Obviously Moulton had got his information from somewhere, but where? George and I decided that this was a task for the terrier-line digging of our friend Ernest Barton who, living in London, might have better access to the library of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He encountered a number of difficulties, not least in finding the librarian, but at last he was able to email me as follows:

“George asked me to look up the SHR SALMON 18 Wing Kite. The only available photographs on the WEB are of the Royal Aeronautical Society meeting in 1903. A photograph of a Baden Powell Levitor in the distance, one of the big 6 wing Brogden  - showing quite clearly it did NOT have a ski nose type curve in the front of the spine but only a slight up incline - and one of Mr SHR Salmon assembling a four cell Rhomboidal box which is similar to the picture in the PBOK but I think taken a few moments later as here the kite is fully assembled. He appears to be putting his jacket back or at least pulling the sleeve through. He has the cocky pugilistic look and rackish bowler hat of a retired Warrent Officer - ex Indian Army - if one may be permitted the Holmesian deduction, definitely not quite a Gentleman. The man next to him may be Charles Brogden, though he is wearing leggings, possibly a sensible precaution given all that projecting wood and steel wire on his 17 foot kite.
“All the photographs are of appalling quality, looking like they were developed and fixed in a dark bag in a public lavatory - and blurred as well by too long an exposure, no excuse for that in 1903, unless the light was really bad.
I then looked up the Royal Aeronautical Society Site and scored a hit immediately - THEY HAVE ONE LANTERN SLIDE of the 18 wing kite " front view in air".
“Unfortunately the Librarian, Brian Riddle, is on holiday until Wednesday so I cannot phone until then. [...] Odd that they only have ONE Librarian for such an Olympian Organisation. It was founded 1866 - as the Aeronautical Society on Blackheath oddly enough half a mile from this house and the first Wind Tunnel ever constructed was made by John Penn Jnr. of John Penn and Sons for John Wenham the Pioneer of aerodynamics in 1871. It was a small world then. I used to work in a school near Blackheath where the associated Nun's Convent was a big house called the "Cedars" and had been owned by John Penn.
“As the RAS is now housed at 4 Hamilton Place London W1J 7BQ. I can go there and pick up a copy of the slide if they will do one. I could also copy it myself of course but I doubt they would let me. [...] Given the fact that the slide is probably a 3 1/4" Square - which was the standard size then, the actual image probably won't be that good. I also suspect it will be this very photograph which Pat Lloyd used to draw his picture for Ron Moulton's Kite Book.
“I can find nothing written by SHR Salmon except a note of 2 observations of Meteor showers over South Croydon in 1897. By 1909 he is described as have been operating a meteorological kite station on the downs at Brighton as an associate of WH Dines but seems not to have written any independent reports. It might help to know at least one of his Christian names as SHR is a common acronym for various things and clogs up the search. So does his surname - endless crap about fishing and recipies for Gravadlax.
“There is probably no way to know if the nine double wings used dihedrals like a rolloplan or steel wire bracing and spar locator pins like the Brogden. They are probably made from bamboo but would I think be preformed to a curve not an easy thing to do 18 times.” 

(continued)