Aviation in Britain Before the First World War A medium close up of Cody aircraft mark II with Edward Leroy (despite the name, Lela's son - see below for further details) and Blanche Leroy (Edward's wife) aboard. Edward is wearing a rather pointed cowboy hat and tasselled leather jacket. Lela Cody's real name was Elizabeth King nee Davis. When her and Cody met (1890 / 1891) he had recently split up from his American wife Maud Lee and she was married with four children Lizzy, Edward, Leon and Vivian. Like their mother her children were soon enamoured with Cody, the three boy's joined Lela and C
Aviation in Britain Before the First World War A medium close up of Cody aircraft mark II with Edward Leroy (despite the name, Lela's son - see below for further details) and Blanche Leroy (Edward's wife) aboard. Edward is wearing a rather pointed cowboy hat and tasselled leather jacket. Lela Cody's real name was Elizabeth King nee Davis. When her and Cody met (1890 / 1891) he had recently split up from his American wife Maud Lee and she was married with four children Lizzy, Edward, Leon and Vivian. Like their mother her children were soon enamoured with Cody, the three boy's joined Lela and Cody on stage with Leon and Vivian taking the name Cody and pretending to be his sons, whilst Edward took up the name Leroy and pretended to be Lela's nephew. Cody's only natural son was Frank. This is very different from the story that both Cody and Vivian told. In their version Cody met Lela when he was transporting horses from America to Britain to be sold to her father (he actually was a horse dealer, who numbered the Royal Stud amongst his clients). Cody's lack of a divorce caused problems for his family, as he died intestate, allowing Maud, after a very lengthy legal battle, to make a successful claim for part of his estate. Frank joined the RFC and was killed in air combat in France 1917 giving his family the dubious honour of having the first recorded instance where both father and son were killed in the air. Vivian worked for the RAE for forty years ending up Head of the Fabric Shop until retirement. Leon worked in a sharp shooting act for a while before joining the Royal Navy working on kite balloons, at the end of the First World War he joined Handley-Page. Edward Leroy carried on working in the theatre for many years. Cody built this aircraft in 1910; the previous aircraft had been in several crashes and was suffering generally from constant usage. The design of this aircraft followed similar lines to the previous one though the wingspan was shorter by aro
Size: 2601px × 1921px
Photo credit: © piemags/archive/military / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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