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Copy of Breguet’s Pre-1914 Aircraft Challenge™ amended by         



Breguet’s Pre-1914 Aircraft Challenge™ related forum discussions and further details concerning these aerial machines can be found at http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/pioneer-aviation/.  & History of Airplanes Photos and summaries of historical aircraft  &   wright-brothers.org  &  podniebni.zafriko.pl    Challenge enumeration and submitted images of aircraft   1914-1918      JANE'S ALL THE WORLD'S AIRCRAFT 1913*****  

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301

Ottino and Wyllie Direct Lift Device of 1910.
“Aerostatic and Heavier-than-air Aeronautical machine” designed by engineer Giuseppe Pietro Ottino and George Algernon Wyllie. Although the two men patented their invention (filed in 1909) as No.6378 A.D. 1909, it is very likely Ottino invented and designed the machine while Wyllie, an English gentleman, furnished the funds for its construction. An extraordinary model based on a rotary plane system, it was displayed at the Olympia Aero Show in London during March 1910.



302
Murrell Ornithopter.
An ornithopter, circa 1910, that was built by Melville M. Murrell of Morrinsville, Tennessee. He’d previously patented a human-powered ornithopter in 1877, then was bitten by the aviation bug again when powered flying machines were being developed. For reasons of his own, 35 years after applying for his flying-machine patent, Murrell pulled his old drawings out, made some alterations, and built a new flyer. Though Murrell’s new model bore some resemblance to his original ornithopter, he’d apparently been doing some reading. This time, he gave his plane a fixed wing; his louvered flapping wings were still a part of the design, but now supplied forward thrust. Murrell rigged the machine to a cable along a hillside and harnessed it to a mule to launch it into the air. The cable having some sort of a trip such that, when the plane had gotten to a certain speed, it was hurled into the air.






303

Hydrogen Balloon “L’Intrépide”.
Replica of a French military observation balloon captured by the Austrians in 1796. The actual preserved envelope is the sole survivor of the world’s first military air fleet - and possibly the world’s oldest surviving aircraft. “L’Intrépide” was the larger of two observation balloons, the other being “Hercule”, issued to the Aerostatic Corps in June 1795. These balloons were used by the Corps’ first company attached to General Jourdan’s Army of Sambre-et-Meuse in 1796. When that army was defeated by Austrian forces at the Battle of Würzburg on September 3, 1796, the balloon was captured and brought to Vienna, where it is now on display under glass at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum.






304

Phillips Flying Machine of 1893.
Second version of Horatio Phillips’ 1893 steam powered test-rig study model on its wooden 200 foot diameter circular test-track at Harrow, England, where, tied to a cable fixed on a central mast, its first test was made on June 19th. Reaching a speed of 64 km/h with a total weight of 174 Kg, it rose to a height of 90 cm and covered a distance of 600 meters. Phillips also built multiplane machines in 1904, 1907 and 1911; his elaborate multiwing approach - 40 double-surface airfoils grace this early example - is often referred to as the “Venetian Blind”. The photo shows the machine’s puzzling thin profile with one of Horatio Phillips’ sons helpfully providing scale.








305

Howard Wright Biplane “Manurewa No 1”.
Walsh Brother’s “Manurewa No 1”, a New Zealand-built example of the Howard Wright Biplane, made the first undisputed powered flight in New Zealand - flown by Vivian Walsh on Sunday, February 5, 1911, from a grass field at Glenora Park, a total distance of 400 yards at a maximum height of 60 feet (flight data figures differ somewhat depending on the source).







306

Tatarinov “Aeromobile” of 1909.
Tatarinov started building his “Aeromobile” at Petrograd with a grant provided by the Russian Ministry of War. The project was never completed, since Sukhomlinov, Russian Minister of War at the time, thought the work was progressing too slowly and consequently, the continuation of funding was denied. In despair, Tatarinov set fire to his rotorcraft and the hangar which housed it. The “Aeromobile” had four rotors, each turning at the end of an X-form of beams. Beneath it the chassis contained an EDTT 25 hp water-cooled engine which was to drive the rotors as well as a five-bladed “centrifugal propeller”. The pilot’s seat and controls were placed behind the engine. The total weight of the machine was 1300 kg.





307
Sorenson Glider of 1909.
Hot-air balloon-launched glider built and flown by U. Sorenson of Berwyn, Nebraska, specially constructed with warping wings for balance. Its first and only flight was less than successful as the left wing broke and the machine came spinning down at 100 rpm. Sorenson was lucky not to have been killed. 






308

Dodge Model Aeroplane-Helicopter.
This steam-powered model aeroplane-helicopter was created by the American artist William de Leftwich Dodge, and can be dated to 1900-1901. Although it looks too improbable to fly, according to one source, it succeeded in flying twenty-five feet. The model itself still survives, part of the Paul E. Garber Collection at the Smithsonian Institute. Today this type of machine is classified as a “convertiplane” (propeller on top for vertical movement and propeller in front for horizontal movement).














309

Tyler Balloon of 1784.
Barrel-shaped balloon constructed by James “Balloon” Tyler of Edinburgh, Scotland.






310
Irvine Aerocycloid of 1908/1909.
The photograph shows a quarter-size model which was able to lift the weight of ninety pounds. The San Francisco based John C. Irvine (president of the Pacific Aero Club) had worked three years on the machine, which was driven by a 3 hp electrical engine, that could lift 30 pounds for each hp. Records do not show that the full-sized model was ever built, probably due to problems with financing of the project. The specialty of the machine was of course the two upright wheel construction, driven by cables, which carried four “propellers” which pivoted between the wheel and furnished the lifting power. With the propellers in the proper position the force would be upright, lifting the machine vertically. Pivoting the propellers at an angle would obtain a forward motion.









311

DFG Hintner Eindecker of 1910.
Monoplane drawn up by the Cornelius Hintner - a successful Austrian artist who later became famous as a film director - realized by the German firm of Deutsche-Flugmaschinenbau-GmbH. It is likely that DFG also brought in engineering expertise as Hintner was probably ignorant of technical design matters. At the time, the constructor at DFG was W. Schultze-Herfort who designed several monoplanes which were known under his own name. The Hintner Eindecker was special in that the elevator was mounted in front of the tractor propeller. Power was supplied by a 25 hp Anzani 3-cylinder radial driving a Chauvière propeller. The wing area was about 30 m², where total weight (inclusive the pilot) was 280 kg. During the first test flight the machine flew for 500 meters at a height of 25 meters, most likely only in a straight line. The machine lifted after a run of only 25 to 30 meters. When Hintner flew his eindecker he had no licence and almost certainly no flying experience whatsoever. He later received German flying licence No.110 on September 9, 1911 flying an Albatros biplane at Berlin. [*]










312

Cervi Volanti of 1912.
Man-carrying train box-kite in triangular cell arrangement built by Francesco Giordani and Teodoro La Cava and reported to have been intended for people who could not afford an aeroplane but wanted the experience of flight.










313

Papin & Rouilly Gyroptère.
Gyroptère Modele B “Chrysalide” designed by A. Papin and D. Rouilly, patented in 1911, built in 1913-14 and tested on March 31, 1915 at Lake Cercey in eastern France. Undeniably one of the strangest flying machines ever to have left the drawing board, the main feature of this elegantly engineered helicopter, rather gyrocopter, is that it was powered by a single blade - seen right - balanced by a counterweight that can be seen on the left. Powered by a 80 hp rated Le Rhône 9C that was placed at the center where the pilot sat in a nacelle.








314

du Temple Monoplane of 1874.
Impression of the machine as it might have been realized by Félix du Temple de la Croix (1823-1890), variously reported as steam powered or powered by a hot-air engine; fitted with a propeller of 12 blades or 6 blades or even 8 blades; and the undercarriage sometimes claimed as “retracting”. A flight of the full-scale machine was attempted in 1874 in Brest, where it was launched from a ramp. Flight was not attained as the machine swiftly hit the ground and rolled over. Reports on who was in the pilot’s seat is given that du Temple at the controls - or, in other reports - a “young sailor” was the pilot. Félix du Temple had been the first to build a heavier-than-air model (weight 700 g), which flew and landed safely in 1857.




















315
Herdler Hochdecker of 1911.
High-wing eindecker designed by Carl Herdler, the machine had an “Absturzsicherung auf dem Flügel (ein sammengefalteter Luftsack) der bei Gefahr gespreizt werden konnte” - a security device, where the idea was to blow up the bag with air, to remain longer in the air whereas to lessen the force of impact in the event of a crash on the ground. The “air bag” may have also been somewhat based on the parachute. The machine made short flights, rather hops, in 1911.







316

Meichelböck Eindecker of 1913.
Built by Franz Meichelböck and a friend in Ober Sankt Veit, a district of Vienna.



317
Antonov Helicoplane.
Built by the Russian military engineer K. A. Antonov [К. А. Антонов], in development at St. Petersburg from 1907-1911. The essence of the machine was that it rose vertically by the use of the counter-rotating rotors and after gaining enough height it was flown horizontally by the propeller. It was a concept more often seen, for instance in France by Élie-Joseph-Marie-Raymond Decazes. The whole system was driven by one 25 hp engine, so a complex system of cogwheels and rods was probably necessary to work the rotors and propeller. As the Helicoplane - according to reports - did not fly, it may be presumed that it was too heavy. Antonov filed a patent in 1907 describing in detail his machine that was later built. As he was a military engineer it can be assumed that there was some form of financial backing or other help received from the Russian government. Antonov was otherwise prominent in Russian aviation as he participated in the design and building of the 6,900 m³ dirigible “Krechet” in 1910.













318

Hélicoptère Maurice Léger of 1907.
Large, early vertical-lift design utilizing two broad-bladed rotors.








319

Stebbins-Geynet Tri-Bi-plane.
Triplane built by the Stebbins-Geynet Aeroplane Company of Norwich, Connecticut, possibly the model A of 1909. As a tri-bi-plane it had a detachable middle wing, which once removed converted the machine from a triplane into a biplane.






320

Tissandier aérostat électrique of 1881.
The contemporary engraving shows the Tissandier electric dirigible scale model – similar in appearance to the Giffard airship of 1852 – at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers in Paris. Seen at the Exposition d'électricité in 1881, the aérostat électrique was a demonstrative model of the later constructed full-scale Siemens electromotor-driven Tissandier airship of 1883. The model’s all important electromotor was designed and built by the famous French inventor Gustave Trouvé, who at the end of his life also experimented with “navigation aérienne”.




321

Whitehead No.21.
Shown here with his daughter Rose; Gustav Whitehead, born Gustav Albin Weisskopf, was an aviation pioneer who immigrated from Bavaria, Germany to the United States. Whitehead is claimed to have achieved powered flight with this monoplane at Fairfield, Connecticut on August 14, 1901 – more than two years before the Wright brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk. In 1968 the state of Connecticut officially recognized Whitehead as the “Father of Connecticut Aviation”.


Publié le 14 août 2014 à 00h03 par Stéphanie Meyniel dans Histoire
Histoire de l’aviation - 14 août 1901. Le 14 août 1901 est incontestablement une date importante dans l’histoire de l’aviation mondiale : ce jour-là, une bataille est remportée dans la conquête du ciel et c’est l’Américain d’origine allemande Gustave Whitehead (de son vrai nom Gustav Weisskopf) qui en est à l’origine : pour la première fois, un vol motorisé a été réalisé, dont il restera des traces écrites mais malheureusement pas de photo !

Au champ de Fairfield, Gustave Whitehead, prenant les commandes d’un appareil de sa propre conception, à savoir un modèle de type monoplan n°21 à moteur de 12 chevaux, est ainsi parvenu à voler sur pas moins de 850 mètres, évoluant alors à une altitude de quelque 15 mètres, en présence notamment de quelques témoins, parmi lesquels un journaliste.

Une belle performance mais qui sera largement occultée par le premier vol motorisé d’Orville Wright avec son appareil « Flyer 1 », alors qu’il a pourtant lieu bien plus tard, le 17 décembre 1903, à Kitty Hawk, où les frères Wright testent sans relâche divers types d’appareils.





322
Castaibert Monoplano 1910-I.
Pablo Castaibert’s monoplane 1910-I was modelled on the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle. Fitted with a 35 hp Anzani, it was not able to fly. It is claimed that the machine would not fly because of a balance problem that could not be resolved after several modifications although it was probably also due to the absence of flight experience by Castaibert himself. At the end of 1910 Castaibert saw a Blériot flying which prompted him to switch designs resulting in his rather more successful series of monoplanes.












323

Bjork Tandem Monoplane.
Constructed in September 1910 by Edward Bjork, a Chicago building contractor residing at 934 Fletcher Street. His machine was forty feet in length by twenty in width. He constructed it in a shed at Evanston Avenue and Byron Place. Bjork was obviously of Swedish ancestry, amplified by being a member of the Swedish-American Aerial Club of Chicago – a manufacturer of aerial machines that failed to conduct the business for which it was created.




324
Vaniman Airship Model “Atlantic No.1”.
Scaled miniature trans-Atlantic passenger airship built by Calvin Vaniman – completed June 23, 1912. Made for the American inventor-aeronaut-adventurer Melvin Vaniman, who died alongside his younger brother Calvin and three other crew members in the airship “Akron” trial-flight disaster on July 2, 1912 near Atlantic City, New Jersey.












325

de Havilland Biplane No.1 of 1909.
First aircraft constructed by British aviation legend Geoffrey de Havilland, retroactively named “de Havilland Biplane No.1”. “Flight” magazine, in 1910, referred to the biplane as “Havilland No. I” and also as the “Havilland I”.







326

Schröder Eindecker.
Built circa 1910/11 by Paul Schröder at Bochum, or Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. Contemporary journalistic reports described it as Blériot-like for the fuselage, the wing and vertical tail surface, but Antoinette-like for the horizontal tail surface.



327
Bédélia Flying Boat of 1912.
The machine - built in 1912 - was a characteristic biplane with a very large and flat fuselage, acting probably as the floating hull. The wing struts were very large I-styles. Tractor propeller in the front is driven by an engine in the hull, which drives the propeller via a chain.
I seem to see that the machine is temporarily fitted on wheels, with skids. Ailerons were fitted in between the wings. Machine was exhibited on the Salon Paris 1912.
There are more versions of this machine, as the designers developed it further. In the end not very successful.







328

Fyodorov Split-wing Machine.
Designed and built by Yevgeny Stepanovich Fyodorov [Евгений Степанович Фёдоров] during the period 1895 until 1903. Fyodorov had a career in the military as an engineer, where in 1895 he presented a model aeroplane project with a “split-wing” [самолёта-пятиплана]. This model was successfully flown behind an automobile, which towed the model. On the results of the tests with this model Fyodorov decided to built a full scale aeroplane at his own expense. According to sources (Shavrov / Шавров) it was finished, but never flight tested. The machine of Fyodorov is considered the second constructed flying machine after the one of Mozhaiski [Можа́йский].






329

Roe I Triplane of 1909.
The Roe I first flew on July 13, 1909* at Lea Marshes, Essex, and by doing so Alliot Verdon Roe (1877-1958) became the first Briton to fly an all-British aeroplane. The fragile craft was constructed from wood and paper, was powered by a 9 hp JAP engine, and despite its low power managed to fly some 100 feet (30 metres). Photo shows the full-scale Roe I replica at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, UK. [*Some sources claim July 23, 1909].



330
Goedecker Flugboot Amphibium.
Second Amphibium, or “Amphibium II”, constructed by the Jacob Goedecker Flugmaschinen-Werke in 1912. At the end of August 1912 Goedecker flyer Bernard de Waal took the newly developed “Amphibium” to the First German Seaplane Competition in Heiligendamm district. Due to technical problems the Goedecker flying boat achieved only 4th place in a field of 6 participants. A second flying boat with a more powerful engine was built and tested at the Mainzer Floßhafen, and stationed in a boathouse. In a strong storm on April 6, 1913, the “Amphibium II” was severely damaged and scrapped.



331
Ginocchio Idro-canotto.
Ginocchio biplane flying boat seen here in 1913 at Venezia (Venice). Manlio Ginocchio was an Italian aviation pioneer, and an officer in the Italian Navy. After earlier experiences with flying and designing of machines, he designed and built his “Idro-canotto” and powered it with a 90 hp Salmson engine. The machine was not very successful and remained in one example, although it was acquired by the Italian Navy and became part of the early Italian naval establishment in Venice.





332
Le Gaucier Amphibian Flying Boat of 1913.
An invention of a French law student living in Chicago named C. Le Gaucier, that once completed, was to have been christened “Napoleon”. Construction of this steam-powered flying boat was started at Cicero Aviation Field in the spring of 1913 with the long-range intent of crossing the Atlantic with it once tested and proven on Lake Michigan. The “Napoleon” was intended to be of a special construction of aluminium steel and be equipped with four 250 hp steam turbines, with four propellers – the span of its monoplane wing; 100 feet, with a 14-foot cord. The machine had an ingenious four wheel design along the sides of the hull whereas the wheels could be moved up or down, thus allowing for the capability to take off and touch down on land.












333

Benbow-Myers airship “Montana Meteor”.
Photographed on November 6, 1903 at the Balloon Farm of “Professor” Carl E. Myers at Frankfort, New York. The “Meteor”, a patented invention of Thomas Chalkley Benbow, was built, assembled, and – during late October-early November – tried at the Balloon Farm. The airship later made brief ascensions with some success at the aeronautical concourse of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, otherwise known as the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904. T. C. Benbow filed his Air-ship patent on May 27, 1902, which was accepted on November 8, 1904 – US Patent 774,643.



334
Dunne D.1 Glider.
Photo showing the glider being mounted on a dolly at Blair Atholl, Scotland. Testing in 1907 was done in secrecy by the War Office (Balloon Factory), and there exists at least four other photos of its initial trial. One showing the shed which stored the Dunne glider; the glider on its dolly at the point of take off; the glider during the take-off; and another taken immediately after its crash. The machine was fitted later with a 15 hp Buchet engine, but the machine was underpowered and could not lift itself off the ground. An old method was used to get the machine in the air – setting it high on a man made ramp and racing down, hoping to build up enough speed to get airborne. The attempt did not work as planned, and the machine fell from the ramp during the run and was wrecked beyond repair. It was later redesigned and rebuilt, where it received the identification D.4, being sufficiently different from the original D.1.
















335

Holbrook Aeroplane of 1910.
High-wing monoplane designed by Arthur Erritt Holbrook and built by the Holbrook Helicopter Aeroplane Co. in Joplin, Missouri. At around the time of the founding of his company, Holbrook also filed (January 19, 1910) to patent an Aeroplane; rather a tandem wing monoplane fitted with both tractor propeller and vertical rotors – hence the name of the firm. Four years later, on February 10, 1914, Holbrook was finally granted US Patent 1,086,916 for his invention. It is reasonable to assume that this photographed machine, with shafts protruding above the wing, was a “first draft” to be augmented to a form visible in the patent of Holbrook, where two rotary propellers are visible. After its appearance in 1910, Holbrook’s aeroplane was never heard from again.

Plus http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cappscreek/aeroplane.html 







336
Suter Lenkballon of 1901.
Inspired by the experiments of Graf von Zeppelin, Heinrich Suter of Arbon, Switzerland, built an airship of 40 metres length. The Paris-made, cigar-shaped, 5-chamber envelope had a reported volume of 1000 m³. The movements of the LTA/HTA craft were carried out by propellers, while the balloon was used only to lift the machine and aeronaut. On a wooden pole under the balloon hung by a ball joint, was the actual flying machine, which enabled a free, independent movement of the two parts. Suter’s connection of a balloon with a flying machine was based on the principles of Ingenieur Kreß of Vienna. In Gustav Adolf Saurer, the founder of the “Ersten Schweizerischen Velociped-Fabrik Arbon”, Suter found the perfect construction partner. Inside the metal structure that connected to the ball joint, he built a velo-drive. Pedals drove outside of the “cage”, mounted and by hand, a pivotable double propeller. In this way, Suter believed to be able to control the occurrence of different air currents, while the position of the steering sail could also be altered manually. On April 19, 1901, from the purpose-built shed at the Hotel “du Lac” the inflated airship was pulled to the shore of Lake Constance. Many curious onlookers as well as journalists were in attendance to witness the spectacular event. At first everything went according to plan – Suter increased the pressure on the pedals and circled the steerable airship over Steinacherbucht bay. Suddenly the wind shifted, and at low altitude drove it into the branches of a tree on the Steinach shore, ending the maiden voyage. As for Suter, he lacked the funds to conduct further tests and the project was terminated shortly thereafter.






















337

Weihmüller Monoplano “Weihmüller I” of 1909.
First of two monoplanes built at San Jerónimo Sud, Argentina, by little-know Santa Fe aeronautical pioneer/constructor Ingeniero Friedrich Gottfried Weihmüller, aka Federico Godofredo Weihmuller (frequently spelled Weighmüller).













MORE De Aubenas a San Jerónimo Sud - Pequeñas grandes historias de inmigrantes, pilotos y aviones.           










338

Royal Navy Airship “HMA No.2” and British Army Airship “Eta”.
On August 19, 1913, “Naval Airship No.2” (the re-constructed “Willows No.4” – under the command of Lieut. Neville Usborne, R.N.) experienced engine failure due to a broken crankshaft near Odiham in Hampshire. In order to save the hydrogen in the disabled airship, it was decided to try and tow it home employing the airship “Eta” – newly-constructed by the Royal Aircraft Factory and currently undergoing its acceptance trials. Accordingly, a tow-line was attached and the two airships ascended, the “Eta” keeping about 600 feet above the towed ship so as to avoid all chances of fouling the rudder gear. The approximate 8-mile trip back to the airfield at Farnborough (the exact distance to the town of Odiham being 7.4 miles) was made at a groundspeed of 25 mph against a 5 mph headwind. The “Eta” was in all probability skippered by Army Capt. Waterlow at the time.

*** MORE    
*** PLUS: Steampunk Heroes in Wales - No.1 The Father of British Airships 





339
Porte and Pirie Glider of 1909.
Porte and Pirie were both lieutenants in the Royal Navy when they designed and built this biplane. It was taken to Portsdown Hills, Portsmouth for a trial on 17th September 1909. To quote “Flight” magazine for 25th September 1909; “With both officers seated in it the machine was mounted on a trolley and run along a temporary track, but it failed to rise, and eventually pitched forward and collapsed, both officers being thrown out, but escaping unhurt.” One of the designers, John Cyril Porte, who went on to have a successful career within aviation, was closely involved with the Curtiss biplane “America” intended to have made a pre-war trans-Atlantic flight.





340
Kimball Model Helicopter of 1906.
Wilbur R. Kimball, at one time the Secretary of the Aeronautical Society and an adherent of the helicopter theory, exhibited in 1906 a rubber-driven model that had two “air-screws,” each fifteen inches in diameter, mounted on wheels; altogether it weighed about ten ounces. According to a 1907 publication of the Aero Club of America, it could run 12 feet along the floor, rise, and fly for a further 70 feet





341
Pauly Fish-formed Dirigible Balloon of 1804-05.
In 1789, Baron Scott, of Paris, proposed an aeronautic fish. Jean Samuel Pauly revived the plan with modifications. Marshal Michel Ney patronised it, and gave nearly 100,000 francs for the construction of an aerostat 50 feet long, and for experiments. Its first trial was made on August 22, 1804 at Sceaux, south of Paris; the success anticipated did not follow.



342
Cornu Helicopter of 1907.
Paul Cornu’s helicopter was first tried in November 1907 with sandbags as ballast. Then Cornu added control devices (seen here at front and back), yet could only lift one pair of the four wheels. The Antoinette engine, although probably mainly the counter-rotating rotor construction, was inadequate for a proper take off.





343
Hohl Eindecker H 3 of 1910.
Electrician Hans Hohl was not a successful aviator and little is recorded of his designs. None of his machines is known to have flown; the main criticism of Hohl always given to his non-existent airfoil. Even in 1912, when the army allowed the use the Exerzierplatz at Halle-Beesen – 10 or so miles from Merseburg, south of Berlin – the last-known of his monoplanes, “Hohl-5”, failed to make a sustained test flight.



344
Bell Ring Kite of 1908.
As designed by Alexander Graham Bell, the Ring Kite had been constructed in 1907 having two superimposed flat annular surfaces, of outer diameter 4.4 m and inner diameter of 3.4 m separated by two rings of 25 cm tetrahedral cells. After being repaired following damage sustained during the flights of 1907, this kite was again flown the following summer. With the line attached at the outer periphery of the lower ring the kite flew steadily, but as the point of attachment was moved inward toward the inner edge, while the kite flew high, it displayed a tendency to slide off the wind. During one such slide it struck the ground and was destroyed.


more IM 


345
Flores Balloon of 1840.
Jose Maria Flores, (also Florez, 1820?–1848), was an obscure 19th century balloonist who made first ascensions in many South American countries, including Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, as well as being a pioneer aeronaut in Guatemala and Mexico – although ironically, he never flew in his native Argentina. This illustration depicts the first balloon ascension made in Peru, which took place in Lima on September 24, 1840 at the Plaza de toros de Acho, the oldest bullfighting arena in the Americas. Still standing today, its construction dates back to 1766. Flores died accidentally during an ascension on January 30, 1848.



346
Pauly and Egg Fish-formed Airship “Dolphin”.
The creation of two Swiss-borne gunsmiths; eccentric engineer and inventor of the cartridge breech-loader (patented 1812), Jean Pauly, and Durs Egg, gun-maker to King George III – its construction was begun during June 1816 in Knightsbridge, London, and continued into the following year. The rigid craft, Pauly’s second dirigible flying fish – his first being a smaller one that he first flew in 1804 near Paris with little success – had an envelope 90 feet long and was notable for its intended use of trimmable ballast. The device, to have been either a sand-filled box or a water-filled barrel (accounts differ), was to be slung on ropes laid out between the airship’s tail and the rear of the gondola, and by using these ropes the ballast could then be hauled back and forth, thus moving the centre of gravity of the aerostat. For this, and its other innovations in aeronautic navigability, a patent, No.3909 dated April 15, 1815, was granted by the Great Britain Patent Office to Jean Samuel Pauly and Durs Egg. This patent became entangled in a lawsuit between the two gunsmiths, which was ostensibly about pistols. The lawsuit, Egg v. Pauly, lasted from 1817 until 1820 – the year previous to Pauly’s death. During the lawsuit Pauly claimed that Egg had failed to assist with the production of certain firearms in contravention of an agreement dated March 15, 1815, which dealt with the building of the airship. In the end, the venture, aptly named “Egg’s Folly” by those following its lack of progress, failed miserably, proving to be both too complex and too costly, resulting in the financial ruin of its inventors. A decade later, Durs Egg, having gone blind and insane, died in 1831. In January 1844, P. T. Barnum and General Tom Thumb (1838-1883) sailed for England to begin a European tour where at the Surrey Zoological Gardens a captive balloon ascent exhibition was made by the famous dwarf using the Dolphin’s still-existing goldbeater’s skin air bladder, or ballonet rather, capable of lifting fifty or sixty pounds when filled with gas.



347
Martin Biplane “Harvard 1” of 1910.
Built in Boston, Massachusetts, by S. L. Saunders and certain Harvard students of the 400-member Harvard Aeronautical Society. James V. Martin – the manager of the society – designed, patented, and piloted the machine on several 125-yard flights within Soldier’s Field, fitted with a regular Cameron 4-cylinder, air-cooled automobile engine, at a height of 8 or 10 feet.



348
Cayley Model Helicopter of 1796.
Early design published in “On Aerial Navigation,” 1809. Its construction – in Sir George Cayley’s own words – described thusly: “There are two corks, into each of which are inserted four wing feathers, from any bird, so as to be slightly inclined like the sails of a windmill, but in opposite directions in each set. A round shaft, which ends in a sharp point, is fixed in the top cork. At the upper part of the bottom cork is fixed a whalebone bow, having a small pivot hole in its centre, to receive the point of the shaft. The bow is then to be strung equally on each side to the upper portion of the shaft, and the little machine is completed. Wind up the string by turning the flyers different ways, so that the spring of the bow may unwind them with their anterior edges ascending. Then place the cork with the bow attached to it upon a table, and with a finger on the upper cork press strong enough to prevent the string from unwinding, and taking it away suddenly, the instrument will rise to the ceiling. This was the first experiment I made upon this subject in the year 1796.”
More:  In England in 1796, Sir George Cayley constructed the first powered models of helicopters that were driven by elastic devices. One of these models, shown below, attained an altitude of ninety feet.  
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/design/helicopter/history.shtml  

More  Sir George Cayley  http://www.flyingmachines.org/cayl.html    





349
Martino Biplano Quadricellare of 1909.
In 1905, Signor Martino, a railroad worker, along with some associates began construction of a tandem biplane in the workshops at Scalenghe Azzario (the ancestral home of the Coda family). Flight tests were carried out in 1909, but with little success. A few photographs bear witness to its construction and completion.



350
Breguet-Richet No.2 Gyroplan of 1908.
Configured as a canard – its elevator can be seen mounted low at the front – the Breguet-Richet Gyroplan was distinguishable by it two double-tiered four-bladed airscrews [*] in combination with what one might define as “wings”.  It was later morphed into the No.2 bis.















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