SIMMS gliders (Herbert Rutter Simms, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire)

   In 1908-1909 Simms constructed a high wing monoplane described as a 'Bedstead type', presumably for being mounted on four wheels. The rear wheels were arranged to drive a tractor propeller, the intention being to roll down a slope and to gain assistance from the rotating propeller. The machine was made of bamboo and the heavily cambered wing and tail were covered with linen.
   In 1910 Simms made a biplane cycleplane, with staggered wings and triangular front elevator flaps and a high mounted tail. Outriggers, fitted with wheels, were fitted to stabilize the machine, but it was wrecked on the first trial when, apparently, it was beginning to lift. Simms became an apprentice with A. V. Roe at Manchester in June 1910, and learnt to fly at Shoreham, where he tested and instructed on Avro aircraft. In 1913 he moved to Sopwiths and then went to Greece in connection with the establishing of a Naval Air Service. On his return in 1914 he was commissioned in the RNAS, but drowned after being shot down on operations in May 1916.