Samuel Franklin Cody Samuel Franklin Cody Samuel Franklin Cowdery (later known as Samuel Franklin Cody; 6 March 1867 – 7 August 1913, born Davenport, Iowa, USA) was a Wild West showman and early pioneer of manned flight. He is most famous for his work on the large kites known as "Cody War-Kites", that were used by the British in World War I as a smaller alternative to balloons for artillery spotting. He was also the first man to fly an aeroplane in Britain, on 16 October 1908. A flamboyant showman, he was often confused with Buffalo Bill Cody, whose surname he took when
Cody V biplane with the War Office having the option to purchase any of the prize winning machines. The American showman and aviation pioneer Samuel Cody, who had developed a system of man-carrying kites from 1901, built his first aircraft, the British Army Aeroplane No 1 at the Army Balloon Factory at Farnborough in 1908, making its first flight, recognised as the first powered controlled flight in the United Kingdom on 16 October 1908. He intended to enter two aircraft into the Military Trials, which were planned to start on 1 August 1912, a monoplane powered by a 120-hp (89 kW) Austro-Daimler engine