Collections Online

Robin Gôch monoplane. Built by Charles Horace Watkins c.1909-1912 at a cost of £300 in Maindy, North Road. Watkins reputedly started to design and build the three cylinder 40hp engine in 1907. The propeller is date-stamped 1908 but was apparently abandoned early on due to poor performance, but the two that replaced this one have not survived. Horace Watkins said he had flown the monoplane on several occasions in and around Cardiff but after the port cylinder-head fractured in 1916 it certainly did not fly again.

The fuselage is an open structure, cross-braced with piano wire with the cockpit partially enclosed. The pilot's seat came from a kitchen chair. Apart from moving the tailplane to the top of the fuselage the rudder and tailplane are unaltered from the original structure. The undercarriage was originally made in oak but immediately replaced by a tubular steel structure. Propeller is date-stamped 1908. Within the cockpit there is a level for longitudinal reading and a ball-in-cage for lateral indication, a clock and three-minute egg timer for speed and navigation calculations, and a voltmeter. For night-time flying the instruments were illuminated by lights.

Deiladwyd yr awyren hon gan Charles Horace Watkins c.1909-12 am gost o £300 ym Maendy, North Road. Mae'n debyg y dechreuodd y gwaith ar adeiladu injan tri silindr, 40 hp ym 1907. Mae stamp dyddiad 1908 ar y llafnau gwthio ond ni ddefnyddiwyd hwn mewn ehediad - defnyddiwyd dau lafn gwthio gwahanol, nad sydd wedi goroesi. Soniodd Horace Watkins iddo hedfan yr awyren o amgylch Caerdydd ar sawl achlysur ond ar Ùl niweidio pen silindr y porth am 1916 mae'n anhebygol y hedfanwyd hi wedyn. Mae corff yr awyren yn agored, wedi'i dynhau gyda weiren biano, gyda chaban peilot wedi' gau yn rhannol. Mae sedd y peilot wedi'i greu o sedd gegin bren. Gwnaethpwyd rhan o gorff yr awyren o bren derw, ond newidwyd hwn am ddarn o ddur. O fewn y caban peilot ceir 'lefel' ar gyfer gwneud darlleniadau lledred, cloc ac amserwr wy tri munud ar gyfer mesur pellter a chyflymder, a voltmeter. Mae rhai goleuadau yn y caban peilot ar gyfer hedfan gyda'r nos.