The Cody Kite

An Oldie But A Goodie

It's just amazing that a kite design as old as the Cody Kite can still be so popular. Over 100 years old now, the double-box design with bat-like wings and horns is still flying proudly all over the world.

From it's man-lifting origins, kite lovers now painstakingly construct and fly many varied examples of this design. Not everyone tries to be authentic in either dimensions, spar material or sail material, so there is great variety!

The Lutz Treczoks design over there on the left is an exceptional example of a modern Cody. Lutz is a specialist in making high-quality Cody kites.

Most Codys are flown purely for the fun of it. On the other hand, sometimes the stable, high-lift Cody kite is used for KAP (Kite Aerial Photography). Another common use for high-lift kites is hauling up 'line laundry', like inflatable figures, windsocks, ribbons and spinners.

Not all retail Codys are big and expensive...

Try this if you're not living in the U.S.

Big, small, plain or fancy color schemes, the design is always recognizable. Of course, the best modern materials are usually used except if someone is trying to construct a perfect replica of the original. Modern Codys with their graphite spars and nylon sails are even more efficient than the originals!

What I personally find surprising is how such a complex kite could have such a following. Sure, some modern retail versions are quite simple to put together, but the more authentic creations are another story! Some people just like a challenge, others have deep respect for Cody himself, particularly in England where most of his work was done.

The Classic Cody Kite

Some of the original kites are still in existence. I know of one Cody kite in particular, a smaller model with side-sails that lean outwards at the top rather than being absolutely parallel like a classic box. Here's a few notes on the materials.

• Sails - very fine cotton cloth which has become very stiff over the years
• Binding tapes - also very fine cotton cloth
• Spars - all longerons and cross stays are bamboo
• Rigging lines and bridle - all these are hemp, 2 millimeters (1/12 inch) in diameter

However, in his bigger kites, the sails were usually silk. Also, more use was made of American hickory for the spars, since this material has greater strength than bamboo. Like the early Hargrave kites, the sails were tensioned up to be drum-tight.

If you're interested in building a Cody for yourself, it's possible to work direct from copies of the original plans. For example, the Drachen Foundation in Germany can supply copies of the original blueprints of Cody's Mark III kite. This kite was designed and constructed for the Ministry of War, England.

If you're not ambitious enough to tackle a real Cody, try contacting Nico van den Berg for a simpler modern version of the Cody box kite. Or just purchase a simple retail Cody and scale it up and substitute your own materials and construction ideas.

Why haven't I quoted contact details for the above sources? These things tend to go out of date over time, so I'll let you do the detective work! Easy to do on the Web these days anyway.

Alternatively, an English guy called Hugh Andrew has really put a lot of effort into reproducing a number of original Cody kite designs. What's more, he has committed to sharing this info around by authoring a whole book on the subject! Available on CD in PDF format, it was last revised in 2006. Just check his website at S F Cody War Kites.

So what did Cody actually do with most of his kites? Fly them in the park to amuse his grand-children? Well, no. He was mainly interested in man-lifting and multiple kite systems. Cody was the inventor of a clever system of sending up a whole train of his kites. That's called kite-stacking these days. At least a couple of copies of Cody's multiple kite system have been constructed for doing rather impressive displays at kite festivals!

Here's a quick description of one of these man-lifting systems...

Highest up is a small pilot kite to steady and guide the line. Following this are a whole series of lifter kites which, you guessed it, provide most of the lifting force. In strong winds you don't need as many, so this aspect of the system can be altered according to the weather. Last of all, closest to the ground, is the carrier kite. Under the carrier kite is suspended a chair or basket for the passenger.

I don't know why the word 'passenger' is often used, since this person is actually in charge of controlling their ascent and descent via a system of lines and brakes. At least that was the case in the original system.

The Modern Cody Kite

As with the originals, modern cody-style designs sometimes have a top-sail as well, for more stability and a little more lifting power. Also like the originals, some keen kite-makers make their own versions that are just as fiddly to set up and break down!

Some people like to stack their Codys up in the air by flying several at a time. Usually all the same design though, unlike the old man-lifting system. Also, as I mentioned earlier, some people use them for Kite Aerial Photography or sending up 'line laundry'.

What about prices? I've seen retail Codys anywhere from under US$25 to around US$500! But this might soon be out of date info. Point is, there's a large price range for this type of kite in the shops.

There are as many different-looking Cody boxes as there are keen Cody kite builders! Just to give you some idea, I've come across a site that features Codys with sails that are...

• polka-dotted
• glowing
• appliqué
• bright pink
• patterned and striped
• like the US flag, with over 200 red, white and blue panels

Cody kites come in all sizes these days.

How's this. You can buy a Cody Kite Plan for US$3. If you carefully follow the instructions it takes about 3 hours. You are then the proud owner of a Cody kite that weighs just one gram and has a 25 cm (10 inch) wingspan! So small, it can be flown indoors at walking speed. For this sort of thing, just search on the Internet for 'miniature kites'.

Now for the other end of the scale. Dan Flintjer has been designing and building Cody kites for years. I've seen a photo of his biggest Cody. It's black, and the little toy soldier standing near one corner turns out to be a real person when you look closer! A massive kite, it stands nearly 7 meters (22 feet) high and has a 10 meter (33 foot) wingspan. More on Dan further down...

Two Notable Cody Kite Specialists

Lutz Treczoks was born in 1958 and has been making kites in Lueneburg, Germany, since 1998. He was a keen flyer before then though. After trying his hand at various kinds of kites, he finally turned to box kites, and then the Cody in particular. His 'Extend Wing Cody War Kite' is claimed by some to be 'absolutely the finest Cody Kite on the commercial market'.

With a reputation for using the finest materials and great workmanship, Lutz's designs developed a big demand. When you're selling that many kites, it's a bit hard to keep up. As a result, most of the production of his kites has been shifted offshore, to Chinese factories in particular. Now people can own an exceptional Cody kite for around half the price of the German originals.

Dan Flintjer has been making kites a lot longer, way back to 1983. He is particularly well known for designing the 'Buffalo Cody Kite'. His focus has always been on box kites as far as I can tell, with the Buffalo kites being particularly successful, selling in the thousands through retail stores.

Part of this success is due to his 'tree repellant' and more recently 'power line repellant' that is coated onto his kites. Secret formulas that will never be revealed. Like they say, there's a ... born every minute ;-) I take my hat off to his marketing genius.

As with all successful kite makers, quality craftsmanship can be seen in all his work. And he's still making kites himself, one at a time apparently! And that includes over 900 Codys. Wow.

These days Dan Flintjer is the Assistant Director of Education at the Niagara Aerospace Museum in Niagara Falls, New York. He spreads his love of kites and shares his building techniques in numerous schools and colleges in the U.S.

For a beautiful collection of photographs of modern Cody Kites, try visiting this webpage. Only the very best on display here, including some modern man-lifting systems based on Cody's original equipment!

History

In fact, Samuel Cody is now referred to by many as the 'Father of British Aviation'.

In September 1993, a small band of enthusiasts formed the Cody Museum Trust to keep alive the memory of Cody the Aviation pioneer. The Trust became the Cody Society at a later date. But we're getting off topic here, back to the kites!

Somewhere around 1898, when Cody was taking his Wild West show around England, he became interested in building kites. He competed with his step-son Leon to make and fly the largest kites possible. They also attempted to fly these kites as high as possible. Finally, in 1901, they patented the winged box kite design we now know as 'the Cody kite'. It's design drew on the Hargrave double box kite and also the American Blue Hill Meteorological kite.

In December of 1901, Cody offered this design to the War Office which at that time was involved in the Second Boer War. To prove its suitability for aerial spotting, he flew it at various locations around London, at heights up to 600 meters (2,000 feet).

A number of other accomplishments followed. He mounted a large exhibition of his kites at Alexandra Place in 1903. Later on, he even managed to cross the English Channel in a canoe, towed by one of his kites. The French kite surfers on the other side were surprised and shocked to see him coming over the horizon. Ok, I added that last bit... History can get a bit dull after a while, just trying to keep you awake. :-)

The British Navy sat up and took notice after this, and even paid him to look into using kites as observation platforms. A few demonstrations followed where he hoisted an observer up into the air under a large kite. In 1908, Cody himself flew off the deck of the battleship HMS Revenge, in another man-lifting demonstration.

Cody's achievements were not the end of his man-lifting kite system. Since then, enthusiastic people have re-created the system, and demonstrated it.

For example, Nick Morse built a replica Cody kite system for a BBC documentary in 1977. It was used successfully for man-lifting at the first two Scheveningen kite festivals in 1977 and 1978.

Another system was later built by Berry Kramers and others. A Dutch man-lifting team has flown it many times, in different locations around the world.

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Last updated: 21 Jun 2010