Granville Bradshaw – a flawed genius?
Born in 1886, Granville Bradshaw was a British pioneer of aviation, motorcycling and motorcars. He first flew in 1910 in an aeroplane he built, powered by an engine of his own design which led in 1912 to the formation of ABC Ltd with Walter Adams, a fellow pioneering motorcyclist and engine designer (the book has his brief biography).
Being based at Brooklands, Bradshaw soon became involved in motor-racing and flat-twin motorcycles and in 1913 developed a flat-twin auxiliary engine which proved useful as a light aero-engine. In 1917 he developed a 6-cyl radial aero-engine from which evolved a 7-cyl Wasp and an extremely powerful 9-cyl Dragonfly.
So impressed were the Government officials by the hand-made prototype Dragonfly’s performance, and so desperate were they to win the war, that they ordered its immediate production in late-spring 1918 by 13 disparate engineering companies (few of whom had ever built an engine!), foregoing the normal pre-production testing. Such extreme government foolhardiness proved disastrous (yet Bradshaw was wrongly blamed). The Dragonfly’s problems were however solved after the war but this promising engine was made redundant by new designs which had been allowed their proper, peace-time, pre-production development. Bradshaw left ABC in 1920 but his flat-twin aero-engine design remained in production into the 1970s.
After the war Granville became a consultant engineer developing and patenting a host of inventions from amusement machines to vandal proof screws (and after the war, colour-TV), but is best remembered for his flat-twin ABC motorcycle of 1919; ABC Skootamota; ABC Cyclecar, his revolutionary oil-cooled engines, Belsize-Bradshaw oil-cooled car, the Panther ohv engine, V-twin Panthette, and in-line twin. He long proposed many advanced, but contentious ideas – far too advanced for his audience and contemporary technologies – hence “a flawed genius?” in the title – the chief of which came during the war for a novel incredibly compact, reciprocating piston toroidal rotary engine – a project which dominated his life until his death in 1969.
“Granville Bradshaw – a flawed genius?”
“A coherent, recognisable picture of his character”. Millicent Bradshaw
“Well researched; detailed; also a study in social history”. “Interbike.com”
“Intricate detail; its not difficult to get totally absorbed in this book”. “Old Bike Mart”
“Full of insight and careful research. Highly recommended”. “Real Classics”
“Thoughtful comprehensive insight to a fascinating character”. Brough Owners Club
“Enables us to understand how clever a man he was”. Mike Worthington-Williams
Panther Publishing Ltd. 300pp, 200+ b&w illust (c)2008, 2nd ed: 2012
