Horatio Frederick Phillips (born 1845 in Streatham

Streatham

Streatham is a district in Surrey, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...

 - 1924) was an early aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

 pioneer from the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. He was famous for building multiplane

Multiplane (aeronautics)

In aviation, a multiplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration featuring multiple wing planes. The wing planes may be stacked one above another, or one behind another, or both in combination....

flying machines with many more sets of lifting surfaces than would be normal on modern aircraft. However he made a more lasting contribution to aeronautics

Aeronautics

Aeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft and rocketry within the atmosphere...

 in his work on aerofoil design.

Aerofoils

Phillips devised a wind tunnel in which he studied a wide variety of aerofoil shapes for use in providing lift. The tunnel was unusual in that the gas flow was provided by steam rather than air.

By 1884 he was able to register his first patent, and more were to follow. He demonstrated the truth of George Cayley

George Cayley

Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet was a prolific English engineer and one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him the first true scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight...

's idea that giving the upper surface greater curvature than the lower accelerates the upper airflow, reducing pressure above the wing and so creating lift.

Multiplane flying machines

Phillips believed that multiple stacked wing planes (or "sustainers" as he called them), in "Venetian blind" configuration, offered advantages.

• His 1893 Flying Machine had 50 lifting surfaces and used his patented "double-surface airfoils" in such a way as to produce an aspect ratio
  Aspect ratio (wing)
  In aerodynamics, the aspect ratio of a wing is essentially the ratio of its length to its breadth . A high aspect ratio indicates long, narrow wings, whereas a low aspect ratio indicates short, stubby wings....
  
   of 1:152, providing great lift at the sacrifice of stability. As a test vehicle, it was not designed to be manned, but was used to test lifting capability. Its maximum load was found to be 400 lb.
• His 1904 Multiplane was a developement of the 1893 test vehicle in a configuration that could be flown by a person. It had 21 wings and had a tail
  Tail
  The tail is the section at the rear end of an animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, reptiles, and birds...
  
   for stability, but was unable to achieve sustained flight. Its best performance was 50 ft. A specially made replica of the 1904 machine appears in the opening sequences of the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines
  Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
  Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes is a 1965 British comedy film starring Stuart Whitman and directed and co-written by Ken Annakin...
  
  .
• His 1907 Multiplane, which had 200 individual airfoils and was powred by a 22 hp engine driving a 7 ft propeller achieved the first successful powered flight in Britain, though he did not claim it as a flight as such. It flew 500 ft on 6 April 1907.

Though successful, the 1907 model showed poor performance compared to more conventional contemporary types. This caused Phillips to end his attempts at manned flight.