Frederick William Lanchester "Aerial torpedoes "1897.

[klem]

In a Patent № GB189703608A filed under № 3608 on February 10, 1897 by engineer Frederick William Lanchester and completed on December 10, 1897. Accepted on February 10, 1898. Entitled "Improvements in and relating to Aerial Machines". The specifications concern two objects of study, an aerial torpedo and a plane as mentioned in the patent "Aerial torpedo or air borne projectile".The figures 1, 2 , 3 and 5 represent the plan of an aerial torpedo . During launch, the machine is arranged to operate on taut wires or ropes, the machine sees its initial speed transmitted to it by any appropriate mechanism such as a cable operated by a winding motor or a catapult. The design presented here is clearly the first proposal for a powered flying bomb and a glider bomb. Another option is for the wings to be truncated and fitted with vertical supports.Many researchers who have studied Lanchester's work concluded that Lanchester's creative brilliance as an engineer was not well understood, because he was too advanced and avant-garde for his time.

 

[Nik]

OT: Is this the same guy who crafted those big inter-war 'Armoured Cars' ?
In truth, armoured trucks. When the four-wheelers proved insufficiently off-roadable, back axle was doubled and such six-wheelers were allocated to 'Cavalry' regiments to keep watch on eg Nile and Suez Canal. Given their speed and manoeuvrability, were probably a match for Panzer I+II...

 

[Apophenia]

OT: Is this the same guy who crafted those big inter-war 'Armoured Cars' ?
In truth, armoured trucks. When the four-wheelers proved insufficiently off-roadable, back axle was doubled and such six-wheelers were allocated to 'Cavalry' regiments to keep watch on eg Nile and Suez Canal. Given their speed and manoeuvrability, were probably a match for Panzer I+II...

Yes, the 1915 Lanchester armoured car was built on the chassis of the Lanchester Sporting Forty automobile designed by brothers George and Fred Lanchester. Fred had created the first British-built 4-wheeled car back in Dec 1895. That led to the 1899 formation of a family firm - Lanchester Engine Company, which was reformed as the Lanchester Motor Company in 1904. By then, Fred had withdrawn from management and was acting as a consultant.

In 1909, Fred also became a consultant to BSA. In 1931, the Lanchester Motor Company would be bought by BSA which folded it into their Daimler subsidiary. In 1936, Fred became Chief Engineer of the Warfare Department of Alvis Ltd. There, he continued his work on armoured vehicle design. He also helped create a wartime MP 28-based submachine gun which would be named Lanchester after him.

-- https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/5afdf329-c760-3f71-8e82-407043e1cf66

BTW, those vehicles patrolling alongside the Suez Canal during WW2 were Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars - very similar in appearance to the Lanchesters (which had been retired back in 1918) but based on a completely different chassis.