British 1912 Military Aircraft Competition

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From wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_British_Military_Aeroplane_Competition
The text for this says a crash by one of the monoplanes

'resulted in a ban being imposed on monoplane use by the RFC, which had a long-term effect on the course of British aircraft design.'

Is there any truth to this?


Why was the competition even held as Avro 500's and RAF BE.1's had already been ordered and the 'winning' aircraft, the Cody Biplane, was out performed by several of the other competitors.
 
PMN1 said:
From wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_British_Military_Aeroplane_Competition
The text for this says a crash by one of the monoplanes

'resulted in a ban being imposed on monoplane use by the RFC, which had a long-term effect on the course of British aircraft design.'

Is there any truth to this?


Why was the competition even held as Avro 500's and RAF BE.1's had already been ordered and the 'winning' aircraft, the Cody Biplane, was out performed by several of the other competitors.
Click to expand...
This online article (see link below) would seem to answer your first question in some detail...

To answer your second question, the Cody biplane did meet all the requirements and put in a better performance on the day of the trial - That it had little scope for development was its main downfall. The "prize" seemed to be given for the best performance in the trial itself and was not a sign that the Cody biplane had been picked for production. The RFC ordered two examples of the Cody Biplane but also purchased a Bristol BE2 biplane and 5 monoplanes that had taken part in the trial (2 Bristol Coanda, 2 Deperdussins and a Bleriot). - Its a bit like "X factor" - The contestant(s) that win the main prize often do not go on to have the best or longest career, but the contest organisers also get to manage the runner-up acts, so they get an advantage either way.

https://www.dingeraviation.net/articles/monoplanemyth.htm
 

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