More Than Design or Literature
Note overlapping years in several cases, so all items in this list may not be in strict chronological order.
| Designer/Maker | Nationality | Machine name/description | Year | Claimed | Achieved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Childs | American | "Feathered glider" | 1757 | Three successful flights in two days | Reports suggest that this was a fairground trick, involving sliding down a tethered rope. He had claimed to have performed the same stunt many times earlier in Europe |
| William Samuel Henson | British | Aerial Steam Carriage, monoplane with cabin, tail and twin pusher propellers | 1842 | Models only, publicity illustrations | |
| John Stringfellow | British | The Stringfellow Machines | 1848, 1868 | Indoor flights by fixed-wing steam-powered models | |
| Sir George Cayley | British | "Governable Parachute" | 1849–1853 | Child- and man-carrying glides, both towed and free-flying | |
| Rufus Porter | American | The New York to California Aerial Transport | 1849 | Uncompleted steam-powered dirigible | |
| Jean Marie Le Bris | French | The Artificial Albatross | 1857, 1867 | Towed gliding flight | |
| Felix and Louis du Temple de la Croix | French | Du Temple Monoplane, aluminum construction, steam-powered | 1857–1877 | Powered manned hop from ramp | |
| Francis Herbert Wenham | British | "Aerial Locomotion" (academic paper) | 1866 | Patented superposed wing design (biplane, mulitplane); invented wind tunnel | |
| Jan Wnęk | Polish | glider | 1866–1869 | Controlled flights from local church tower | |
| James William Butler, Edmund Edwards | British | The Steam-Jet Dart | 1867 | ||
| Frederick Marriott | Marriott flying machines | 1869 | |||
| Alphonse Pénaud | French | Planophore, Pénaud Toy Helicopter | 1871 | Rubber-powered fixed-wing and helicopter ornithopter models | |
| Thomas Moy | British | Moy Aerial Steamer, tandem wings, 120 lb (55 kg), 15 ft (4.6 m) wingspan, 3 horsepower, twin fan-type propellers | 1875 | Lifted 6 inches (0.15 m) from ground at London Crystal Palace | |
| Enrico Forlanini | Italian | Demonstration in Milan, Helicopter, unmanned, steam-powered. | 1877 | Rose to 13 meters (40 feet) for 20s duration: first heavier than air self-powered machine to fly | |
| Thomas Moy | as above | The Military Kite | 1879 | ||
| Charles F. Ritchel | American | Ritchel Hand-powered Airship | 1878 | ||
| Victor Tatin | French | Tatin flying machines | 1879 | ||
| J. B. Biot | French | The Biot Kite | 1880 | Tailless kite | |
| Alexandre Goupil | French | Goupi Monoplane, La Locomotion Aerienne | 1883 | ||
| John Joseph Montgomery | American | Montgomery monoplane, Tandem-wing Gliders | 1883–1911 | A pre-1900 foot-launched manned glide; balloon-launched after 1900 | |
| Aleksandr Fyodorovich Mozhaiski | Russian | Mozhaiski Monoplane, multi-engine, steam | 1884 | Powered manned hop from ramp | |
| Massia and Biot | Massia-Biot Glider | 1887 | Began construction in 1879. Massia funded completion. Short hops | ||
| Pichancourt | Mechanical Birds | 1889 | |||
| Lawrence Hargrave | British immigrant to Australia | Hargave flying machines and Box Kites | 1889–1893 | influential designs | |
| Clément Ader | French | Eole, Avion, bat-wing, steam-driven | 1890–1897 | Manned, powered hops from level surface | |
| Chuhachi Ninomiya | Japanese | The Tamamushi (model) | 1891 | ||
| Otto Lilienthal | German | Bat-wing hang gliders, mono- and biplane | 1891–1896 | 2,000 manned glides, dozens photographed | |
| Horatio Frederick Phillips | British | Multiplanes | 1893–1907 | Multiple-wing test machines; successful flights in 1904 (50 feet) and 1907 (500 feet) | |
| Hiram Stevens Maxim | British (born in America) | Maxim Biplane, a behemoth machine: 145 ft (44.2 m) long, 3.5 tons, 110 ft (33.5 m) wingspan, two 180 hp steam engines driving two propellers. | 1894 | Broke from restraining rail and made uncontrolled manned flight. Total flying distance, 1,000 ft (305 m) while restrained, 924 ft (282 m) free flight. Total 1,924 ft (586 m) | |
| Pablo Suarez | The Suarez Glider | 1895 | |||
| Percy Sinclair Pilcher | British | Bat, Beetle, Hawk bat-wing hang gliders | 1896–1899 | Manned glides; fatal crash before planned public test of powered triplane; modern replica flown | |
| Octave Chanute and Augustus Herring | American (Chanute born in France) | Hang gliders, "modern" biplane wing design | 1896 | Manned glides | |
| William Paul Butusov, with Chanute group | Russian immigrant to U.S. | Albatross Soaring Machine | 1896 | unmanned unpowered uncontrolled hop from ramp | |
| Samuel Pierpont Langley | American | Langley Aerodrome, Tandem wings, unmanned, steam-powered. | 1896 | 5,000 ft. (1.7 km), photographed | |
| William Frost | Welsh | Frost Airship Glider | 1896 | Manned, 500 meters, possibly with balloon assist | |
| Carl Rickard Nyberg | Swedish | Flugan | 1897 and on | Hops | |
| Edson Fessenden Gallaudet | American | Gallaudet Wing Warping Kite | 1898 | ||
| Lyman Wiswell Gilmore, Jr. | American | Gilmore Monoplane, steam driven | 1898 | ||
| Gustave Whitehead | German (Emigrated to U.S.) | Monoplane with pilot and passenger, steam powered | 1899 | 500 m flight | Dismissed by mainstream historians |
| Wilhelm Kress | Austrian | Kress Waterborne Aeroplane | 1901 | Long hops | |
| Gustave Whitehead | as above | Whitehead Albatross, glider | 1901 | ||
| Gustave Whitehead | as above | Whitehead No. 21, bat-wing, 20 hp motor, twin tractor propellers | 1901 | 800 m, 4 flights, body shifting control | Dismissed by mainstream historians |
| Gustave Whitehead | as above | No. 22, 40 hp motor, twin tractor propellers | 1902 | 10 km circle; control by differential propeller speed and rudder | Dismissed by mainstream historians |
| Richard William Pearse | New Zealand | Pearse Monoplane | 1903 | 150 m, believed controllable but unstable -numerous witnesses | |
| Karl Jatho | German | The Jatho Biplane | 1903 | 70 m powered hop, unstable | |
| Wright Brothers | American | Wright Flyer, level launch rail, headwind for sufficient airspeed biplane | 1903 | . | Four flights, longest 852 feet (260 m), 59 s, controlled |
| Guido Dinelli | Dinelli Glider, Aereoplano | 1903 | 70 m, no motor | ||
| Wilbur Wright | American | Wright Flyer III, catapult launch | 1905 | 24 miles (39 km), circling, max height about 50 feet (15.2 m) | |
| Gabriel Voisin | French | Voisin floatplane glider | 1905 | Towed into air, 600 m (2,000 ft) | |
| Alberto Santos-Dumont | Brazilian living in France | 14-bis, Hargrave-style box-cell wings, sharp dihedral, pusher propeller, internal combustion. (Demoiselle in 1909, tractor monoplane with wing-warping) | 1906 | Controlled, rose off flat ground with no external assistance, 200 meters, 21 s, first official European flight | |
| Jacob Ellehammer | Danish | Monoplane, helicopter | 1906, 1912 | Tethered powered fixed-wing flight | |
| Traian Vuia | Romanian, flight experiments in France | Vuia I, Vuia II monoplanes, Carbonic acid engine on Vuia I, internal combustion engine on Vuia II | 1906–1907 | Powered manned hops | |
| Glenn H. Curtiss and A.E.A. | American | June Bug, biplane with wingtip ailerons | 1908 | First official 1 km U.S. flight |
Read more about this topic: Early Flying Machines
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