Ernest Archer might have had difficulty enticing people to join him in his home-made aircraft.

The fuselage and wings were made of bamboo and covered with cotton cloth.

It was powered by a motorcycle engine, it taxied on motorcycle wheels and the springs were made of catapult elastic.

But it flew - and it earned the son of an Oxford Inland Revenue officer a place in aviation history.

Ernest was the son of Alfred George Archer and was educated at the old Oxford Wesleyan Day School in New Inn Hall Street.

He left to join a paper manufacturing firm run by his relatives in Dartford, Kent.

Later, he was sent to Holland to manage a Dutch paper pulp factory near Utrecht and settled in the country.

He was a capable engineer and was interested in everything mechanical.

When he saw his first motor car while on honeymoon in Paris, he left his bride on the pavement while he ran after the vehicle to examine it.

His fascination with the internal combustion engine led to an interest in aeroplanes and he obtained his pilot's licence in France on August 9, 1910.

He returned to Holland and set about building his own plane. When it was completed, people came long distances to see it flying.

Mr Archer's achievements in the air received no recognition in his native Britain, but are recorded in Dutch aviation history.