Francis McClean

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Francis Kennedy McClean AFC (1876–1955) was an Irish civil engineer and pioneer aviator. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Aero Club and one of the founders of naval aviation and amateur flying.

Early life
McClean was born on 1 February 1876, the son of Dr. Frank McClean, and was educated at Charterhouse and the Royal Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill. He worked as a civil engineer in the Indian Public Works Department from 1898 to 1902 but left to concentrate on aviation.

Interest in astronomy
Influenced by his father, McClean was an enthusiastic amateur astronomer, especially interested in solar eclipses. He was a volunteer assistant on the August 30, 1905 solar eclipse expedition to Palma, Majorca. McClean organized 2 astronomical expeditions: one to Flint Island for the January 3, 1908 solar eclipse and the other to Port Davey for the May 9, 1910 solar eclipse; however, bad weather thwarted observations in both expeditions. He also accompanied the expedition organized by Sir Norman Lockyer to Vava'u for the April 28, 1911 solar eclipse. McClean made generous gifts to the Lockyer Observatory.

Aviator
His first flying experience was in 1907 in a balloon race in Berlin and in December 1908 he flew with Wilbur Wright at Le Mans. At the start of 1909 he began a co-operation with the Short Brothers to develop heavier-than-air aviation in Britain. McLean owned the ground on which the aerodromes at Leysdown and then Eastchurch were built. He was awarded a Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificate Number 21 after flying a Short S.27 biplane at Eastchurch on 20 September 1910. Between 1909 and 1914 he owned sixteen different aircraft, all but one built by Short Brothers.

In February 1911 he offered to let both the Admiralty and War Office use the aircraft and airfield at Eastchurch to teach naval and military personnel to fly heavier-than-air machines. Although the War Office declined the Admiralty accepted and started to train the first naval aviators.

McClean also was a pioneer in aerial photography: with the help of Hugh Spottiswoode he took some acclaimed photographs of the wreck of the SS Oceana just off the coast at Eastbourne. In August 1912 he flew a seaplane between the upper and lower parts of Tower Bridge and underneath London Bridge.

In 1914 he made a flight following the course of the Nile between Alexandria and Khartoum in a specially built four-seater aircraft, the Short S.80 The Nile. Beset by mechanical problems, the flight took from 2 January until 22 March. On the outbreak of the First World War in August he joined the Royal Naval Air Service and carried out patrols in the English Channel before becoming chief instructor at Eastchurch. He transferred to the Royal Air Force when it was formed in 1918 but he resigned in 1919. McLean was a founder member of the Aero Club of Great Britain (later the Royal Aero Club) and was chairman in 1923-24 and again from 1941 to 1944.

He was appointed High Sheriff of Oxfordshire for 1932.

Family and later life
McClean married Aileen Wale in 1918 and they had two daughters. Their elder daughter, Frances, married Sir Arthur Eliott of Stobs, 11th Baronet. Their younger daughter, Iona, married Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington. In 1932 McClean was appointed High Sheriff of Oxfordshire. He died on 11 August 1955 in London after a long illness. His name is listed on a memorial on the Isle of Sheppey commemorating thirteen pioneer aviators. The family of Sir Francis McClean donated his papers to the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

Honours and awards

 * 3 July 1926 - In the King's Birthday Honours Lieutenant Colonel Francis Kennedy McClean is conferred the honour of a knighthood for services to aviation.
 * 1932 – Appointed High Sheriff of Oxfordshire