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Watkins monoplane Robin Gôch

Watkins, Charles Horace (Ganed Ionawr 1887, mab argraffwr o Gaerdydd / Born in January 1887, the son of an eminent Cardiff printer.)

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 The undercarriage was originally made in oak but immediately replaced by a tubular steel structure.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.

Watkins monoplane Robin Gôch
Image: © Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales
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Collection Area

Industry

Item Number

1996.118

Creation/Production

Watkins, Charles Horace
Date: 1909-1912 (circa)

Acquisition

Donation, 20/6/1996

Measurements

Length (mm): 6554
Width (mm): 9754
Height (mm): 2439
Weight (kg): 250.84

Material

metal
wood
textile
rubber
paint
asbestos, white - Chrysotile

Location

National Waterfront Museum : Large Object Area Networks

Collections Online is updated regularly, but please confirm that an object remains on display before making a special visit.

Categories

air transport South Glamorgan

Classification

transportation air transportation
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Related Items

View of the Robin Goch at St. Athan, 1975.
Industry

Watkins monoplane Robin Gôch, photograph

unknown
2001.173/42
More information
View of the Robin Goch on display at R.A.F. St. Athan. Dated 19 Jan. 1984. Neg No. '015/5'.
Industry

Watkins monoplane Robin Gôch, photograph

unknown
2001.142/151
More information
Photograph of Watkins monoplane in the main hall of the National Museum of Wales during the exhibition 'Wings for Victory', 1943. Inscription on reverse.
Industry

Watkins monoplane Robin Gôch, photograph

unknown
2000.127/5
More information
View of the Robin Gôch at St. Athan, 1975.
Industry

Watkins monoplane Robin Gôch, photograph

unknown
2001.173/43
More information

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