BAC Drone

The British Aircraft Co was founded in 1928 to build a series of gliders, but in 1932 its designer and managing director, C. H. Lowe Wylde, fitted a 600cc Douglas motorcycle engine to the BAC VII tandem two-seater to produce the Planette. Two more were built, but during demonstration flights on 13 May 1933, Lowe Wylde was killed. After BAC was acquired by Austrian sailplane pilot Robert Kronfeld, he renamed it Kronfeld Ltd in 1936. Moving into larger premises at Hanworth, Kronfeld then produced 33 modified Planette aircraft with a 23hp Douglas Sprite engine, known as the Drone, before closing down in 1937.