#OPS3

#OPS3, is a 3rd recording of an occasional step into *Other People's Shoes*. A collection of thoughts and recollections of friends and connections.
In #OPS3, Don Tindall was filmed here with me in 2017. He became fascinated about the life of Colonel Samuel F Cody when he became a playmate of Paul, one of Samuel's grandsons. They hit it off immediately and became inseparable as friends. Paul was four and Don was six.
(Sadly Don passed away on 25th February 2024 at the age of 98. His wife and family and friends will all miss him).
Don wrote the following notes for me:
Paul lived in a large house named 'Vale Croft' just a short distance from Don, at Ash Vale near Frimley.
At the time, Don knew nothing of the Cody family, only that the house was full of the most interesting things that a small boy could wish for at that time.
Aviation trophies, old guns, silver models and photographs of aeroplanes, all belonging to Paul's grandfather Samuel Franklin Cody, who as Don discovered had been a cattle driver in America; a wild west showman; a crack shot, manned kite flyer and aviator extraordinaire!
Paul's father (Vivian Cody) was the youngest of Samuel Cody's children, and was billed as the youngest crack shot in the world in Cody's Wild West Show.
As mentioned in the film, Samuel Cody would hold his son Vivian by the ankles, and would swing him like a pendulum whilst he shot small glass balls that surrounded his mother Lela, with a .22 rifle!
Lela Cody, Samuel's widow (and Paul's grandmother) lived at the Cody home. She was in her mid-eighties when Don first met her. Don recalled that she was a lovely lady, who would give him and Paul sweets out of a 'Bluebird' toffee tin. In particular Don felt it was a privilege to meet the first woman to fly as a passenger in an aeroplane!
Samuel Franklin Cody should not be confused with Buffalo Bill Cody who was an older man that he admired for his wild west shows. So much so that he went on to copy him. Despite their initial confrontation over the circus and wild west shows, later on Buffalo Bill Cody gave Samuel Cody the gift of a nickel plated pistol as a mark of their friendship.
As is documented in this film, Samuel Cody's interest in manned kites were a passing interest to the British military, but later when he started adding engines in his experimental aeroplanes, there was much more enthusiasm. Cody entered flying competitions and actually began to earn some income from this.
Samuel Cody became known affectionately to the public as 'Papa' Cody.
Unfortunately on the 7th August 1913, 'Papa' Cody with his fellow passenger County cricketer WHB Evans, were in mid-flight, when the wings of Cody's latest flying machine folded up, and the two men plummeted to the ground where they died instantly on Laffan's Plain in Farnborough.
The country went into mourning for 'Papa' Cody who had displayed so much courage. Because of his work with the military establishment, he was the first civilian to be granted the honour of being laid to rest in the Military Cemetery at Thorn Hill in Aldershot.
On an excessively hot afternoon, an estimated 50,000 + people gathered to see his funeral procession pass the two and a half miles from Ash Vale to Thorn Hill. His coffin was draped in a Union Jack and carried on a gun carriage with teams of horses, accompanied by pipers from the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch, together with Naval and Military wings of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Engineers.
A fascinating tribute from Don to a truly extraordinary man.
Further and more detailed information about the life of Samuel Franklin Cody can be found on Wikipedia at the following link: en.wikipedia.o.... Like most things of an historical nature, there are conflicting reports from different observers, on certain elements of Samuel Cody's life. His place and date of birth; his early years (fact or fiction); his family and relationships and so on. At the end of the day, these shouldn't detract from the achievements in his life that are well documented.
This interview was filmed and edited by Brian Seaman in May 2017.