Thank you, Phil, for posting that image of the Taylor C.103 Wagtail. It's one I have not seen before - and there are very few of them! Can you tell me the source of it, please?
Perhaps even more interesting is the information you give concerning the location and fate of the Wagtail. Previous sources have been no more specific than "a garage car-park in Birmingham in 1951" (A.W.G.Ord-Hume) and "a Birmingham car park in 1951" (Wrecks & Relics 1961). None have mentioned that it found a buyer or the price paid for it. Do you have any more information regarding its fate? Please feel free to send me a PM.
For those who may be interested to know a little more about the Taylor C.103 Wagtail, it was built by Fred Taylor at his home in Erdington in 1937. Taylor was a bricklayer and builder and a keen aircraft model maker. His first 1:1 scale model was a single seat glider which he built in 1934. Into this he later installed a 350cc motor cycle engine and it became the Taylor A.101 Bedstead! In 1937 the Bedstead too was modified and a more powerful 1000cc JAP engine was installed, becoming the Taylor B.102.
The Taylor C.103 Wagtail first flew in 1938 at Dunton Hall Farm near Sutton Coldfield. Apparently it cost the princely sum of £15 to build! Initially it was powered by the Douglas engine that had been in the Bedstead. However Taylor acquired a Scott Flying Squirrel engine, from Don Burgoyne of Knowle, and installed that. This engine was unsuccessful and the Douglas was put back. Under its power the Wagtail flew, unregistered and unlicensed, until September 1939.
The Wagtail and Taylor's other aeroplanes were stored, dismantled, in a barn at Dunton Hall Farm for the duration. But in 1947 the Wagtail was re-assembled, a Bristol Cherub engine replacing the Douglas, and flew initially from Castle Bromwich and later from a field at Lea Marston until 1950. There Taylor built another aeroplane, a powered ground trainer that used the Douglas engine, the Taylor D.104.
The foregoing information comes largely from Arthur Ord-Hume's marvelous book 'British Light Aeroplanes - their Evolution, Development & Perfection 1920-40' and for the finale I can do little better than quote from that:
"In 1950, Fred Taylor decided to emigrate to Australia and disposed of everything. The Wagtail was exchanged for a second-hand motor car and was last seen derelict in a garage car-park in Birmingham in 1951. This was the final recorded sighting. The designer emigrated to Mount Gambier, South Australia where he allegedly built a second Wagtail and where he died aged 78 on 1st November 1984."
Regards
AA
p.s. I should also have mentioned that whilst I don't think that Len Bracey was involved in the construction of the Wagtail, in about 1947 he built a powered glider, reminiscent of the BAC Drone, which shared the Douglas engine and also flew from Dunton Hall Farm.