim, efforts and negotiations did not receive any positive response: in the United States because of disbelief and in Europe because of apathy and national pride. In trying to achieve the needed recognition, Orville Wright decided to give a demonstration before the government of the United States on a new and more improved airplane from which the brothers expected better results. This was done but with some criticisms and admiration. The conclusion of an article in the TIME magazine of 1908 described the success of the Wright flyers: 13 In flight two important points deserve attention. The first being, that in the latest of the Wright machines the operator indulges in the luxury of a chair. while the second point is that, should by any chance the power of the motor fail, the aeroplane is temporarily converted into a glider. and comes lightly and gracefully to the ground without the slightest sign of that headlong precipitation that would be naturally expected. In fact, in alighting, Wilbur Wright habitually switches off some time before the point of descent and brings the whole apparatus gently to rest by manipulating the planes. The only point in the Wright machine that lays itself open to criticism is the method of starting. This is effected by mounting the aeroplane on a little trolley,
The Beginnings of Aviation The Beginnings of Aviation running on railsand attached by a cable to a weight suspended from a derrick. The engine of the aeroplane is started, and the aeronaut taking his seat. releases the weight, when the trolley being thereby set in motion, runs at a constantly increasing speed for about 60ft. It thereupon stops abruptly, and the aeroplane shoots offinto the air. To restart from another point it would obviously be necessary to relay the line. This primitive arrangement betrays a confidence in the ability of the Wright brothers to return to their starting point; which marks another step in their accomplishments, and shows they themselves attach little importance whatever to the matter. I. Wright brothers' influence in Europe The emergence of the Wright Brothers and their air exploits was considered as having re-awakened European interest in aviation in the first decade of the twentieth century. Gibbs Smith writing in 1974 summarised their influence asfollows: One, that the influence was directly responsible for reviving the re- birth of aviation in Europe between 1902 and 1908. This, he stated, was particularly true in France through one Captain Ferber who was then considered the only European pioneer actively involved in flight mechanics at the time. He changed from what was considered primitive type of hand glider to that builtbythe Wright Brothers in 190 I. Second, that the Wright brothers' influences in Europe was evident in an illustrated lecture delivered by Octave Chanute, a Frenchman to a club of flight researchers called Hero Club in France on April 2, 1903. It was followed by newspaper and magazine reports in which were several descriptions and photographs of Glider No.3 made by the Wrights. This led important French nationals to re-build and test the copies of the Wrights brothers' flying machines. Third, that the influence was visible in terms of the flight control mechanisms learnt from the Wrights and used by later French aviators. Fourth, that the influence was pronounced in the acceptance of the news that the Wright brothers had achieved powered flight on December Ith 1903. This however. was a disturbing influence as will be seen by later reactions to the Wright brothers' feat in France. Fifth. in 1905. France received the news through Captain Ferber that 1905 had been a triumphant season for the Wright brothers with their powered Flyer III. This was confirmed by a French news daily and resulted in an editorial in January 1906. The editorial freely admitted that the Wrights had achieved the conquest of the air in heavier-than-air machines. Sixth. Wilbur Wright demonstrated flight control in action in the regions of Hunaudieres and Auvours in France when he flew from August 14 . Fig.3 Wilbur Wright turns on the engine of a Wright Model A as he prepares to fly in France in 1908. Source: http://www.First-to-(lr.com/information/Homework/wrightyhotos.htm to the end of December 1908. With this feat. another Frenchman. Count Henry Delta Vaulx (founder of the FAL - Federation Aeronautique lnternationale, in France) described the aircraft used by Wilbur as the machine which revolutionalised the world of aviation. 17 Reaction to Wright brothers' claim and feat Even with available documents and photographs. it was only natural that French nationals, who had engaged in flights, and those who had been made disciples of early French aviators. objected to the Wright brother's feat. It produced what was considered as the most violent reactions ever felt before or since over a matter that had to do with the airplane. There emerged a division of attitudes towards the American aviators: those who sadly accepted the news and those who refused to believe what had happened. One of the most influential critics of the Wright feat was Gabriel Voisin. himself a flight researcher and builder of bi-planes. in whose autobiography were statements that were described as clothed with authority. Some of Voisin's statements as reproduced in Gibbs Smith's book read: America with unbelievable insolence claims to have been the birthplace of aviation. It is inconceivable that France should bow before so naive a claim. Aviation was born in France. and not one of our great men. true pioneers of the air,borrowed anything at all from 15
The Beginnings of Aviation The Beginnings of Aviation the men of Dayton. The super fortresses, the constellations and the jet-driven Boeings, owe their origins to Ader's Avion of 1897 and to that ofBlerot of 1909, while the most up-to date Li~htin~ leaves in its slipstream remembrances of the old Voisin of 1908 just as the latest steam locomotives, in their pride of six thousand horsepower, had been foreshadowed by Stephenson's rocket. 18 In order to understand fully the Wright 'swindle', it is necessary to read. The Wright Papers attentively and to analyse the statements which are to be found there in the spirit of ajudge impartially seeking the truth. 19 We never had at anytime during our work communicate relating to their (the Wrights) arrangement, and when my brother finally succeeded on 30 March 1907, at Bagatelle, in making the French powered flight recorded on film, the totality of French constructors, had no knowledge of the Wrights or of their work. In a word, the existence of the two Americans never influenced our researchers in 20 anyway. No technician of real standing can admit that the Wrights inspired anything at all, and that for two reasons. The first is important: the Wrights kept their secret so well that it remained impenetrable from 1903 to 8August 1908, a date by which French aviation was definitely under way. The second reason also has its significance: The Wri~ht aircraft had no future. When the Wright came to France, financed by influential people, and with resources we could never had hoped for, praised to the skies bya (largely paid) press, it taught us nothing 21 At the moment when his boat left the shores ofFrance which had welcomed him with an almost unbelievable enthusiasm Wilbur Wright, had he been able to peer through the channel fog would have distinguished the shadow ofthe Bleirot XII (XI), the aircraft which was to be carried to England on the wings of victory. Then he might have realised the uselessness of his efforts, the poverty of his devices and the futility of his secrets. 22 Barely, three years after Voisin's autobiography came other statements in a British journal in 1964: These facts emerge inexorably as a result ofa dispassionate approach to the subject and are as follows: a) the aeroplane as we know it today is wholly European (and primarily French) both in concept and development. b) that if the Wright brothers had never lived, the aeroplane would still have been conceived in Europe by the same people at the same 16 r times and could have passed through the same·stages ofdevelopment that in fact, it did. Any attempt to deny the foregoing is not only a distortion of history but inflicts a grave injustice on the true creators of the modern aeroplane people like the Voisin brothers, Bleirot, Levavasseur. Brequet, Goupy. A. V Roe and a host of others. n It is clear that the birthplace of aviation as we know it today is Europe. From the early considerations of thoughts on the flight of birds and the human capacity to fly with the aid of a flying machine, we have learnt that the earliest and the most basic concepts on aviation evolved in European cities. But asGibbs Smith hasshown, the exploits of the Wright brothers in the United States ignited a spontaneous response from European flight pioneers in the first decades of the twentieth century. This however does not set aside the fact that the earliest concepts on aviation developed in Europe. One fact however remains: the most documented and detailed accounts of the earliest flight experiences were that of Wilbur and Orville Wright. As has been explained earlier, the Wright brothers themselves were their own scribes. Their flight activities were embarrassingly detailed to the Europeans at the time. Such superiority of documentation proved advantageous to the Wright brothers when they made efforts to acquire patents for their inventions even though those in charge did not accept the possibility. It took a legal battle on the part of the Wrights to do so. The state of aviation in E.urope It is important therefore to examine the state of aviation in Europe at the time of the Wright brothers. This as we shall see will enable us to appropriately determine their role in the scheme of things in Europe of the 1900s. Firstly, it must be stated that the development of the automobile and the train as forms of transportation had reached an admirable level when compared to that of the airplane in the beginning of the century. By 1882, Gottlieb Daimler, the German had built the petrol engine and in 1885 developed successful lightweight petrol engine fitting it into a bicycle to create the prototype of the present day motorcycle. At about the same time in 1885 another German Karl Benz had fitted his own lightweight petrol engine to a three-wheeled vehicle, thus pioneering the development of the motorcar. H Nine years later, he produced a four wheeled car. What followed were series of more experimentations resulting in further development. By 1920, a total of 663,000 cars were licensed in Britain While the aviators were experimenting with ideas, the automobile was not only becoming the leading means of transport in 17
18 The Beginnings of Aviation Europe, the railways had also developed well enough to meet the need for masstransport in European cities during the period. 25 Specifically, the state of aviation in Europe centred on the activities of Aeronautic clubs and societies, the proliferation and influence of articles in journals and the celebrated opinions and conclusions of notable aviators. These together promoted the spread of knowledge on aviation. The aeronautic societies in Britain and France were most active. Describing the society in France at the time, Gibbs Smith stated: Far from being a mere social society. the Hero Club de France was the central focus. breeding ground. and exchange-and-mart for both practical and theoretical aeronautics in Europe. with the practical side naturally dominating: it was the equivalent of the Aeronautic Society and the Aero Club in London combined ..... All the leading French ballonists. air-minded patrons. and many foreigners were members and naturally enough. it was passionately patriotic. Its speakers. aware of the multifarious aeronautical activities espoused by France in the previous century. were later apt to remind each other and the world that "aviation is indeed a French science" (aviation est bien une science francaise) although at this time it was hard to find more than a handful ofmembers with any real interest in aviation. 26 The Aeronautic Club in France was more preoccupied with achieving lighter-than-air flying objects rather than the heavier-than-air flying machines. As far as flying was concerned. the members were engulfed in ballooning and airship. Santos Dumont a member of the society was recorded to have caused a sensation in 190I by flying round Eiffel Tower in his airship. 27 The achievement of heavier-than-air flight was for the members atall dream. Again, Gibbs Smith described the society's attitude: It is significant that when the Secretary General presented his report on the club's activities in 1902 at the General Assembly on March 5. 1903 he only devoted 3 printed lines (out of over 250) to heavier- than-air activities. He simply mentioned the Vincomte Descazes. The chauffeur attitude to aviation regarded the flying machine as a winged automobile. to be driven off the ground and into the air by brute force of engine and propeller. so to say. and sedately steered about the sky as ifit were a land - or even a marine vehicle which had simply been transferred from a layer of earth to a similarly flat layer of air. They sought inherent stability in the air at all cost. and neglected The Beginnings of Aviation who nursed a visionary helicopter scheme. and Ferber. whose work he did not as yet think it even worthwhile to describe. But in order to put it as colourfully as he could. in his three lines. the Secretary General described the two men as 'militant aviators' (aviateurs militants). not militaires'! He closed his brief sentence with the elegant statement that their new activities merited the 'highest hopes' (Ies plus belles esperance). 28 The official journal of the French Aeronautical Society was the L'Aerophile which was published monthly and edited by Georges Besancon, the society's Secretary General. The journal was read throughout the world; and its articles, illustrations, and reports of discussions - which covered world aeronautics were considered of great importance in the development of flying. In Britain, the Aeronautical Society, later named Royal Aeronautical Society had an overriding influence. However, its periodical- the Aeronautic Journal competed with the Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal in accommodating aviation matters. The Automotor Journal which was the quarterly periodical of the automobile industry in Britain was however known to be more accommodating on the more radical but progressive issueson aviation. This was considered strange because the Aeronautic Journal which ought to serve the purpose of propagating the interest of aviation only accommodated opinions and ideas on aviation which even at that time were becoming obsolete. However, the journal served to inform on ideas about aviation even though it was considered by some writers as hostile to the cause and achievements of the Wright brothers. 29 Aviation in Europe also witnessed the activities and celebrated opinions of aviators like the French captain of Artillery Ferdinand Feber who was said to have kept alive the tradition of aviation between 190I and 1902. Another opinion moulder was Comte Henry de LaVaulx. He was the Vice President of the Aeronautical Society in France and was at the centre of European aeronautical events during the period. In 1905, he founded the FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) and published in 191I what was believed to be the most authoritative of the early histories of flying entitled Le Triomphe de La Navigation Aerienne. It was from this book that later writers quoted and stated that Comte Henry's work truly expressed the state of aviation in Europe at the time. The approaches of the aviation stakeholders were thus theoretical as well as practical but hostile towards the successes of non-Europeans in aviation matters. This seems a contradiction of some sort as the Aeronautical societies also had non-Europeans in their membership. However, between 1890 and 1910, it was evident that flight pioneers in Europe had two approaches to achieving success in heavier-than-air flight. 19
The Beginnings of Aviation The Beginnings of Aviation Notes Thus they were named and divided into two: 'chauffeurs' and 'airmen' according to their attitudes. According to Gibbs Smith. The chauffeur attitude to aviation regarded the flying machine as a winged automobile. to be driven off the ground and into the air by brute force of engine and propeller. so to say. and sedately steered about the sky as ifit were a land - or even a marine vehicle which had simply been transferred from a layer of earth to a similarly flat layer of air. They sought inherent stability in the air at all cost. and neglected proper flight control. which they thought was unnecessary except for the elevator to take them up or down and the rudder to steer them to left or right. They had no conception of proper flight control about three axes. and roll control meant nothing to them. Stability in roll via dihedral angle they understood, but not control in roll. These men had little or no idea of the vagaries of the wind. nor of what the pilot could do if he was at their mercy. The chauffeur attitude was a static attitude. and the chauffeurs were often enthusiastic model markets. The true airman's attitude was one of identifying himself with his machine "ieveux faire corps avec la machine ... as Francoise Sagan put it and he wished to partake in the real experience offlying. He looked toward the bird. not the flying automobile. for his inspiration, because he wanted to control his machine as perfectly as the birds fly. Sometimes the airmen seemed to look upon the aeroplane as an aerial steed, to be ridden and controlled in the air as a living animal. The 'chauffeurs' came to devote themselves mainly to the pursuit of thrust and lift. and thereby proved singularly unfruitful: they invariably tried to take off in powered machines before they had any true idea offlight control. Whereas the 'airman'. thought primarily in terms of control in the air, and quickly realised that the unpowered glider was the vehicle of choice, in which a man might emulate the technique of gliding birds, and learn to ride the air successfully before having himself precipitated into the incorporeal atmosphere in a powered flying machine without knowing what would happen or what he should do, when once air borne. The distinction between chauffeurs and airmen was to prove pivoto! in the final conquest of the • 30 air. From the foregoing, European and American aviators had different attitudes towards the development of the new and revolutionary machine. One thing however was certain: ifthe new transport means was further developed beyond what obtained at the time (and all available indicators pointed towards this). it would find its way into territories that were alien to its place of birth; and this was what happened. Mohammed Uba Saiisu, Flying Afterall is a Worthwhile Risk. Options Communications Ltd. Lagos, 1995 p. 2. 2 Charles Harvard Gibbs Smith, The Rebirth of European Aviation 1902- 1908: A Study of the Wright Brothers Influence, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1974 p. 7 3 J. N. Nayler. Aviation: Its Technical Development, Peter Owens, Ltd. and Vision Press Ltd., London 1965 pp. 42 - 43. 4 Gibbs Smith, Op cit., p. 7. 5 Ibid.. 6 Ibid.. 7 hp - horsepower is part of the specification of any engine powered vehicle. This dates from the time when alltraffic was horse drawn. The strength or pulling power of an engine was measured against the strength of the horse and expressed as horse power. A 9 hp [horse power] engine pulls at nine times the power of a horse. 8 Their father was a bishop at the United Brethren Church, California. See John Evangelist Walsh, One Day at Kitty Hawk: The Untold Story of the Wright Brothers and the Air plane. Thomas Crowell Company, New York 1975 p. I) 9 "The Wright Aeroplanes," The Times. August 26, 1908. 10 Ibid. II Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 John Evangelist Walsh, One Day at Kitty Hawk: The Untold Story of the Wright Brothers and the Air plane, Thomas Crowell Company, New York 1975 pp. 189 - 190. 15 See Ibid. pp. 191 - 196 16 "The Wright Aeroplanes," The Times, August 26, 1908 17 See Gibbs Smith. Op cit, p. 7 18 Gibbs-Smith, Op cit. p. 160. 19 Ibid.p.240 20 Ibid .p. 237 21 Ibid. p. 7. 22 Ibid, p. 238 23 Ibid.,. 24 H. E. L. Mellersch, R. L.Storey, Neville Williams, Philip Walker, The Hutchinson Chronology of World H,story. Compact Edition, Helicon Publishing Limited, 1995 p. 281 25 Gibbs-Smith, Op cit., p. 31O. 26 Ibid 27 J N. Nayler, Op Cit., p. 17 28 Ibid p. 9 29 Ibid p.11 30 Ibid p. 12-13 20 21
THREE Prelude to 1925 1925 is widely considered as the dawn of aviation in Nigeria. There are controversies as to the place, people involved, circumstances surrounding it and the types of aircraft used. However, this is not the preoccupation of this section of the book as these have been considered in other sections. This section is concerned with an overview of the developments that had occurred in other forms of transport in Nigeria before 1925 and the conditions that made aviation a latecomer to the scene. Ogunremi has examined in detail the complex nature of transport systems in pre-industrial Nigeria and the fact that it contributed to the development of societies through the reduction of poverty, aid to agricultural production, support to non-agricultural occupations, aid to exchanges in market places and support to the use of currencies. I The complexity of the organisation of transport in pre-colonial Nigeria could be seen from the management of the trade routes, the utilization of the individual capacity of the transport means - canoe, human portage, pack animals - and their contributions to trade. The pre-industrial transport system was one that fitted with the diversity of peoples, geography and economic practices at the time. Also, it was a transport system that was vastly available to the poor as well as the rich. Though there were some means the camel and horses - that were purely elitist, there were however several others like the canoe, porters and pack animals which were available to those who were non elites. Additionally, the transport system was one that was entirely dependent on natural circumstances for effectiveness. For instance the horse was fed on fodder, which was vastly available particularly in the north where they were mostly bred. It was the same for the camel, which fed on the available fodder along the desert routes. Other forms of transport also depended hugely on resources that were even much more available. The resource needed for the construction of the canoe was in huge supply. The many rivers and watercourses also aided its functionality with ease. In the north where the rivers were scarce, the camel's thirst-quenching ability for long periods 22 even in the desert provided an effective transport tool. Other animals of strength and great perseverance like the ox, the donkey and the horse enabled the Hausa, the Kanembu, the Fulani in the northern grasslands to be at ease even when huge distances had to be covered for some economic, political or social purpose. The vast Nigerian geography met with equal strength from the available transport means. The animals were fuelled and made efficient first by the grasses of the field, second by their natural capacity to withstand the harshness of weather and distance and third by the fact that the use of each one of the means ox, horse, donkey and camel actually followed the principles of division of labour. Each one of them was suited to solve different transport needs. The donkey was not used in the many jihads fought by the Fulani, neither was the camel used to cover distances which were considered the terrains of the donkey. 2 That would have resulted in misdirected productivity. The donkey and the horse were also not used the same way the camel was used to traverse the deadly terrains of the desert. Also, it would have been impossible for the musketeers of Idris Alooma to have waged war effectively on the back of the oxen.) The point is that every one of the transport means served purposes that were clear-cut. Even when they had to serve dual purposes, the time period for such use was very limited. It was the same for human porters. This means was also very organized. The first fact was that the individual pre-colonial Africans fed well and the variety of food production in terms of quantity, quality and supply was evident in the different regions. The pre-industrial 'Nigerian' was thus able to muster enough strength to cover long distances. In many cases, farmers and hunters and their sons left home for the field and to hunt game without food only to roast yam or game in the field. It was the cheapest form of transport and one in which different management styles were adopted. Firstly, household family membership in pre-colonial Nigeria was often large. A house hold with a family head. two wives and ten children with the age range of I0 25 obviously had better opportunity to manage and utilize the human form of transport available to them than the family of one head, one woman and two children. The economic implication of such available transport means to these two families was that the larger accessed greater economic benefits than the smaller family, even though the larger had greater economic responsibilities. This was the situation: the family head had specific places he travelled, using this means; and some of those places might or might not include: the king's palace, the farm, the forest or the village square. For the two women of the large family, their destinations were similar and included the market place, the village square, and the farmland in most cases. The children of 23
Prelude to 1925 our large family also engaged this means of transport mainly between the home, the farm, the village playground or even the forest. Usually, children were made to engage this form of transport to complement and increase the output of any productive engagement that their mothers or fathers set out to achieve. The consequence of the use of human portage inthis large family was increase in economic capability. •Our smaller family however was only able to raise enough financial gain from the use of this same transport only to the extent at which its usage allowed them. An additional interesting feature of human portage in the northern parts of Nigeria was that the men and their children used this transport to rear cattle. The available land mass in the north allowed for such use of transport not only to generate income from the coordination of the sale of cattle which this transport means provided, but also allowed the young heir of the cattle trade to learn the skills of rearing cattle. The frequency of such trips polished his skill and served to reassure the father of the ability of the son to manage the inheritance well enough inthe case of death. For the riverine areas, the canoe was as much a necessity as the camel in the desert. What this form of transport required which other forms did not was the need to construct. Unlike the rest which required man to breed ( as was the cases with horses, camels, donkeys and oxen) this need established and polished building skills. The aid for its effective movement was also vastly available except in dry seasons when some rivers in certain cases actually dried up. For the rest of the rivers, which did not even in dry seasons, the canoe was used effectively. It is therefore evident that pre-colonial transport system in any form required the direct control of man and the friendliness of natural forces to enhance its effectiveness. This combination is one of the main reasons behind the success of one of the greatest and most remarkable trade systems in world history- the Trans Saharan trade. This trade brought prosperity to the empires on the northern and southern edges of the Sahara. 5 The trade was instrumental to the increased mobility of African long distance trade entrepreneurs from as early as 1000 BC through to the near end of the nineteenth century in 1875, a period spanning about 2,875 years. 6 The length of the journey lasted according to A. G. Hopkins for between seventy to ninety days or more. 7 Hopkins noted that even in the most extreme political disturbances the Trans Saharan trade progressed uninhibited. Therefore, based on his calculation that the journey lasted 90 days, and the information recorded by J. D. Fage that Mansa Musa of Mali had 8000 retainers travelled along with him across the Sahara to Mecca during his pilgrimage, it can be aggregated that for every 90 days or three calendar months, about 8000 individual movements occurred through 24 Prelude to 1925 the Sahara to North Africa and vice versa. 8 Many of the journeys were repeated of course, but this meant that every year, approximately 32.000 individuals travelled through the Sahara. Therefore for the 2. 875 years that the trade lasted. an approximate sum of 92,000,000 (ninety two million) Africans travelled across the Sahara between 1000 BC and 1875 when the Trans Saharan trade started declining. This estimate of course is very conservative. The traditional means of transport also sustained the trade in slaves from the hinterlands where the slaves were captured onwards to the coast of Lagos and Badagry where they were eventually transported by another means of transport to Europe and the Americas. At the time the Trans Saharan trade flourished, millions of Africans were involved and huge quantities of goods were traded in. This would not have been possible without human portage and pack animals. More so for the fact that these forms of transport survived the harshest conditions ever brought to bear on the people's capability to move from one place to the other. Also, as some scholars have indicated, pre-industrial form of transport in Nigeria also featured the relevance of the point of departure and the point of destination within the system. All points of departure or arrival added real economic value to the whole system and served to reinforce the primacy of transportation in socio-economic and political interaction between the peoples. This was very evident in 1892 in Lagos when the city witnessed huge sale of products brought from the hinterland. 9 These products according to Hopkins included Asala nuts, beans, beniseeds, egusi seeds. farina, ground nuts, locust seeds, maize, okra, palm oil, pepper, shea butter, yams, yam flour. cotton, indigo, palm kernels, potash, bullocks. ducks. goats, guinea fowls. horses. pigeons, sheep, turkeys, calabashes, cotton, cloth, pots, soaps. Obviously these products indicated that their movements originated from the different geographical regions. The trend was that the pre-aviation transport systems served as a link between the centres of production and centres of trade. 10 Hopkins provided one of the many descriptions of such trade with reference to transport: the caravans of the pre-colonial period commuted ponderously between large entrepots. many of which were located at points of overlap between different ecological zones .... These entrepots were bulking and bulk breaking centers. and also places where goods were transferred from one mode of transport to the other. On arrival at the entrepots. the caravan broke up and the traders made contacts with specialised agents who helped them dispose their goods and buy other products for the return journey. II 25
Prelude to 1925 It is worthwhile at this point to briefly consider, and specifically, the instruments of transportation available in pre-aviation period. The camel - Its introduction as a means of transport was very revolutionary and this animal became the principal means of transport for almost two thousand years." The camel was present in North Africa in the first century B.C. and became known throughout the Sahara during the early centuries of the Christian era. It was more efficient in desert conditions than horses and oxen, and its supremacy remained unchallenged until the coming of the motor car inthe I920s. Camels were bred especially for desert transportation by the Toureg and could carry between 3cwt and 5 cwt across the Sahara. 13 The camel however did not travel very far into the savanna areas of the Western Sudan partly because it preferred the poorer fodder of the desert and partly because it was susceptible to diseases such as sleeping sickness which prevailed in the southern fringes of the Sahara. The camel had greater capacity to travel long distances than the horse, and the terrains it passed through were usually more demanding and heinous. The horse was not suitable for such use. The camel stored water in its hump and could sustain itself for upwards of three months in waterless environments. It was only natural that merchants on the trans Saharan trade route found it the most enduring form of transportation. The camel was particularly responsible for the easy flow of the Trans Saharan trade. In all this, the camel was the major form of transportation used. Of course ifa faster means of transport had been used, several more millions would have travelled in addition to the number we have just considered and it is not unlikely that horses were used to travel the distance at some points or the other because all indications pointed to the fact that horses used by some West African monarchs for their calvary could only have been brought from North Africa and the only routes the horses could have passed through were the trade routes. Donkeys - It was at the northern entrepots of trade such as Timbuktu ( See fig. 4 below) that goods from the trade merchants from North Africa were transferred to donkeys which were better suited to savanna conditions. I. Donkeys were the chief pack animals in the Western Sudan. They carried about 100 Ibs, which was substantially less than the amount carried by the oxen, but donkeys were cheaper to buy and feed. They were also faster and more effective over rough terrains. Donkeys, like camels, were bred specially for transport purposes. The Mossi were known to be skillful at raising donkeys which had a particularly high reputation in long distance trade. 15 The donkeys raised by the Mossi were often bought by Hausa traders who used them to carry kola nuts on their • 16 Journeys. 26 Prelude to 1925 3O'N 2O"W 20'0 3O'L 20'N 10'N ~ ~ <r..- Fig. 4 Map OfThe Trans Saharan Trade Route Source: A.G Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa, Longman, London, 1973. Porters - It was at the markets situated at the border points between the savanna and the forests that goods which were travelling further south were transferred to porters because the use of pack animals in the forests was restricted by a combination of trypanosomiasis and lack of pasture." Professional carriers, often slaves, could load on their head as much as 55- 651bs and cover an average distance of twenty miles a day.18 The Canoe - This was used in places criss-crossed by rivers and creeks, In areas where few rivers were available, the canoe was particularly costly and only the usage of other means like pack animals and human portage reduced the near monopoly of the fast movement it had in such places. Itwas the cheapest means of transporting bulky commodities over long distances, However, fluctuations caused by seasonal changes made its use less frequent, Those who lived near rivers constructed canoes in great varieties and sizes and with different load carrying capacities, Some were eighty feet or more in length and could carry as many as one hundred men." Some could carry twenty to thirty tons of merchandise, including foodstuffs as well as the more luxurious items of long distance trade. The horse - This was the most powerful draught animal and was very expensive. It also needed a high intake of fodder and water, and succumbed early to disease. Also for the large part of the year, horses were fed on barley, millet or milk." Horses were used in Nigeria during this period as calvary and on ceremonial occasions. Horses were rare animals even among the Touareg and thus remained symbols of prestige. 27
Prelude to 1925 Later they became significant for close fighting than for transportation. Because of their military importance, they also played an essential role as items of trade. Wheeled transport - This did not prove useful in most parts of the country throughout the centuries before colonialism, and as Hopkins has argued, its use did not indicate lack of development inWest Africa. What it indicated however was that Africans exercised judgement by its non-use for two major reasons: first that this form of transport was expensive to maintain and secondly that the environmental conditions for its effective use was non existent in West Africa in the period. Quoting Charles Orr's description of one of the earliest attempt to introduce wheeled transport into parts of the Western Sudan, Hopkins wrote: With time and after much doubt as to its efficiency even by Britons, the use of the motor car attracted increasing interests from some Nigerians particularly William Akinola Dawodu." By the early I920s, Nigeria and the Gold Coast imported about 20,000 motor vehicles." The challenge that accompanied this increasing interest and use of the cars was the need for the construction of good road network. This was slowly addressed with time to allow for effective use. Maritime Transport - This had developed in Lagos to the extent that it served to aid the international maritime trade between Britain and her colonies. 2< Additionally, it was the means through which Nigerians at that time travelled to the United Kingdom." This means was also at its early stage of development as at I925. The Railways - By the time the first aircraft landed in Nigeria in 1925, the British were just beginning to invest in railway construction and development. As Olukoju has shown, the French had taken the lead by formulating and implementing concrete plans towards the growth of this means of transport, in spite of the fact that those attempts were not well coordinated." On the assumption of joseph Chamberlain as the British 28 InJanuary 1905. the first cart convoy arrived at Zaria from Zungeru, and the difficulties due to having to rely solely on human portage were temporarily obviated. though the carts were not able to continue running when once the rainy season sets in. Every effort was made to organize an efficient system during the dry season of 1905 - 1906. Artificers and drivers had even been imported from India. and proved to be ofgreat use; depots were established for supplies off odder along the road and a veterinary surgeon was attached to the Department. In spite of all these efforts. however. the cart transport proved little less expensive than carriers. 21 , Prelude to 1925 Secretary of State for the colonies, Britain began to construct rail lines from the coastal areas into the hinterland. Construction began in Lagos in 1896 and was extended to Ibadan in 190 I, then to jebba in 1909 and Kano in 191 I. The railway line linking Port Harcourt, Enugu and jos was completed in 1926.27 Like the French rail lines, the British lines linked major cities with mining and agricultural potentials. These were the circumstances surrounding the development and use of pre-aviation transport systems in Nigeria. By the time the British Secretary of State for the colonies, joseph Chamberlain, was being persuaded to accept a loan from the London market to build the railways in Nigeria in the late nineteenth century, the traditional transport system with all its varieties and even problems had been entrenched in the societies and actually served as an indicator of wealth or poverty because the types used and the frequency with which they were used served the economic enterprises of pre-colonial 'Nigerians,.28 However, with the introduction of the railways and the motor car, the traditional means of transport gradually lost the domination they had prior to the coming of the new forms of movement. Now we shall consider the developments that led to the first aircraft landing in Nigeria in 1925. Notes G. O. Ogunremi, Counting the Camels: The Economics of Transportation in Pre- Industrial Nigeria. Nok Publishers International. Lagos. 1982. p. 2. AJihad is an Islamic war. Known and refered to with the title of Mai [king]. he was one of the powerful kings of the famed Kanem-Born~ dynasty inthe Kanem-Bornu empire in Northern Nigeria in the sixteenth century. A. G. Hopkins, Economic History Of West Africa. Longman, London. 1973. p. 51. Ibid. p.63. Ibid. pp.79-80 Ibid.p.81 J. D. Fage, A History of West Africa. Cambridge University Press. London. 1969 p. 22 A. G. Hopkins. Op. cit. p.. 55 Ibid. p.63 Ibid. Ibid. p. 72 The Touregs were a group of traveling merchants along the Sahara Desert. They remained the chief administrators of the Trans Saharan trade during for the thousands of years that the trade lasted. 14 Timbuktu was an ancient trade centre in the Western Sudan - a geographical area roughly located in present Day West Africa The Mossi were a group of people who lived inthe lightly forested areas of the Western Sudan inthe thirteenth century A. G. Hopkins Op cit, p.72 Trypasonomiasis. known as sleeping sickness. is a disease that affects cattle. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 15 16 17 29
30 Prelude to 1925 18 19 A. G. Hopkins, Op dt. p. 72. Robert Smith, "The Canoe inWest African History" ,Journal of African History, Vol. II, 1970pp.515-533 G. O. Ogunremi, Op cit. p. 108 SirChariesOrr, 'The Making of Northern Nigeria', 1911 pp. 184-5. See also A. G. Hopkins, Op cit. pp. 74 -75. See Ayodeji Olukoju," Transportation in Colonial West Africa in G. O. Ogunremi and E K.Faluyi (eds.), Economic History of West Africa Since 1750, FirstAcademic Publishers, Lagos 1996 p. 154) This was twice as much as the number imported by the whole of French West Africa. See Ayodeji Olukoju, Ibid. p. 155. See Ayodeji Olukoju, Ibid., pp. 158-159 Read the experience of Nnamdi Azikiwe in Nnamdi Azikiwe, My Odyssey, An Autobiography, Spectrum Books limited, Ibadan, 1970 pp. 53 _ 50 See Ayodeji Olukoju, "Transportation in Colonial West Africa" in G. O. Ogunremi and E.K Faluyi (eds), Economic History of West Africa Since 1750, First Academic Publishers, Lagos 1996 pp. 152 - 153 ) Ibid. p. 154. Joseph Chamberlain was persuaded to authorise a 250,000 pounds loan by the Chambers of Commerce of liverpool and Manchester. See P. N. C. Okigbo, National Development Planning in Nigeria 1900- 1992, Fourth Dimension Publishing Company limited, Enugu, 1989 p. FOUR 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1925 The Imperial Antecedents At the end of the nineteenth century, European societies emerged restless from centuries-old change pattern which included the Renaissance,the Reformation, the wars of independence, the civil wars, the industrial revolution, the Napoleonic wars and more. These had all shaken European society to the roots. Governments had been overthrown and patterns of governance had often been violently questioned. Technology and production had witnessed drastic growth processes and departed from the former crude format. The seeming permanence of the slave trade was becoming a passing phase and nations in Europe were on the threshold of further sovereign assertions and new power relations, the execution of which was conceived in the exercise of colonial authority and supremacy over and above territories outside Europe. Thus when Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor and diplomat convened the meeting of the colonial powers in 1885, what was major in the minds of those present was the political domination of territories over which they were about to exercise control. Although several of the nations represented were already subtly exercising authority and influence, they were cautious not to invest too much of state resources in areas over which there were contentions and debates. I What was recorded asthe scramble for African territories by African and Africanist historians was considered as having been carried out more for political and economic purposes. 2 Even at that, ... .it assumed the shape of overt annexation, with half a dozen European powers moving rapidly from one conquest to the next, often without waiting long enough to establish a firm administration over territories first acquired. 3 This was found to be a general pattern of contact by the Europeans in the earlier phase of conquest. Further comments by Curtin et. al argued that the European intervention was indirect: 31
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
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A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
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A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]
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A History of Aviation in Nigeria from 1925 to 2005 [Tunde Decker]

  • 1. A History of Aviotion in Nigeria 1925 • 200S document Nigeria's air transport industry. It exammeJ th administrators, the responsibilities inheril~d by thtt NI"'lrlan Go colonial approaches to a dynamic internatiollol indu "Comparec1to rail, road and maritIme transport, CIVIl aVlolion II in the scholarly and popular lIterature, II jJ agO/nit Ihl pioneering effort is a welcome source ofmformal/"" On II Vlt economy .... .. .In practical terms. this enterprismg volumt: exan"rleJ tit!!hlSlOr segment of the transport infrastructure evolved m th •Ayodeji Olukoju, PhO Professor of Maritime Economic HIstory and Dean UnlversltyafLagos, Nigeria "Another history in the annals of aVIation In NIgeria Now 011 have an authoritatIve reference c1ocument. This well r is highly commenc1ec1." Captain Dele Ore President, Nigeria's Aviation Round Table "This ;s well written. well researched work. I wish I hoc1read a bnok III"'J tIll the aviation lnc1ustryas 0 young retiree from the Nlj1erioll A'r",y In I1178 • Adoml Okotle, Former Public Relations Manager, Murc International Airport, Lagos,
  • 2.
  • 3. .A~ =a '=I 1Ii.&to~y 01 .A~ ~,'J;ii~ ·"1ff"D =a=.. YI =..~·~=..VI=..=a .~ llB =..=-=.. .(Iap e)~ja =..II=..iSlJ ~ =..=..~=a Copyright © 2008 Tunde Decker Tunde Decker: mobile: +234 (0) 8057774778 e-mail: t_deker@yahoo.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission of the the copyright owner. Registered with the National library of Nigeria: ISBN: 978-978-088-587-8 Design + Production: Klipart Limited: mobile: 0802 300 60 I0 e-mail: klipartltd@yahoo.com Printed in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Published by: Dele-Davis Publishers. 76-78, Ibeshe Road, Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria. 1- ... BlQ6 Printed 2008 Cover iIIust.ration: The Emir's Herald - One of the earliest safety measures in Nigeria's Aviation industry. Cover illustration by: Conrad Olasubomi Decker Tunde Decker ii iii
  • 4. Dedication and To God the Almighty who in the true meaning of flight ascended into heaven flashing us a beacon that we may not go blind by this low level of flight Man calls aviation. Yet we are made to fly Uke the eagle. our arms end in fingers To spread in floatation In the understanding That though the sky is full We are made to fly. We Are Made To Fly. Even When we fly There is no place in the sky Forthe sky is full Of density and gravity Of the things unseen Rosemond Adunni Taylor, My mother, who hungered for my food, clothed me in dire need and sent me to school with all her strength. Yet the birds make way In glides and soors. In turns and flutter And defiance of fact. That the sky is full - from an unpublished collection of the author. iv
  • 5. Contents Dedication ii vii Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations List of Figures Foreword Introduction One: Two: Three: Four: Five: vi ix xii xiii xiv Flight and Conceptulisation The Beginningsof Aviation Overview of Flight Pioneers The Wright Brothers and their Exploits Wright Brothers influence in Europe Reaction to Wright Brothers Claim and Feat The State of Aviation in Europe 8 Prelude to 1925 Pre-colonial/Pre-Aviation Transport Systems Human Porterage The Canoe The Camel Donkeys The Horse Road Transport Maritime Transport 22 1925 The Imperial Antecedents The First Aircraft Landing 31 Development and Management of Landing Fieldsand Aerodromes 45 Aerodrome and Landing Field Administration 1925 - 1945: Early Safety Measure The Emir's Herald Animal Diseases via Aerial Traffic Aerodrome and Airport Administration 1945 - 1960: Six: Seven: Eight: The Emergence of Kano, Maiduguri and Lagos as international centres of aviation: Kano Maiduguri Lagos Airport and Infrastructural Development Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 (MMA2) Ibadan Airport Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Akure Airport Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport Benin Airport Calabar Airport Enugu Airport Jos Airport lIorin Airport Kaduna Airport Maiduguri Airport Port Harcourt Airport Sokoto Airport Yola Airport Owerri Airport Markudi Airport Others Air Route Development 76 Early British American strategy Early Passenger Services Regulations,Lawsand Management: 85 The International Law Precedence The Establishment of West Africa Air Transport Authority British Navigation Acts Nigeria Civil Aviation Acts 1964 Air Transport Licensing Regulation 1965 Airspace Management: 101 Search and Rescue Air Search Uncertainty Phase Alert Phase Distress Phase Ground Search and Rescue vii
  • 6. Nine: Ten: viii Kano Rescue Coordinating Centre Lagos Rescue Coordinating Centre Air Traffic and Aerodrome Control Officers Provincial Administration Nigerian Railway Nigerian Marine Ground Signals for use by Ground Search Parties Ground Signals for use by Survivors Deterioration of Airspace Infrastructure Twelve: Nigeria Airways and the Aftermath: The Beginnings Foreign Policy Pursuit The Dutch Management 165 The Role of Union and Professional Bodies Role of International Agencies Eleven: Air Power in the Nigerian CivilWar 158 Management Crisis: Alhaji M. T. Bature Group Captain Bernard Banfa Air Vice Marshall Anthony Okpere Major General Olu Bajowa Air Vice Marshall A. D. Bello Captain Wilson Atabo Captain J. B. Ibrahim Captain Mohammed Joji EarlyAviation Professionals: Beginnings, Growth and Challenges 120 PolicyFor..iulatlon and Implementation 133 Background Regulation Deregulation The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria The Nigeria Airspace Management Authority The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority Accidents Investigation Bureau Government PolicyObjectives and Statements in 200S: Legislation Funding Airport Development and Maintenance Facilitation Airport Security and Safety Ground Handling Air Navigation Services Aeronautic Search and Rescue Aeronautic Meteorology Safety Regulations and Oversight Accident Investigation and Prevention Air Transport licensing Economic Regulation of Airports and Air Navigation International Operations and liberalization Airline Industry and Ownership Structure Participation in International Organisations Consumer Protection Insurance Aviation Charges Aviation Manpower Development Role in Aviation Administration and Development Airport and Route Development The Lagos - London Route Training and Development Aircraft Tyres and Use The Aftermath liquidation and Sale Entrance of Virgin Atlantic Airways Thirteen: Private Sector Participation 190 Fourteen: Funding 197 Fifteen: Postcript 203 Glossary 206 Appendixes: 207 Airports in Nigeria Domestic Airlines as at 2005 Foreign Airlines in Nigeria as at 2005 Aircraft Manufacturers and Type Nigeria Airways General Managers/Managing Directors 1956 - 2004 Ix
  • 7. Acknowledgments Nigeria Airways Board Chairmen 1959 - 1992 Some Nigeria Airways Pilots Air crashes in Nigeria: 1943 - 2006 Nigeria's Aviation Ministers: 1955 - 2006 I express profound gratitude to Deba Uwadiae who inspired this project and mentored me throughout my sojourn in Nigeria's aviation industry as Aviation News Reporter and Editor; and to all past and present members of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) whose encouragement sustained my interest. Special gratitude goes to Mrs. Sola Adekola, Akin Olukunle, Tunji Oketunbi, Supo Atobatele, Sam Adurogboye, Edwin Nwachukwu, John Osadolor, Charles Olufuwa, Horatious Egua and Lateef LawaI. Special gratitude also goes to the following notable stakeholders in the aviation industry who sacrificed their time to grant interviews during the day and late evenings: Dr. Steve Mahonwu, Captain Samuel Ohiomah, Captain Dele Ore, Mr. J. A. Olatunji, Dr. Omotosho Ogunniyi (late), Engineer Babatunde Obadofin, Mrs. Modupe Aduke Ogunwale, Captain Ufot Ekong (late), Dr. Mrs. Kema Chikwe, Senator Idris Kuta (late), Mrs. Ibijoke Olatunji, Captain Jerry Agbeyegbe (late), Dr. Makanjuola Owolabi, Engineer Zakari Haruna (late), Sir Richard Branson, Engineer Sheri Kyari •• Colonel S. D. Yombe, Mr. Samuel Onwutuebe, Engineer Frank Oseh, Engineer Bernard Kenine, Mr. John Akpaida, Mr. Ochemeh Abah, Mr. Peter Ogaba, Reverend Adomie Okotie, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi, Mr. Kunle Martins, Alhaji Musiliu Yinusa and Mr. Rasheed Yusuf. I express gratitude to Professor B. Oloruntimehin, Professor Ade Adefuye, Professor Anthony Asiwaju, Professor Akinjide Osuntokun, Professor Babatunde Agiri and Professor T. G. 0 Gbadamosi who as father-figures taught me History and nurtured my aspirations as a historian. I also express gratitude to Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, Professor Adebayo Lawai, Professor Abayomi Akinyeye, Professor Rufus Akinyele, Dr. Kehinde Faluyi, Dr. Nina Mba (late), Dr. Hakeem Harunah (late), Dr. J. G. N. Onyekpe, Mr. Leo Dioka, Dr. Olufunke Adeboye, Dr. Eno Blankson Ikpe, Dr. Michael Ogbeidi, Dr. Tunde Oduwobi, Dr. Ademola Adeleke and Dr. David Aworawo, all of the Department of History and Strategic Studies, University of Lagos for their guidance during my academic training as an undergraduate and post graduate student in the Department. To them I remain ever grateful. I am also grateful to Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, Dr. David Aworawo, Captain Dele Ore, Engineer Sheri Kyari, Mr. Basil Okafor, Rev. Adomi Okotie and Mr. J. A. Olatunji who read through the manuscript and offered useful suggestions. I however take responsibility for any shortcomings whatsoever. x xi
  • 8. I am grateful to the entire congregation of the Lagos Christian Church for their spiritual guidance and leadership throughout the period of this research. Specifically, I thank Evangelist Chris Ogbonnaya and his wife Rolayo, Evangelist Shedrach Obasa and his wife Augusta, Mr. and Mrs. Tony Ogbokri, Evangelist Bayo Ajadi and his wife, Chinyere, Johnson Daniel, Muyiwa Ayorinde, Mr and Mrs. Jonah and Bridget Nwachukwu, Mr. and Mrs. Kes and Dorcas Esievo, Mr. and Mrs. Peter and Bunmi Aghahowa, Mr. and Mrs Ikeddy Isiguzo, Dr. and Mrs Phil and Stella Osagie, Dr. and Mrs Akporuarho, Mr. and Mrs. Emmanuel and Pat Ochai, Mr. and Mrs. Akinjide and Joke Akinjimi, Mr and Mrs. Dayo and Bunmi Adeshina, Mr. and Mrs. Leye and Mary Adeniji, Mr. and Mrs. Wale and Keke Adeyemi, James U James, Bode Olagoke, Clement Odum, Benjamin Phillip and Joel Akpan. I am grateful to Mr. Oludotun Adefolu and late Mrs. Dorcas Adefolu who fed and housed me during my research trips to Ibadan. . d to my research assistants, who worked hard with the understanding that I had little to give, I express special thanks: Olasubomi Decker, Solomon Adefolu, Julius Adesoye, Samuel Amos, Evans Airhekholo, Timinipere Swebi, Thomas Igene, Sola Olarewanju and Amidu Ibrahim. A very special gratitude is reserved for Olaere, my wife and my two daughters: Omodunfe and Omolero for their unending patience and encouragement during the many hours put into this project. Without their tolerance and understanding, this project would not have been completed. Abbreyiations Federation Aeronautique Internationale Royal Air Force PanAfrican Airways Public Works Department Sudan United Mission Civil Aviation Department Aerodrome Control Officer Controller of Civil Aviation Secretary to the Colonial Government East Coast Fever Air Traffic Control Second World War British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight Information Centre Aerodrome Development Programme Nigerian Airports Authority Visual Approach Slope Indicator System Instrument Landing System United States Army Air Corps First World War United Nations International Civil Aviation Authority Nigerian Air Force West Africa Ai r Transport Authority West Africa Airways Corporation Ministry of Civil Aviation Order in Council West African Council British West Africa Director of Civil Aviation International Aerodio Limited Federal Aviation Administrat 'n British Navigation Act Civil Aviation Act Air Transport Licensing Regulation International Distress Frequency joint Standing Committee Flight Information Region FAL RAF PAA PWD SUM CAD ACO CCA SCG ECF ATC SWW BOAC FIC ADP NAA VASIS ILS USAAC FWW UN ICAO NAF WAATA WAAC MCA OiC WAC BWA DCA IAL FAA BNA CAA ATLR IDF JSC FIR xli xiii
  • 9. ATPL CAFU SCPL BCM CPL ATS PPL NCATC NCAT LFC UNDP ADC FCM DSRAM DERAM NIMET AIPB SARPs ATL NMPE NUATE ATSSSAN lATA AFRM USSR AFCAC SFEM SITA FGN VOR DME AVM ASCON BPE MCM AON MAKIA NAIA PHIA xiv Air Transport Pilot license Civil Aviation Flight Unit Senior Commercial Pilot license British Civil Aviation Authority Commercial Pilot license Air Training School Private Pilot license Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre Nigerian College of Aviation Training Lagos Flying Club United Nations Development Programme Aviation Development Company Federal Civil Aviation Authority Directorate of Safety Regulation and Monitoring Directorate of Economic Regulation and Monitoring Nigerian Meteorological Agency Accident Investigation and Protection Bureau Standards and Recommended Practice Air Transport licensing National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers National Union of Air Transport Service Employees Aircraft Traffic Senior Staff Service Association of Nigeria International Air Transport Authority African Airline Association Union of Soviet Socialist Republics African Civil Aviation Commission Second-tier Foreign Exchange Market SOCietyof International Aeronautic Association Federal Government of Nigeria Very High Omni-directional Radio Range Distance Measuring Equipment AirVice Marshall Administrative Staff College of Nigeria Bureau of Public Enterprises Moroccan Civil Aviation Authority Airline Operators of Nigeria Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Port Harcourt International Airport VIP AOC NCARs FMN NAMA NASI NNPC CBN UBA Very Important Person Air Operators Certificate Nigerian Civil Aviation Requirements Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria Nigerian Airspace Management Agency Nigeria Air Safety Initiative Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Central Bank of Nigeria United Bank for Africa xv
  • 10. List of Figures Fig I Fig2 Fig3 Fig4 FigS Fig6 Fig 7 Fig8 Fig9 Fig 10 Fig II Fig 12 Fig 13 Fig 14 Fig 15 Fig 16 Fig 17 Fig 18 Fig 19 Fig 20 xvi Foreword The Glider of the Wright brothers flight in 1902 Wright brothers Flyer I on its first flight, 1903 The Wright Brothers and the Model A The Trans Saharan Trade Route The DeHaviliand 9A aircraft in 1925 Herbert Victor Rowley Imperial Airways' Air Route, 1930s British Overseas Airways Corporation VC 10aircraft Aerodrome Index Murtala Muhammed International Airport Terminal, Lagos MaliamAminu Kano International Airport Terminal, Kano Maiduguri Airport Terminal, Borno British American Air Route in the Second World War TheDC7 Kano and Lagos Search and Rescue Units TheB26 TheMIG 17 NigeriaAirways Passenger Chart 1970 1988 NigeriaAirways DC3 Early Days of the Lagos - London Route Compared to rail, road and maritime transport, civil aviation has received inadequate attention in the scholarly and popular literature. It is against this background that Tunde Decker's pioneering effort is a welcome source of information on avital sector of the Nigerian transport economy. The book has benefited from his primary training in History, a subject in which he obtained the Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees of the University of Lagos. To this has been added the flair of the journalist, following the author's stint as a correspondent of Aviation Week and Tours. This book contains valuable insights into the aviation sector since the I920s, when civil aviation made its debut in West Africa. With Kano as an early hub, the regional and continental air network was developed to link the colony with the metropolis. However, while much of the narrative focuses on civil aviation, this book contains a chapter on air power during the Nigerian civil war. In practical terms, this enterprising volume examines the historical context in which a critical segment of the transport infrastructure evolved in the colonial and post-independence periods. It contains valuable information on aviation policies, personalities and professional bodies. However, it does not pretend to be the final word on the subject but will serve as a useful source-material and an introduction to more in-depth studies. This history of aviation in Nigeria is directed at scholarly and popular audiences in Nigeria and abroad. This volume by a dynamic young author is warmly recommended to anyone with an interest in Nigerian air transport and ancillary industries. Ayodeji Olukoju, PhD Professor of Maritime Economic History and Dean of Arts University of Lagos, Nigeria 2008
  • 11. Introduction there was an outbreak. The fourth anchor was the forced landing of one of the airplanes (in which the French President General Charles De Gaulle was travelling) in the French Camerouns in 1940. This incident and subsequent ones resulted in the elaborate consideration of search and rescue organisation particularly for aircraft which were often declared missing within colonial boundaries in West Africa. The cooperation of the colonies was considered vital in the bid to curb the occurrences. The fifth anchor was the industry's reaction to the legal and regulatory regimes established and supervised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), specifically from 1945 onwards. Though the industry had before then used the British Navigational Orders as a regulatory framework, global considerations and standardisation of air transport from 1945 ensured that the new regime of ICAO superseded national frameworks. Even after Nigeria's independence in 1960, the national regulatory regimes established to run the industry took cue from the legal regimes of ICAO. The sixth anchor was a post-colonial so to say, development; and it was this anchor which established politics as the underlying factor in the running of the industry. When Chief Samuel Akintola presented the idea of a national airline to the Nigerian parliament in 1958, he was partly inspired by the decision of Ghana to establish Ghana Airways. Additionally, the parliamentarians were inspired by the prospects of asserting national sovereignty after independence. This euphoria, and that of the subsequent role played by Nigeria in the decolonization processes of African countries in the I970s and I980s, ensured steady funding of Nigeria Airways which was eventually established. However, when grim realities confronted the airline from the middle I 980s, government was forced to reconsider its stand and for the first time, economic considerations forced government to deregulate the industry. For the first time also, domestic considerations brought about a paradigm shift in the industry. Private airlines were licensed and the monopoly of Nigeria Airways was challenged. Privatization thus increased the role of economics. Even at this, many of the private airlines fell short of the economic demands and left the scene. By 2000, the seventh anchor had dug deep into the consciousness of the industry. This was the global open skies and air liberalization policy. The authorities .Initiated series of policies and actions meant to accommodate the global trend on the home front. Parastatals were established and strengthened to undertake the task of contributing effectively towards ensuring that Nigerian airports were categorized This book is in no way exhaustive. It only provides an overview of the advent and historical development of Nigeria's aviation industry in the period covered. In doing this, it has opened spaces, which should be filled by further research. Such should lead to a wholesome documentation of the industry comprising the effort contained herein and the efforts of some other writers who have contributed in other ways towards realising such goal. The thesis of its findings is that the industry in the period was reaction driven and politically motivated, resting on seven anchors of reaction. The first was contained in the actions of the colonialists through the statement expressed by the British Under Secretary of State for Air, Sir Samuel Hoare during the debates in the House of Commons on March 12, 1925 that later in that year, flights would be made to Nigeria. He had convinced the House that the French and the Belgians had taken greater interest in air route development in the North western hinterlands of Africa. Thus, the series of the early landings of aircraft on Nigerian soil and the consequent identification and development of landing sites were the evidences of British effort to ensure that they compete favourably with, if not overtake, the ambitions of the French and Belgian colonists in Africa. The first one and a half decades of development in the industry resulted from this after the first aircraft landing in 1925. The second anchor rested on the urgent reaction by the British to the onslaught of Hitler's Germany from 1939 onwards. This as discussed in the book revealed that the construction of the early aerodromes which attracted the attention of the aviation authorities was the result of the urgent need to add to the effectiveness of the war strategy employed by Britain and the US in Africa - a strategy through which Nigeria became a beneficiary of planned aerodromes. These were inherited by the Public Works Department after the war; and further contributed to the developments that followed. The third anchor was the reaction of the aviation authorities in Nigeria to the East Coast Fever (from East Africa) believed to be transmitted across the boundaries of colonial states through aerial traffic. This reaction consumed the activities of the authorities to the effect that almost two decades were dedicated to the strategies meant to prevent its infiltration and spread. One of such activities was the delimitation and redefinition of boundary lines of the aerodromes. The ultimate attention given to the issue was by the then Governor General of Nigeria, Sir Arthur Richards through the enaction of the 1944 regulations to curb the possible spread of the disease. However, there were no indications to suggest xviii xix
  • 12. Man when flying must stand free from the waist upwards so as to be able to balance himself as he does in a boat so that the centre of gravity in himself and in the machine may counterbalance each other, and be shifted as necessity demands for the changes of its center of resistance. 3 effectively towards ensuring that Nigerian airports were categorized among some of the globally recognised hubs of air travel. This was in addition to other areas like air traffic control, and navigational aids which were also reformed. The reformation notwithstanding, the industry held promises of further challenges going by increasing domestic demands and global air management. It is hoped that this book will help provide general historical information about the industry for academic purposes particularly for students of transport history, for the use of aviation practitioners and stakeholders, for policy makers; and for general readers. For veterans and professionals in the industry, it is hoped that it will refresh the memory. ONE Flight and conceptualisation IS May 2008. Man had conceived of flight long before the invention of the first aircraft. Centuries-old civilizations and cultures are replete with myths, legends and folklore that told of men, animals and gods who flew or made use of creatures with wings. One of the very prominent stories isthat of Persius, son of Zeus, head of the Greek gods in Olympia who used Pegasus the winged horse to fly. The earliest men who lived in caves also had ideas about flight. They started off by throwing stones at each other and at their games. These were unmanned flights. The objects had enough steam to cover minimal distances only and needed replenishment by human boosters for another flight. In the Midwestern region of Nigeria, there is the fable of the flying tortoise that attached feathers unto itself and flew across a large sea in search of food during a prolonged famine season. Such myths and legends resulted from man's belief that flight is not the exclusive preserve of birds. One of the earliest and elaborate written documentation of flight observation was that of the Italian inventor, artist and painter, Leonardo Da Vinci. His life and study of aerodynamics, aerostatics and aeronautics ushered in a new period in the history of mankind's attempt at flight from conceptualization to observation and to the study of the concept. I Leonardo made his first sketches and wrote his first notes on flight in Milan, Italy in 1482.2 He realized that by himself man does not possess the ability to engage in flight like birds. According to him, man must be aided by a machine that would enable him fly. He did not see man as a passenger of this means of transport but as co-instrument of the transport machine. He stated: Tunde Decker Lagos. xx It was very obvious to Leonardo from the out set that the solution to his problem was to be found in the flight of birds. Thus to him it seemed logical to unlock the mystery of birds' wings in order to transpose it to the 1
  • 13. Flight and conceptualisation Flight and conceptualisation mechanical sphere. Leonardo realized that the analysis and recording of all the phases of winged flight required the observation of nature, accuracy and speed, and produced several drawings to represent the phases in a strange extraordinary manner with front views, profiles and three quarter views. 4 For a quarter of a century, Leonardo persisted stubbornly on building mechanical wings copied from those of bats, which he regarded asthe essential basis of any flying machine. He wrote: Remember that your flying machine must imitate no other than the bat. because the web is what by its union gives the armour or strength to the wings. Ifyou imitate the wings offeathered birds. you willfind a much stronger structure, because they are pervious. that is. that their feathers are separate and the airpasses through them. But the bat is aided by the web that connects the whole and isnot pervious. 5 Leonardo repeatedly failed, yet his positive attitude amazed scholars of later centuries. Aside from artistic imagination, he had no option than to resort to the down to earth necessity of getting his 'aircraft' off the ground. To do this, he relied on human muscle to operate the levers of the machines he experimented with in order to ensure movement. What later European writers wondered was how Leonardo intended not only to move the crafts but also to raise them above ground. The wings of Leonardo's machines however remained stationary, the motors and levers lacked movement and the muscle of his 'pilot' was not enough to break gravitational pull. Mathe commented: No matter how many devious mechanical contrivances he used.... all he succeeded in doing was increasing the weight of the machine by adding more and gears and levers particularly grave handicap when one remembers the kind ofmaterials available at the time. 6 By increasing the weight of his 'crafts', Leonardo created more problems than he set out to achieve. The challenge afterwards was to search for ways to achieve greater propulsion than the muscle of his 'pilots' could bring about. His aircraft had become heavier, more complex and needing greater thrust to escape gravity. Mathe described his astonishment: In the circumstances. then. what is one to think of the sketches of 'pilots' which occur from time in Leonardo's notebooks? Did he really believe that the man who is shown moving a lever operating a set of ludicrous paddles was actually going to take offin his machine? Did he think that the four hapless individuals who are pedaling furiously. 2 suspended under a 'flying wing' were going to lift it above the ground? Could he have hoped that the two convicts strapped to the enormous wheels which they were supposed to turn like squirrels in a cage, were really going to take their craft aloof? And what can one possibly say about the pilot, enclosed in his perfectly astonishing machine shaped like a cup on two ladders. whose superhuman task is to become airborne by beating the air with a pair of oars? It seems to us unthinkable that Leonardo could have been so deluded and could have failed to realize that there could be no question of biceps or calf muscles generating enough power to overcome the relentless effects ofgravity.7 Finding it impossible to leave the ground by means of flapping or artificial wings or by the muscle of his 'pilots', Leonardo thereafter decided to concentrate on the study of the air's own capacity to lift objects off the ground. According to him: An object offers a such resistance to the air as the air does to the object. You may see that the beating of its wings against the air supports a heavy eagle in the highest and rarest atmosphere. close to the sphere ofelemental fire. Again you may see the airin motion over the sea. fillthe swelling sails and drive heavily laden ships. From these instances, and the reasons given, a man with wings large enough and duly connected might learn to overcome the resistance of the air,and by conquering it, succeed in subjugating it and risingabove it. 8 With these assumptions, Leonardo actually considered the basic assumptions of the Wing Theory. 9 Basing his deductions on the analysis of the gliding flight of birds and the motion of falling leaves, he determined and measured the aerodynamic components of the air and then invented instruments in other to better assess them. These instruments came to be known as the first anemometers, barometers and inclinometers of aeronautic history. Then drawing on the new data provided by his observation, he did work which was centuries ahead of his time, and accurately foresaw the possibilities of the glider, hand glider and the parachute, which though unconventional by modern standards, was considered functional. Even though he was unable to resolve the crucial problems needed for the take off of his flying machines, Leonardo had a full mastery of the theories of 'lift', which he had already anticipated and used in his hydraulic and ballistic experiments. While deliberately leaving aside the insoluble problem of propulsion, Leonardo also designed and drew what was considered as his most prophetic vision of all: the aerial 3
  • 14. Flight and conceptualisation Flight and conceptualisation screw. This consisted of two super imposed disks driven by a rotary mechanism. It was indeed an early form of the hehcoprar." Perhaps Leonardo's aeronautical failures were due to the lack of an autonomous energy supply, which ruled out mechanical progress in the period he lived. With modern energy source at his disposal, later European scientists considered that it is possible Leonardo would have come very close, in the then entirely new field of aerial locomotion, to the solutions which were eventually adopted four centuries later. It is not known whether or not Leonardo was inspired or influenced by the works of someone who lived earlier than he did. It is not certain that this happened. II However, after the death of Leonardo, scientists of different nationalities in Europe continued to observe and study the science of flight in lighter-than and heavier-than-air forms. Before then, about a hundred years after the death of Leonardo, John Wilkins a Briton, seemingly placed the possibility of achieving flight in the hands of later scientists. In summary, he considered four possible ways in which man might fly: With the spirit of angels With the help of fowls With wings fastened to his body and; In a flying chariot He questioned the practicability of the first three but forecasted the evolution of a more refined enabling machine thus: the moon which was extraordinarily prophetic. In his book, From Earth to the Moon, three men and two dogs were fired from the mouth of a gigantic canon sunk in the ground in Florida across the peninsula from what later came to be known as the Cape Kennedy launch site in the United States The men rode a ten ton missile around the moon and back to earth and were rescued from the pacific ocean from a ship. It was observed that this description showed great respect for scientific fact: He calculated carefully the energy required to flyaway from the earth. Verne did not have his explorers land on the moon. He knew that the moon was desolate and uninhabited. Since he could figure no believable way to fire his travelers back from the moon's surface, he had them circle the moon and swing back. 14 Other illustrations of flying machines by Jules Verne in another book of his, Robur the Conqueror, have been found to have close resemblance to those drawn by Leonardo in his notebooks. During this period of science fiction, man realised that the air around him was a thing and not the nothingness he thought it was. Also the barometer, invented in 1643, had provided proof that air was in fact, a gas that not only had weight but also responds to changes in temperature and pressure. Eventually, as scientific sophistication permitted the isolation of lighter-than-air gases, it became logical to think of a bubble of such gas floating like a cork in a sea of denser air. Scientists who conducted experiments between 1600 and 1900 built upon these realizations. Speculations and experimentations gave birth to more reasons for further development. By the late eighteenth century, the realizations had given rise to the invention of the balloon; and the usage of the first smoky fire and later hydrogen to raise the balloon off the air. 15 The hot air balloon had a close resemblance to the pyramid shaped parachute of Leonardo and was an evidence that the inventors of the time concentrated on how to achieve the 'lift' needed to take off the ground, with an obviously less impact than the law of thrust propounded by Newton. The flying balloons constructed by Joseph and Etienne Mountgolfer were however still far from achieving the heavier-than-air flight. Their instruments were light and could only be controlled by air. According to Leonardo's theory, a powered and sustained flight is achievable and sustainable if the flying objects offer as much resistance to the air asthe air does to the object. This, as observed by Leornardo is what keeps the eagle flying by the beating of its wings against the air. The eagle's flight provided one of the earliest evidences of nature on powered flight. Even though the hot air balloon was powered by hot air, it offered less 5 Iffowls can so easily move itself (sic) up and down in the air without as stirring the wings, .... it is not probable that when all due propositions of (a suitable apparatus) are found out, and when men by long practise have arrived to any skill and experience, they will... come very near into the imitation ofnature. 12 While man was still searching for ways to achieve powered and controlled flight, his imaginations, as in the case of Leonardo, again took greater control of the desired reality. The research of earlier century scientists were turned to what was then considered unachievable reality called science fiction. By the beginnings of the 171i> century, fiction writers popularized the idea of flight including space flight. During a 100 year period, such writers as Francis Godwin (1562 1633), Samuel Brunt (c. 1727), Cyramo de Bergerac (1619 1655), and others described flight to the moon and elsewhere. A man named Restif de la Bretonne ( I 734 1806) pictured explorers cruising over wilderness areas of Australia on a combination of batwings and umbrella-like devices. 13 Also, Jules Verne, a Frenchman writing in the nineteenth century, described a manned flight to 4
  • 15. Flight and conceptualisation resistance to the air than the flying of the eagle's wings and so was at the mercy of air. Thus the period of the air balloonists was a period of further experimentation particularly in the nineteenth century. This gave way to further research on heavier-than-air experiments by scientists like George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal. It resulted in the construction of gliders and kites from which the Wright brothers and other twentieth century aviation pioneers proceeded further to achieve powered heavier- than-air flight. By the end of the nineteenth century, a great deal had been achieved in building the foundation on which scientists in the twentieth century based their theories and assertions. Man developed his mindset from the era of myths and legends to laying down the bases of flight. Within this period however there were constant conflict between imagination and reality on the one hand and prophecies and delusions on the other. Laying the foundations of aviation engaged the minds of artists, painters, scientists, philosophers, storytellers, writers, astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, statesmen, and inventors. Thoughts on aviation gradually developed, culminating in further research and finally in visions not only about its possibility, but also about its advancement in the future that was available then. By 1900, the stage was set for practical demonstration and application of what man had learnt in the over 4000 years of his thoughts, beliefs and research on flight. Notes Aerodynamics is the study of forces acting on objects inthe air. Aerostatics isthe science of lighter-than-air aircraft. Aeronautics isthe science of aviation. 2 Jean Paul Richter, The Notebooks ofLeonordo Da Vinci, Dover Publications Inc. New York Volume II, 1970, p. 278. 3 Jean Paul Richter,lbid, p. 278 4 Jean Mathe, Leonardo's Inventions: Drawings and Models, Minerva Publications,ltaly 1969,lbid. p. 42 5 Jean Paul Richter, Op. cit. p. 278 6 Jean Mathe, Op.cit. p. 50 7 Jean Mathe,lbid. p.42 8 Jean Paul Richter, Op cit p.279 9 ''The object of Wing Theory is the investigation and calculation of the aerodynamic forces which act on a wing or system of wings, following a prescribed motion in a fluid medium, usually air. The theory is based on the assumption that the medium is continuous and it can be shown that the assumption does not lead to any appreciable errors except at very high speeds or at very low pressures .". See A. Robinson and J.A. Laurmann, Wing Theory, Cambridge University Press, 1956, p. I 10 See Angela Crome, Hovercraft, Brockampton Press, 1960, p. I I I I Roger Bacon who lived between 1214 and 1294 only engaged inthe speculations about 6 Flight and conceptualisation flight, particularly that of the air balloon. See J. L. Nayler, Aviation: Its Technical Development, Peter Owen/Vision Press, London, 1965, p. 6 12 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 7, 15th Edition, Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. 1983 p. 381 13 Ibid 14 U.S. on the Moon: What It Means ToUs, U.S. News and World Report Book, The Macmillan Company, 1969,p44 15 This was the experimentation of Joseph and Etienne Mountgolfer in France. When hydrogen was used, the effect on the movement of the balloon in the air was considered an astonishing accomplishment. The local peasants in France whose territories the balloon flew over were so alarmed by the apparition descending from the clouds that they attacked the 'monster' with scythes and pitchforks, tearing it to pieces. See The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Op cit. p. 382. 7
  • 16. TWO Overview offlight pioneers The beginning of 1900 was for aviation very dramatic, witnessing the transformation of knowledge into the invention, development and usage of the aircraft. The rate at which this was done was remarkable. From Europe to North America the men who undertook the task were regarded as lunatics whose actions must be curtailed by law. I Several of those recorded to have pioneered early human flight in late nineteenth century Europe died in circumstances witnessed by their admirers and followers. One of those was Otto Lilienthal a German aviation pioneer and researcher. He too like Leonardo Da Vinci had conducted research on the flight of birds and had built flying machines known as gliders.' He was killed in 1896 while experimenting with his flying instruments. He had several followers who worked with him on his experiments but who after his death seemed afraid to continue from where he stopped. Only of one them, named Percy Pilcher was known to have continued but who also died flying in a glider in 1899.3 He was recorded asone who would have achieved the feat of the Wright Brothers before they did if he were alive. In 1897, a French national named Clement Ader tested his powered flying machine called Avion III. However only the test occurred, the flying machine did not fly.' In 190 I, an American Wilhein Kress completed the construction of a tandem wing float plane which was later wrecked in the same year before its first take off attempt.iln 1903, another German named Karl Jalho, a civil servant in Hanover completed what was considered "a little more than a large powered kite." 6 According to Gibbs Smith; The Beginnings of Aviation It had a 9 hp petrol engine and a primitive pusher propeller. but there were neither tail unit nor controls forward of the planes. and only rudimentary. rudder and elevator device. On August ie: he made a running jump' claimed to be 18 metres; then in November. with the structure modified to biplane form, the machine made another hop of 60 metres. These tests took place; probably down hill, on the Vahrenwalder Heide. north of Hanover. They are not claimed as true flights. even in Germany. where the word 'Flugsprung' (leap into the 8 The Beginnings of Aviation air) had been used for them. He therefore may make the major claim to be the first German to leave the ground in a powered airplane." 7 However, by December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved what has been recorded in aviation history, as the first successful heavier- than-air flight in an aeroplane with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk North Carolina, USA. This shall be considered in detail later. In 1909, Louis Bleriot made the first flight across the English Channel in a monoplane in 36 minutes, cruising 30 metres above sea level but who later landed on a field damaging his undercarriage. On May 2, 1909, Moore Brabazon, a Frenchman used aVoisin biplane to fly on the Isle of Shepeg and Leysdown in France. He escaped being killed in a 45 minute flight which ended in a crash. Brabazon was considered a lunatic on a suicide mission, and was charged to court for constituting public nuisance. There was also Samuel Franklin Cody, a Texas cowboy and buffalo hunter who later became the first British citizen (and perhaps the first man) to fly an aeroplane in Britain. By 1900, he had built a kite and in 1904 was engaged by the British war office to made kites for the army. Such was to be used for watching the movement of the enemy. In 1907, he rebuilt one of his kites and filled it with a petrol engine to drive a propeller. The machine with no one on board, set off at Farnborough Common in Hampshire and was off the ground for about four and half minute. He had his first crash a year before Brabazon in 1908. On April 23, 1910, another aviator, Claude Grahame White took off in a small plane and reached Lichfield 188 km north of London before strong winds blew his bi-plane off the air and damaged it on the ground. Also in 1910, Louis Paulham in competition with Grahame-White, operated the first night flight, taking off by a car light at 2.30 a.m., getting lost in the air for three hours and using the light from a moving train to find his way back to the ground. In the same year, another man, J.B Moissant took 22 days of several crashes to shuttle London and Paris a distance of about 400 kilometres. Between June 14 and 15, 1920, British aviators John William, Alcock and Author William Brown made the first non stop trans Atlantic flight in 16hrs 27 minutes. In 1927, US • aviator, Charles A. Lindbergh flew from New York to Paris in 37 hours between May 20m and 21st. In 1929, US explorer Richard Byrd flew over the South Pole. From AprilS to April 24 1930, British aviator Amy Johnson made a solo flight from Britain to Australia; and from May 47'" in 1931 flew from England to Cape town using 3 days, 6 hours and 25 minutes. Of all the experiments considered above, the one considered as the most documented and the most elaborately planned was that of the Wright brothers. Of course, from the above, their flight experiments were not the first, but they were the first to achieve heavier-than-air 9
  • 17. The Beginnings of Aviation The Beginnings of Aviation flight. This we shall now consider. The Wright brothers had always been interested in the problem of mechanical flight and conducted several personal studies to unravel the mystery. Finally in 1900, they determined to begin experiments on their own. Their initial lessons in which they got the assistance of Professor Octave Chanute a Frenchman - followed Otto Lilienthal's system of mastering the art of floating, before attempting sustained flight by means of the attachment of a motor. Their gliders were also modeled along those of Lilienthal and Pilcher. In order to execute their work under the most auspicious conditions, they changed the scene of their operation to the neighbourhood of Chesapeake Bay in North Carolina where they made use of the steady wind. It was here that they made their first flight in 1902 when a distance of 200 yards was covered in 26 seconds. The glider they used was very much larger than that used in 1900 and measured as follows: sail area, 312 sq. ft; length, 5ft 3 in. span 35 ft; rudder 14sq.ft; total weight, I 17 Ibs. In form, it consisted of two flat canvas surfaces arranged one above the other with the operator flying at full length in a suitably shaped space in the lower sail. In front was a rudder for controlling the elevation while behind it was a vertical rudder for the horizontal motion. This rudder behind was shaped like a bird's tail. After this trial, Orville and Wilbur reduced the tail in size by half to enhance stability. During the tests, the Wrights noticed the need to overcome maintenance of stability in the air. This has been described by some as perhaps the most valuable lessons learned by the Wrights. The Wright brothers and their exploits The Wright brothers were children of a reverend who himself believed that flight was the exclusive preserve of angels. 8 This opposing belief by their father did not hinder the brothers from pursuing what they believed could be within the domain of man's ingenuity and manipulation. The two brothers were actually bicycle makers in Dayton Ohio in the United States; and they became accustomed to the basic engineering scrutiny that bicycle repairs afforded them. However, one thing that was obvious from their documentation of the historic process of achieving heavier- than-air flight was secrecy. 9 This brought two separate attitudes to their successes even in the United States. Some completely disbelieved their story after they had achieved success while others attempted to scrutinise the reports that followed their declaration. 10 While these attitudes prevailed in the United States, Wilbur Wright travelled to Europe where he substantiated his claims for his machine in the presence of French and English nationals. Thus, while Wilbur was proving his ingenuity in Europe, those on the home front were waiting with skepticism and doubts. It was when Wilbur was able to demonstrate the air machine in Europe that the brothers were given credit fortheir success in the United States. II 10 Fig. 2 The 1903 Wright Flyer I on its first flight. December 17. 1903 Source: http://www.First-to-f/y.com/in(ormotion/Homework!wright...Photos.htm 11
  • 18. The Beginnings of Aviation By 1903 the brothers had progressed so far as to build a new glider, equipped with a motor, built in their own factory according to their own designs. The engine was air-cooled and was described as conforming more to the American notions of automobile construction. It had four cylinders and each cylinder had a bore and a stroke that were 4 inches by 4 inches. At 1,020 revolutions, the glider developed 12 hp and its total weight was 250 Ibs. The airplane had a sail area exactly double that of its predecessor and its total weight (including the operator) was 745 Ibs. In all, four flights were made during the year with this machine. The best of them covered a distance of 0.48 mile in 59 seconds or at the approximate speed of30 mph. After this flight, the Wright brothers again transferred their scene of operations to their own home in Dayton, Ohio, because of the facilities offered by their cycle factory in repairing breakages. There, Orville and Wilbur parleyed with the local press and reached an understanding with them that no information on their experiments should be published. With this, they proceeded to build yet another aeroplane. In this, the engine, used in 1903 was also used but the cylinders were enlarged to 41/8 inches with an increase of 5 hp obtained. 12The 1904 flyer they built revealed no striking differences over that of 1903, but with increase in engine power and more skillful manipulation; it produced better results. One hundred and five flights were made over a period of twelve months, the best of which covered a distance of three miles in 15 minutes, 17 seconds or at a speed of 34 mph. The elevation was at an average of 10 feet with a liftof 53 Ib per horsepower. The whole machine had a weight of 900 Ibs. As a result of practices the Wright brothers were able to return to their starting point on several occasions. Hitherto, all flights were conducted to get to their destinations only.I) By 1905, their successes had become so pronounced that all further experiments were ceased towards the end of the year. By this time, the news had spread and public curiousity was keen." Though uncomfortable with the increasing publicity, the brothers continued testing their machines, and with every experiment came an improvement on the former. The plane the Wright brothers built in 1905 was called the "White Flyer" in which many improvements were made over previous models and had 625 sq.ft. sail area. Its two superimposed planes had a span of 40 ft and a breath of 6ft. These planes were formed of birch wood frames fitted with canvas to provide the gliding surface. They were held in positions by a number of vertical stays that were further reinforced with diagonal piano wires. There were two steering tails on this flyer one behind each other. The flyer used the same engine as used in 1904 but was improved with some attention to caburation that it was raised to 20 12 The Beginnings of Aviation hp. This engine was carried between the two planes and it drove two large wooden propellers of a diameter of about 6ft in opposite direction by means of enclosed chains. The propellers were some yards apart. The position of the operator was flat on his chest in front of the engine and with his head slightly beneath the level of the elevation planes. Control was effected by means of ropes attached to the front planes and the rudders. The total weight of the machine was 925 Ibs complete with operators and fuel. The performances of the White Flyer were recorded as follows: September 26, I I miles in 18 minutes 9 seconds; September 30, 121/5 miles in 19 minutes 55 seconds; October 3, 15, 25 miles in 25 minutes and 5 seconds; October 4,203/4 miles in 33 minutes 17seconds; October 5, 24 miles in 38 minutes 3 seconds. These were accomplished at an averaged height of 10ft and at an approximate rate of speed of 38 m.p.h. Inall, 49 flights were made during 1905 and the liftof the machine was found to be 461b per hp. In 1906, the Wright brothers concentrated on improvements on the engine. They also reduced their flying activities to reduce the increasing wave of public curiousity. In 1907, they occupied themselves with the perfection of details to their aeroplanes. It was in this year that the brothers first entered into negotiation with some governments in the United States and Europe." However, the Wright brothers' claim, efforts and negotiations did not receive any positive response: in the United States because of disbelief and in Europe because of apathy and national pride. In trying to achieve the needed recognition, Orville Wright decided to give a demonstration before the government of the United States on a new and more improved airplane from which the brothers expected better results. This was done but with some criticisms and admiration. The conclusion of an article in the TIME magazine of 1908 described the success of the Wright flyers: 13 In flight two important points deserve attention. The first being, that in the latest of the Wright machines the operator indulges in the luxury of a chair. while the second point is that, should by any chance the power of the motor fail, the aeroplane is temporarily converted into a glider. and comes lightly and gracefully to the ground without the slightest sign of that headlong precipitation that would be naturally expected. In fact, in alighting, Wilbur Wright habitually switches off some time before the point of descent and brings the whole apparatus gently to rest by manipulating the planes. The only point in the Wright machine that lays itself open to criticism is the method of starting. This is effected by mounting the aeroplane on a little trolley,
  • 19. The Beginnings of Aviation The Beginnings of Aviation running on railsand attached by a cable to a weight suspended from a derrick. The engine of the aeroplane is started, and the aeronaut taking his seat. releases the weight, when the trolley being thereby set in motion, runs at a constantly increasing speed for about 60ft. It thereupon stops abruptly, and the aeroplane shoots offinto the air. To restart from another point it would obviously be necessary to relay the line. This primitive arrangement betrays a confidence in the ability of the Wright brothers to return to their starting point; which marks another step in their accomplishments, and shows they themselves attach little importance whatever to the matter. I. Wright brothers' influence in Europe The emergence of the Wright Brothers and their air exploits was considered as having re-awakened European interest in aviation in the first decade of the twentieth century. Gibbs Smith writing in 1974 summarised their influence asfollows: One, that the influence was directly responsible for reviving the re- birth of aviation in Europe between 1902 and 1908. This, he stated, was particularly true in France through one Captain Ferber who was then considered the only European pioneer actively involved in flight mechanics at the time. He changed from what was considered primitive type of hand glider to that builtbythe Wright Brothers in 190 I. Second, that the Wright brothers' influences in Europe was evident in an illustrated lecture delivered by Octave Chanute, a Frenchman to a club of flight researchers called Hero Club in France on April 2, 1903. It was followed by newspaper and magazine reports in which were several descriptions and photographs of Glider No.3 made by the Wrights. This led important French nationals to re-build and test the copies of the Wrights brothers' flying machines. Third, that the influence was visible in terms of the flight control mechanisms learnt from the Wrights and used by later French aviators. Fourth, that the influence was pronounced in the acceptance of the news that the Wright brothers had achieved powered flight on December Ith 1903. This however. was a disturbing influence as will be seen by later reactions to the Wright brothers' feat in France. Fifth. in 1905. France received the news through Captain Ferber that 1905 had been a triumphant season for the Wright brothers with their powered Flyer III. This was confirmed by a French news daily and resulted in an editorial in January 1906. The editorial freely admitted that the Wrights had achieved the conquest of the air in heavier-than-air machines. Sixth. Wilbur Wright demonstrated flight control in action in the regions of Hunaudieres and Auvours in France when he flew from August 14 . Fig.3 Wilbur Wright turns on the engine of a Wright Model A as he prepares to fly in France in 1908. Source: http://www.First-to-(lr.com/information/Homework/wrightyhotos.htm to the end of December 1908. With this feat. another Frenchman. Count Henry Delta Vaulx (founder of the FAL - Federation Aeronautique lnternationale, in France) described the aircraft used by Wilbur as the machine which revolutionalised the world of aviation. 17 Reaction to Wright brothers' claim and feat Even with available documents and photographs. it was only natural that French nationals, who had engaged in flights, and those who had been made disciples of early French aviators. objected to the Wright brother's feat. It produced what was considered as the most violent reactions ever felt before or since over a matter that had to do with the airplane. There emerged a division of attitudes towards the American aviators: those who sadly accepted the news and those who refused to believe what had happened. One of the most influential critics of the Wright feat was Gabriel Voisin. himself a flight researcher and builder of bi-planes. in whose autobiography were statements that were described as clothed with authority. Some of Voisin's statements as reproduced in Gibbs Smith's book read: America with unbelievable insolence claims to have been the birthplace of aviation. It is inconceivable that France should bow before so naive a claim. Aviation was born in France. and not one of our great men. true pioneers of the air,borrowed anything at all from 15
  • 20. The Beginnings of Aviation The Beginnings of Aviation the men of Dayton. The super fortresses, the constellations and the jet-driven Boeings, owe their origins to Ader's Avion of 1897 and to that ofBlerot of 1909, while the most up-to date Li~htin~ leaves in its slipstream remembrances of the old Voisin of 1908 just as the latest steam locomotives, in their pride of six thousand horsepower, had been foreshadowed by Stephenson's rocket. 18 In order to understand fully the Wright 'swindle', it is necessary to read. The Wright Papers attentively and to analyse the statements which are to be found there in the spirit of ajudge impartially seeking the truth. 19 We never had at anytime during our work communicate relating to their (the Wrights) arrangement, and when my brother finally succeeded on 30 March 1907, at Bagatelle, in making the French powered flight recorded on film, the totality of French constructors, had no knowledge of the Wrights or of their work. In a word, the existence of the two Americans never influenced our researchers in 20 anyway. No technician of real standing can admit that the Wrights inspired anything at all, and that for two reasons. The first is important: the Wrights kept their secret so well that it remained impenetrable from 1903 to 8August 1908, a date by which French aviation was definitely under way. The second reason also has its significance: The Wri~ht aircraft had no future. When the Wright came to France, financed by influential people, and with resources we could never had hoped for, praised to the skies bya (largely paid) press, it taught us nothing 21 At the moment when his boat left the shores ofFrance which had welcomed him with an almost unbelievable enthusiasm Wilbur Wright, had he been able to peer through the channel fog would have distinguished the shadow ofthe Bleirot XII (XI), the aircraft which was to be carried to England on the wings of victory. Then he might have realised the uselessness of his efforts, the poverty of his devices and the futility of his secrets. 22 Barely, three years after Voisin's autobiography came other statements in a British journal in 1964: These facts emerge inexorably as a result ofa dispassionate approach to the subject and are as follows: a) the aeroplane as we know it today is wholly European (and primarily French) both in concept and development. b) that if the Wright brothers had never lived, the aeroplane would still have been conceived in Europe by the same people at the same 16 r times and could have passed through the same·stages ofdevelopment that in fact, it did. Any attempt to deny the foregoing is not only a distortion of history but inflicts a grave injustice on the true creators of the modern aeroplane people like the Voisin brothers, Bleirot, Levavasseur. Brequet, Goupy. A. V Roe and a host of others. n It is clear that the birthplace of aviation as we know it today is Europe. From the early considerations of thoughts on the flight of birds and the human capacity to fly with the aid of a flying machine, we have learnt that the earliest and the most basic concepts on aviation evolved in European cities. But asGibbs Smith hasshown, the exploits of the Wright brothers in the United States ignited a spontaneous response from European flight pioneers in the first decades of the twentieth century. This however does not set aside the fact that the earliest concepts on aviation developed in Europe. One fact however remains: the most documented and detailed accounts of the earliest flight experiences were that of Wilbur and Orville Wright. As has been explained earlier, the Wright brothers themselves were their own scribes. Their flight activities were embarrassingly detailed to the Europeans at the time. Such superiority of documentation proved advantageous to the Wright brothers when they made efforts to acquire patents for their inventions even though those in charge did not accept the possibility. It took a legal battle on the part of the Wrights to do so. The state of aviation in E.urope It is important therefore to examine the state of aviation in Europe at the time of the Wright brothers. This as we shall see will enable us to appropriately determine their role in the scheme of things in Europe of the 1900s. Firstly, it must be stated that the development of the automobile and the train as forms of transportation had reached an admirable level when compared to that of the airplane in the beginning of the century. By 1882, Gottlieb Daimler, the German had built the petrol engine and in 1885 developed successful lightweight petrol engine fitting it into a bicycle to create the prototype of the present day motorcycle. At about the same time in 1885 another German Karl Benz had fitted his own lightweight petrol engine to a three-wheeled vehicle, thus pioneering the development of the motorcar. H Nine years later, he produced a four wheeled car. What followed were series of more experimentations resulting in further development. By 1920, a total of 663,000 cars were licensed in Britain While the aviators were experimenting with ideas, the automobile was not only becoming the leading means of transport in 17
  • 21. 18 The Beginnings of Aviation Europe, the railways had also developed well enough to meet the need for masstransport in European cities during the period. 25 Specifically, the state of aviation in Europe centred on the activities of Aeronautic clubs and societies, the proliferation and influence of articles in journals and the celebrated opinions and conclusions of notable aviators. These together promoted the spread of knowledge on aviation. The aeronautic societies in Britain and France were most active. Describing the society in France at the time, Gibbs Smith stated: Far from being a mere social society. the Hero Club de France was the central focus. breeding ground. and exchange-and-mart for both practical and theoretical aeronautics in Europe. with the practical side naturally dominating: it was the equivalent of the Aeronautic Society and the Aero Club in London combined ..... All the leading French ballonists. air-minded patrons. and many foreigners were members and naturally enough. it was passionately patriotic. Its speakers. aware of the multifarious aeronautical activities espoused by France in the previous century. were later apt to remind each other and the world that "aviation is indeed a French science" (aviation est bien une science francaise) although at this time it was hard to find more than a handful ofmembers with any real interest in aviation. 26 The Aeronautic Club in France was more preoccupied with achieving lighter-than-air flying objects rather than the heavier-than-air flying machines. As far as flying was concerned. the members were engulfed in ballooning and airship. Santos Dumont a member of the society was recorded to have caused a sensation in 190I by flying round Eiffel Tower in his airship. 27 The achievement of heavier-than-air flight was for the members atall dream. Again, Gibbs Smith described the society's attitude: It is significant that when the Secretary General presented his report on the club's activities in 1902 at the General Assembly on March 5. 1903 he only devoted 3 printed lines (out of over 250) to heavier- than-air activities. He simply mentioned the Vincomte Descazes. The chauffeur attitude to aviation regarded the flying machine as a winged automobile. to be driven off the ground and into the air by brute force of engine and propeller. so to say. and sedately steered about the sky as ifit were a land - or even a marine vehicle which had simply been transferred from a layer of earth to a similarly flat layer of air. They sought inherent stability in the air at all cost. and neglected The Beginnings of Aviation who nursed a visionary helicopter scheme. and Ferber. whose work he did not as yet think it even worthwhile to describe. But in order to put it as colourfully as he could. in his three lines. the Secretary General described the two men as 'militant aviators' (aviateurs militants). not militaires'! He closed his brief sentence with the elegant statement that their new activities merited the 'highest hopes' (Ies plus belles esperance). 28 The official journal of the French Aeronautical Society was the L'Aerophile which was published monthly and edited by Georges Besancon, the society's Secretary General. The journal was read throughout the world; and its articles, illustrations, and reports of discussions - which covered world aeronautics were considered of great importance in the development of flying. In Britain, the Aeronautical Society, later named Royal Aeronautical Society had an overriding influence. However, its periodical- the Aeronautic Journal competed with the Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal in accommodating aviation matters. The Automotor Journal which was the quarterly periodical of the automobile industry in Britain was however known to be more accommodating on the more radical but progressive issueson aviation. This was considered strange because the Aeronautic Journal which ought to serve the purpose of propagating the interest of aviation only accommodated opinions and ideas on aviation which even at that time were becoming obsolete. However, the journal served to inform on ideas about aviation even though it was considered by some writers as hostile to the cause and achievements of the Wright brothers. 29 Aviation in Europe also witnessed the activities and celebrated opinions of aviators like the French captain of Artillery Ferdinand Feber who was said to have kept alive the tradition of aviation between 190I and 1902. Another opinion moulder was Comte Henry de LaVaulx. He was the Vice President of the Aeronautical Society in France and was at the centre of European aeronautical events during the period. In 1905, he founded the FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) and published in 191I what was believed to be the most authoritative of the early histories of flying entitled Le Triomphe de La Navigation Aerienne. It was from this book that later writers quoted and stated that Comte Henry's work truly expressed the state of aviation in Europe at the time. The approaches of the aviation stakeholders were thus theoretical as well as practical but hostile towards the successes of non-Europeans in aviation matters. This seems a contradiction of some sort as the Aeronautical societies also had non-Europeans in their membership. However, between 1890 and 1910, it was evident that flight pioneers in Europe had two approaches to achieving success in heavier-than-air flight. 19
  • 22. The Beginnings of Aviation The Beginnings of Aviation Notes Thus they were named and divided into two: 'chauffeurs' and 'airmen' according to their attitudes. According to Gibbs Smith. The chauffeur attitude to aviation regarded the flying machine as a winged automobile. to be driven off the ground and into the air by brute force of engine and propeller. so to say. and sedately steered about the sky as ifit were a land - or even a marine vehicle which had simply been transferred from a layer of earth to a similarly flat layer of air. They sought inherent stability in the air at all cost. and neglected proper flight control. which they thought was unnecessary except for the elevator to take them up or down and the rudder to steer them to left or right. They had no conception of proper flight control about three axes. and roll control meant nothing to them. Stability in roll via dihedral angle they understood, but not control in roll. These men had little or no idea of the vagaries of the wind. nor of what the pilot could do if he was at their mercy. The chauffeur attitude was a static attitude. and the chauffeurs were often enthusiastic model markets. The true airman's attitude was one of identifying himself with his machine "ieveux faire corps avec la machine ... as Francoise Sagan put it and he wished to partake in the real experience offlying. He looked toward the bird. not the flying automobile. for his inspiration, because he wanted to control his machine as perfectly as the birds fly. Sometimes the airmen seemed to look upon the aeroplane as an aerial steed, to be ridden and controlled in the air as a living animal. The 'chauffeurs' came to devote themselves mainly to the pursuit of thrust and lift. and thereby proved singularly unfruitful: they invariably tried to take off in powered machines before they had any true idea offlight control. Whereas the 'airman'. thought primarily in terms of control in the air, and quickly realised that the unpowered glider was the vehicle of choice, in which a man might emulate the technique of gliding birds, and learn to ride the air successfully before having himself precipitated into the incorporeal atmosphere in a powered flying machine without knowing what would happen or what he should do, when once air borne. The distinction between chauffeurs and airmen was to prove pivoto! in the final conquest of the • 30 air. From the foregoing, European and American aviators had different attitudes towards the development of the new and revolutionary machine. One thing however was certain: ifthe new transport means was further developed beyond what obtained at the time (and all available indicators pointed towards this). it would find its way into territories that were alien to its place of birth; and this was what happened. Mohammed Uba Saiisu, Flying Afterall is a Worthwhile Risk. Options Communications Ltd. Lagos, 1995 p. 2. 2 Charles Harvard Gibbs Smith, The Rebirth of European Aviation 1902- 1908: A Study of the Wright Brothers Influence, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1974 p. 7 3 J. N. Nayler. Aviation: Its Technical Development, Peter Owens, Ltd. and Vision Press Ltd., London 1965 pp. 42 - 43. 4 Gibbs Smith, Op cit., p. 7. 5 Ibid.. 6 Ibid.. 7 hp - horsepower is part of the specification of any engine powered vehicle. This dates from the time when alltraffic was horse drawn. The strength or pulling power of an engine was measured against the strength of the horse and expressed as horse power. A 9 hp [horse power] engine pulls at nine times the power of a horse. 8 Their father was a bishop at the United Brethren Church, California. See John Evangelist Walsh, One Day at Kitty Hawk: The Untold Story of the Wright Brothers and the Air plane. Thomas Crowell Company, New York 1975 p. I) 9 "The Wright Aeroplanes," The Times. August 26, 1908. 10 Ibid. II Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 John Evangelist Walsh, One Day at Kitty Hawk: The Untold Story of the Wright Brothers and the Air plane, Thomas Crowell Company, New York 1975 pp. 189 - 190. 15 See Ibid. pp. 191 - 196 16 "The Wright Aeroplanes," The Times, August 26, 1908 17 See Gibbs Smith. Op cit, p. 7 18 Gibbs-Smith, Op cit. p. 160. 19 Ibid.p.240 20 Ibid .p. 237 21 Ibid. p. 7. 22 Ibid, p. 238 23 Ibid.,. 24 H. E. L. Mellersch, R. L.Storey, Neville Williams, Philip Walker, The Hutchinson Chronology of World H,story. Compact Edition, Helicon Publishing Limited, 1995 p. 281 25 Gibbs-Smith, Op cit., p. 31O. 26 Ibid 27 J N. Nayler, Op Cit., p. 17 28 Ibid p. 9 29 Ibid p.11 30 Ibid p. 12-13 20 21
  • 23. THREE Prelude to 1925 1925 is widely considered as the dawn of aviation in Nigeria. There are controversies as to the place, people involved, circumstances surrounding it and the types of aircraft used. However, this is not the preoccupation of this section of the book as these have been considered in other sections. This section is concerned with an overview of the developments that had occurred in other forms of transport in Nigeria before 1925 and the conditions that made aviation a latecomer to the scene. Ogunremi has examined in detail the complex nature of transport systems in pre-industrial Nigeria and the fact that it contributed to the development of societies through the reduction of poverty, aid to agricultural production, support to non-agricultural occupations, aid to exchanges in market places and support to the use of currencies. I The complexity of the organisation of transport in pre-colonial Nigeria could be seen from the management of the trade routes, the utilization of the individual capacity of the transport means - canoe, human portage, pack animals - and their contributions to trade. The pre-industrial transport system was one that fitted with the diversity of peoples, geography and economic practices at the time. Also, it was a transport system that was vastly available to the poor as well as the rich. Though there were some means the camel and horses - that were purely elitist, there were however several others like the canoe, porters and pack animals which were available to those who were non elites. Additionally, the transport system was one that was entirely dependent on natural circumstances for effectiveness. For instance the horse was fed on fodder, which was vastly available particularly in the north where they were mostly bred. It was the same for the camel, which fed on the available fodder along the desert routes. Other forms of transport also depended hugely on resources that were even much more available. The resource needed for the construction of the canoe was in huge supply. The many rivers and watercourses also aided its functionality with ease. In the north where the rivers were scarce, the camel's thirst-quenching ability for long periods 22 even in the desert provided an effective transport tool. Other animals of strength and great perseverance like the ox, the donkey and the horse enabled the Hausa, the Kanembu, the Fulani in the northern grasslands to be at ease even when huge distances had to be covered for some economic, political or social purpose. The vast Nigerian geography met with equal strength from the available transport means. The animals were fuelled and made efficient first by the grasses of the field, second by their natural capacity to withstand the harshness of weather and distance and third by the fact that the use of each one of the means ox, horse, donkey and camel actually followed the principles of division of labour. Each one of them was suited to solve different transport needs. The donkey was not used in the many jihads fought by the Fulani, neither was the camel used to cover distances which were considered the terrains of the donkey. 2 That would have resulted in misdirected productivity. The donkey and the horse were also not used the same way the camel was used to traverse the deadly terrains of the desert. Also, it would have been impossible for the musketeers of Idris Alooma to have waged war effectively on the back of the oxen.) The point is that every one of the transport means served purposes that were clear-cut. Even when they had to serve dual purposes, the time period for such use was very limited. It was the same for human porters. This means was also very organized. The first fact was that the individual pre-colonial Africans fed well and the variety of food production in terms of quantity, quality and supply was evident in the different regions. The pre-industrial 'Nigerian' was thus able to muster enough strength to cover long distances. In many cases, farmers and hunters and their sons left home for the field and to hunt game without food only to roast yam or game in the field. It was the cheapest form of transport and one in which different management styles were adopted. Firstly, household family membership in pre-colonial Nigeria was often large. A house hold with a family head. two wives and ten children with the age range of I0 25 obviously had better opportunity to manage and utilize the human form of transport available to them than the family of one head, one woman and two children. The economic implication of such available transport means to these two families was that the larger accessed greater economic benefits than the smaller family, even though the larger had greater economic responsibilities. This was the situation: the family head had specific places he travelled, using this means; and some of those places might or might not include: the king's palace, the farm, the forest or the village square. For the two women of the large family, their destinations were similar and included the market place, the village square, and the farmland in most cases. The children of 23
  • 24. Prelude to 1925 our large family also engaged this means of transport mainly between the home, the farm, the village playground or even the forest. Usually, children were made to engage this form of transport to complement and increase the output of any productive engagement that their mothers or fathers set out to achieve. The consequence of the use of human portage inthis large family was increase in economic capability. •Our smaller family however was only able to raise enough financial gain from the use of this same transport only to the extent at which its usage allowed them. An additional interesting feature of human portage in the northern parts of Nigeria was that the men and their children used this transport to rear cattle. The available land mass in the north allowed for such use of transport not only to generate income from the coordination of the sale of cattle which this transport means provided, but also allowed the young heir of the cattle trade to learn the skills of rearing cattle. The frequency of such trips polished his skill and served to reassure the father of the ability of the son to manage the inheritance well enough inthe case of death. For the riverine areas, the canoe was as much a necessity as the camel in the desert. What this form of transport required which other forms did not was the need to construct. Unlike the rest which required man to breed ( as was the cases with horses, camels, donkeys and oxen) this need established and polished building skills. The aid for its effective movement was also vastly available except in dry seasons when some rivers in certain cases actually dried up. For the rest of the rivers, which did not even in dry seasons, the canoe was used effectively. It is therefore evident that pre-colonial transport system in any form required the direct control of man and the friendliness of natural forces to enhance its effectiveness. This combination is one of the main reasons behind the success of one of the greatest and most remarkable trade systems in world history- the Trans Saharan trade. This trade brought prosperity to the empires on the northern and southern edges of the Sahara. 5 The trade was instrumental to the increased mobility of African long distance trade entrepreneurs from as early as 1000 BC through to the near end of the nineteenth century in 1875, a period spanning about 2,875 years. 6 The length of the journey lasted according to A. G. Hopkins for between seventy to ninety days or more. 7 Hopkins noted that even in the most extreme political disturbances the Trans Saharan trade progressed uninhibited. Therefore, based on his calculation that the journey lasted 90 days, and the information recorded by J. D. Fage that Mansa Musa of Mali had 8000 retainers travelled along with him across the Sahara to Mecca during his pilgrimage, it can be aggregated that for every 90 days or three calendar months, about 8000 individual movements occurred through 24 Prelude to 1925 the Sahara to North Africa and vice versa. 8 Many of the journeys were repeated of course, but this meant that every year, approximately 32.000 individuals travelled through the Sahara. Therefore for the 2. 875 years that the trade lasted. an approximate sum of 92,000,000 (ninety two million) Africans travelled across the Sahara between 1000 BC and 1875 when the Trans Saharan trade started declining. This estimate of course is very conservative. The traditional means of transport also sustained the trade in slaves from the hinterlands where the slaves were captured onwards to the coast of Lagos and Badagry where they were eventually transported by another means of transport to Europe and the Americas. At the time the Trans Saharan trade flourished, millions of Africans were involved and huge quantities of goods were traded in. This would not have been possible without human portage and pack animals. More so for the fact that these forms of transport survived the harshest conditions ever brought to bear on the people's capability to move from one place to the other. Also, as some scholars have indicated, pre-industrial form of transport in Nigeria also featured the relevance of the point of departure and the point of destination within the system. All points of departure or arrival added real economic value to the whole system and served to reinforce the primacy of transportation in socio-economic and political interaction between the peoples. This was very evident in 1892 in Lagos when the city witnessed huge sale of products brought from the hinterland. 9 These products according to Hopkins included Asala nuts, beans, beniseeds, egusi seeds. farina, ground nuts, locust seeds, maize, okra, palm oil, pepper, shea butter, yams, yam flour. cotton, indigo, palm kernels, potash, bullocks. ducks. goats, guinea fowls. horses. pigeons, sheep, turkeys, calabashes, cotton, cloth, pots, soaps. Obviously these products indicated that their movements originated from the different geographical regions. The trend was that the pre-aviation transport systems served as a link between the centres of production and centres of trade. 10 Hopkins provided one of the many descriptions of such trade with reference to transport: the caravans of the pre-colonial period commuted ponderously between large entrepots. many of which were located at points of overlap between different ecological zones .... These entrepots were bulking and bulk breaking centers. and also places where goods were transferred from one mode of transport to the other. On arrival at the entrepots. the caravan broke up and the traders made contacts with specialised agents who helped them dispose their goods and buy other products for the return journey. II 25
  • 25. Prelude to 1925 It is worthwhile at this point to briefly consider, and specifically, the instruments of transportation available in pre-aviation period. The camel - Its introduction as a means of transport was very revolutionary and this animal became the principal means of transport for almost two thousand years." The camel was present in North Africa in the first century B.C. and became known throughout the Sahara during the early centuries of the Christian era. It was more efficient in desert conditions than horses and oxen, and its supremacy remained unchallenged until the coming of the motor car inthe I920s. Camels were bred especially for desert transportation by the Toureg and could carry between 3cwt and 5 cwt across the Sahara. 13 The camel however did not travel very far into the savanna areas of the Western Sudan partly because it preferred the poorer fodder of the desert and partly because it was susceptible to diseases such as sleeping sickness which prevailed in the southern fringes of the Sahara. The camel had greater capacity to travel long distances than the horse, and the terrains it passed through were usually more demanding and heinous. The horse was not suitable for such use. The camel stored water in its hump and could sustain itself for upwards of three months in waterless environments. It was only natural that merchants on the trans Saharan trade route found it the most enduring form of transportation. The camel was particularly responsible for the easy flow of the Trans Saharan trade. In all this, the camel was the major form of transportation used. Of course ifa faster means of transport had been used, several more millions would have travelled in addition to the number we have just considered and it is not unlikely that horses were used to travel the distance at some points or the other because all indications pointed to the fact that horses used by some West African monarchs for their calvary could only have been brought from North Africa and the only routes the horses could have passed through were the trade routes. Donkeys - It was at the northern entrepots of trade such as Timbuktu ( See fig. 4 below) that goods from the trade merchants from North Africa were transferred to donkeys which were better suited to savanna conditions. I. Donkeys were the chief pack animals in the Western Sudan. They carried about 100 Ibs, which was substantially less than the amount carried by the oxen, but donkeys were cheaper to buy and feed. They were also faster and more effective over rough terrains. Donkeys, like camels, were bred specially for transport purposes. The Mossi were known to be skillful at raising donkeys which had a particularly high reputation in long distance trade. 15 The donkeys raised by the Mossi were often bought by Hausa traders who used them to carry kola nuts on their • 16 Journeys. 26 Prelude to 1925 3O'N 2O"W 20'0 3O'L 20'N 10'N ~ ~ <r..- Fig. 4 Map OfThe Trans Saharan Trade Route Source: A.G Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa, Longman, London, 1973. Porters - It was at the markets situated at the border points between the savanna and the forests that goods which were travelling further south were transferred to porters because the use of pack animals in the forests was restricted by a combination of trypanosomiasis and lack of pasture." Professional carriers, often slaves, could load on their head as much as 55- 651bs and cover an average distance of twenty miles a day.18 The Canoe - This was used in places criss-crossed by rivers and creeks, In areas where few rivers were available, the canoe was particularly costly and only the usage of other means like pack animals and human portage reduced the near monopoly of the fast movement it had in such places. Itwas the cheapest means of transporting bulky commodities over long distances, However, fluctuations caused by seasonal changes made its use less frequent, Those who lived near rivers constructed canoes in great varieties and sizes and with different load carrying capacities, Some were eighty feet or more in length and could carry as many as one hundred men." Some could carry twenty to thirty tons of merchandise, including foodstuffs as well as the more luxurious items of long distance trade. The horse - This was the most powerful draught animal and was very expensive. It also needed a high intake of fodder and water, and succumbed early to disease. Also for the large part of the year, horses were fed on barley, millet or milk." Horses were used in Nigeria during this period as calvary and on ceremonial occasions. Horses were rare animals even among the Touareg and thus remained symbols of prestige. 27
  • 26. Prelude to 1925 Later they became significant for close fighting than for transportation. Because of their military importance, they also played an essential role as items of trade. Wheeled transport - This did not prove useful in most parts of the country throughout the centuries before colonialism, and as Hopkins has argued, its use did not indicate lack of development inWest Africa. What it indicated however was that Africans exercised judgement by its non-use for two major reasons: first that this form of transport was expensive to maintain and secondly that the environmental conditions for its effective use was non existent in West Africa in the period. Quoting Charles Orr's description of one of the earliest attempt to introduce wheeled transport into parts of the Western Sudan, Hopkins wrote: With time and after much doubt as to its efficiency even by Britons, the use of the motor car attracted increasing interests from some Nigerians particularly William Akinola Dawodu." By the early I920s, Nigeria and the Gold Coast imported about 20,000 motor vehicles." The challenge that accompanied this increasing interest and use of the cars was the need for the construction of good road network. This was slowly addressed with time to allow for effective use. Maritime Transport - This had developed in Lagos to the extent that it served to aid the international maritime trade between Britain and her colonies. 2< Additionally, it was the means through which Nigerians at that time travelled to the United Kingdom." This means was also at its early stage of development as at I925. The Railways - By the time the first aircraft landed in Nigeria in 1925, the British were just beginning to invest in railway construction and development. As Olukoju has shown, the French had taken the lead by formulating and implementing concrete plans towards the growth of this means of transport, in spite of the fact that those attempts were not well coordinated." On the assumption of joseph Chamberlain as the British 28 InJanuary 1905. the first cart convoy arrived at Zaria from Zungeru, and the difficulties due to having to rely solely on human portage were temporarily obviated. though the carts were not able to continue running when once the rainy season sets in. Every effort was made to organize an efficient system during the dry season of 1905 - 1906. Artificers and drivers had even been imported from India. and proved to be ofgreat use; depots were established for supplies off odder along the road and a veterinary surgeon was attached to the Department. In spite of all these efforts. however. the cart transport proved little less expensive than carriers. 21 , Prelude to 1925 Secretary of State for the colonies, Britain began to construct rail lines from the coastal areas into the hinterland. Construction began in Lagos in 1896 and was extended to Ibadan in 190 I, then to jebba in 1909 and Kano in 191 I. The railway line linking Port Harcourt, Enugu and jos was completed in 1926.27 Like the French rail lines, the British lines linked major cities with mining and agricultural potentials. These were the circumstances surrounding the development and use of pre-aviation transport systems in Nigeria. By the time the British Secretary of State for the colonies, joseph Chamberlain, was being persuaded to accept a loan from the London market to build the railways in Nigeria in the late nineteenth century, the traditional transport system with all its varieties and even problems had been entrenched in the societies and actually served as an indicator of wealth or poverty because the types used and the frequency with which they were used served the economic enterprises of pre-colonial 'Nigerians,.28 However, with the introduction of the railways and the motor car, the traditional means of transport gradually lost the domination they had prior to the coming of the new forms of movement. Now we shall consider the developments that led to the first aircraft landing in Nigeria in 1925. Notes G. O. Ogunremi, Counting the Camels: The Economics of Transportation in Pre- Industrial Nigeria. Nok Publishers International. Lagos. 1982. p. 2. AJihad is an Islamic war. Known and refered to with the title of Mai [king]. he was one of the powerful kings of the famed Kanem-Born~ dynasty inthe Kanem-Bornu empire in Northern Nigeria in the sixteenth century. A. G. Hopkins, Economic History Of West Africa. Longman, London. 1973. p. 51. Ibid. p.63. Ibid. pp.79-80 Ibid.p.81 J. D. Fage, A History of West Africa. Cambridge University Press. London. 1969 p. 22 A. G. Hopkins. Op. cit. p.. 55 Ibid. p.63 Ibid. Ibid. p. 72 The Touregs were a group of traveling merchants along the Sahara Desert. They remained the chief administrators of the Trans Saharan trade during for the thousands of years that the trade lasted. 14 Timbuktu was an ancient trade centre in the Western Sudan - a geographical area roughly located in present Day West Africa The Mossi were a group of people who lived inthe lightly forested areas of the Western Sudan inthe thirteenth century A. G. Hopkins Op cit, p.72 Trypasonomiasis. known as sleeping sickness. is a disease that affects cattle. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 15 16 17 29
  • 27. 30 Prelude to 1925 18 19 A. G. Hopkins, Op dt. p. 72. Robert Smith, "The Canoe inWest African History" ,Journal of African History, Vol. II, 1970pp.515-533 G. O. Ogunremi, Op cit. p. 108 SirChariesOrr, 'The Making of Northern Nigeria', 1911 pp. 184-5. See also A. G. Hopkins, Op cit. pp. 74 -75. See Ayodeji Olukoju," Transportation in Colonial West Africa in G. O. Ogunremi and E K.Faluyi (eds.), Economic History of West Africa Since 1750, FirstAcademic Publishers, Lagos 1996 p. 154) This was twice as much as the number imported by the whole of French West Africa. See Ayodeji Olukoju, Ibid. p. 155. See Ayodeji Olukoju, Ibid., pp. 158-159 Read the experience of Nnamdi Azikiwe in Nnamdi Azikiwe, My Odyssey, An Autobiography, Spectrum Books limited, Ibadan, 1970 pp. 53 _ 50 See Ayodeji Olukoju, "Transportation in Colonial West Africa" in G. O. Ogunremi and E.K Faluyi (eds), Economic History of West Africa Since 1750, First Academic Publishers, Lagos 1996 pp. 152 - 153 ) Ibid. p. 154. Joseph Chamberlain was persuaded to authorise a 250,000 pounds loan by the Chambers of Commerce of liverpool and Manchester. See P. N. C. Okigbo, National Development Planning in Nigeria 1900- 1992, Fourth Dimension Publishing Company limited, Enugu, 1989 p. FOUR 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1925 The Imperial Antecedents At the end of the nineteenth century, European societies emerged restless from centuries-old change pattern which included the Renaissance,the Reformation, the wars of independence, the civil wars, the industrial revolution, the Napoleonic wars and more. These had all shaken European society to the roots. Governments had been overthrown and patterns of governance had often been violently questioned. Technology and production had witnessed drastic growth processes and departed from the former crude format. The seeming permanence of the slave trade was becoming a passing phase and nations in Europe were on the threshold of further sovereign assertions and new power relations, the execution of which was conceived in the exercise of colonial authority and supremacy over and above territories outside Europe. Thus when Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor and diplomat convened the meeting of the colonial powers in 1885, what was major in the minds of those present was the political domination of territories over which they were about to exercise control. Although several of the nations represented were already subtly exercising authority and influence, they were cautious not to invest too much of state resources in areas over which there were contentions and debates. I What was recorded asthe scramble for African territories by African and Africanist historians was considered as having been carried out more for political and economic purposes. 2 Even at that, ... .it assumed the shape of overt annexation, with half a dozen European powers moving rapidly from one conquest to the next, often without waiting long enough to establish a firm administration over territories first acquired. 3 This was found to be a general pattern of contact by the Europeans in the earlier phase of conquest. Further comments by Curtin et. al argued that the European intervention was indirect: 31