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 Cody patented a two-celled box kite (1901) following a similar design by Lawrence Hargrave, the main difference being that Cody added wings for lift. This was the basic Cody 'bat' kite, of which there are many variations, considered to be one of the most beautiful kites ever designed. Cody's original aim was to provide a man-lifting system for observation purposes during the Boer War in South Africa, an idea later taken up by the British military.
His kite design was demonstrated to the British Admiralty in 1903 as a way to use kits as military observation posts. Although his contraption did not resemble an airplane, like Santos-Dumont's it could reach heights of over 3,000 feet. The Army was so impressed with Cody's model that in 1906 they appointed him as chief instructor in kiting at the Balloon School in Aldershot.
He began building military airships in 1907, the first of which was Nulli Secundus , designed by Cody and Col J E Capper RE. Cody continued to experiment with aircraft until 1913, when he was killed in a crash over Laffan's Plain.
From http://www.heureka.clara.net/surrey-hants/cody.htm
Facts from all of these articles were taken from http://firstflight.open.ac.uk/index.html
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