Bamboo Dick. No, not that

[John A]

https://youtu.be/F-suOpy3rQU
Another mad Kiwi,  one that we would all know had circumstances been different
Aviation

[wirespokes]

Very cool! Thanks for posting that.

[John A]

I remember reading about a Texan who had beat the Wrights too but can't remember much about the article except that he wasn't credited either.  Without the connected information we have now there must have been several successful parallel invention tracks we know nothing about.

[Lannis]

Good story!   and at least it's not trying to lead to some sort of national mythology about how Elbonia or Lower Slobbovia "beat" the Wright Brothers into controlled airplane flight.    The whole world was participating in the invention of new technology (steam engines, self-propelled vehicles, petrol-powered cars, not to mention printing, gunpowder, etc) so it would seem there's enough "inventing" credit to go around ....

It's a shame we can't take time to get over there and help the Kenyan and Ugandan guys get a home-built airplane built, just as something to do.   The contraptions (see Youtube) they're building out of steel angle and wooden beams are 100 times too heavy to fly and don't survive the first taxi test.   Chuck could make some people very happy if he went over there as a volunteer consultant ... !!

Lannis

[John A]

   Chuck could make some people very happy if he went over there as a volunteer consultant ... !!

Lannis

Chuck claims he had a job once but he's lying of course

[Chuck in Indiana]

Actually, I *am* a volunteer consultant.. an EAA Technical Counselor for (gasp) 30 years now. Africa is a little out of my area, though. 
Mouser's birthday today. Normally, I try to fly her, but this years constant rains have the runway unusable. At any rate, I finished up the annual inspection today. Here she is, running for the first time this year. (!)
Happy 37th birthday, Mouser.. 
2019-05-29_09-05-44 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

[normzone]

...Oops, you caught me.

I was sure I could take a good look and nobody would notice.

I am drawn to that machine - Chuck tells me I weigh too much, or something like that. A bottle of Don Pilar was involved ...

[Testarossa]

And then there's Hiram Maxim, inventor of the machine gun, who used part of his fortune to build a huge steam-powered machine that lifted off in 1894.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Maxim

[Rick in WNY]

And then there's Hiram Maxim, inventor of the machine gun, who used part of his fortune to build a huge steam-powered machine that lifted off in 1894.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Maxim

Maxim had a son, also named Hiram Maxim. He invented the first firearm silencer. Yes, silencer, not suppressor. He invented it, he gets to name it, therefore silencer is the correct name.

[Rick in WNY]

Getting back to aviation... I give you local hero, and motorcycle afficianado, Glenn Curtiss.

By this time, the Wright Brothers had already made the first successful controlled flight of a manned aircraft. The Wright Brothers, however, had not allowed public viewing of the flight, and their tendency toward secrecy and continued distrust of the press had resulted in little public notice of the event. It was a mistake that would cost them dearly. On March 12, 1908, the A.E.A. "Red Wing" made the first public flight in America of a heavier-than-air machine with Casey Baldwin at the controls. The craft took off from the frozen surface of Keuka Lake and remained aloft for 20 seconds, covering a distance of 318 feet, 11 inches, before it went down on one wing and crashed. Two months later, the "White Wing" with Curtiss flying it, covered a distance of 1,017 feet in controlled flight. This success was made possible by the addition of "horizontal rudders" (Bell's term) to the wingtips, a precursor of the aileron.

Using knowledge gained from the Red Wing and the White Wing, Curtiss built the "June Bug", outfitted with additional improvements. This aeroplane responded so well in testing, that Curtiss determined to enter it in competition for the Scientific American trophy. Winning the first leg in the 1908 competition involved flying in a straight line for a distance of one kilometer. Glenn H. Curtiss and his June Bug. On July 4, Curtiss piloted the "June Bug" across Pleasant Valley for a distance of 5,090 feet - 1,810 feet farther than required. No less important, it was the first officially-recognized, pre-announced and publicly-observed flight in America.

More about him here...

https://www.glennhcurtissmuseum.org/about-the-man-glenn-h-curtiss.php

[Chuck in Indiana]

And then there's Hiram Maxim, inventor of the machine gun, who used part of his fortune to build a huge steam-powered machine that lifted off in 1894.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Maxim

I have a hard time believing that flying machine weighing 3.5 Tons lifted off the ground and pulled the track up with 720 hp worth of steam. <shrug> I'm not saying it didn't happen.. I just have a hard time with that.

[Testarossa]

I give you local hero, and motorcycle afficianado, Glenn Curtiss.

Curtiss is my personal hero. The invention of the aileron to replace wing-warping was the key to building larger and heavier airplanes. Can you imagine a warplane or airliner with wing-warping? The Wrights' defense of their wing-warping patent delayed development of the airplane in the U.S. until it was far too late for American aircraft to participate in WWI -- the only airplane that made a significant contribution to the war effort was the aileron-equipped Curtiss Jenny basic trainer, and it's not a coincidence that the Curtiss OX5 engine became the mainstay American aircraft engine until Wright began building Hispano-Suizas around 1922/23.

[Rick in WNY]

Curtiss is my personal hero. The invention of the aileron to replace wing-warping was the key to building larger and heavier airplanes. Can you imagine a warplane or airliner with wing-warping? The Wrights' defense of their wing-warping patent delayed development of the airplane in the U.S. until it was far too late for American aircraft to participate in WWI -- the only airplane that made a significant contribution to the war effort was the aileron-equipped Curtiss Jenny basic trainer, and it's not a coincidence that the Curtiss OX5 engine became the mainstay American aircraft engine until Wright began building Hispano-Suizas around 1922/23.

Yup... and Curtiss is also responsible for:
1. The first standardized training program for pilots.
2. Was the holder of the very first Pilots License after completing the training course he created.
3. He standardized the control layout of aircraft, ie, the functions of the yoke and rudder pedals.
4. He is the father of Aeronautics, ie, the engineering discipline of how to make things fly.

And that's just scratching the surface. I've looked for, but can't find any accounts of anyone strapping a V-8 engine to a pair of wheels, and calling it a motorcycle before he did. I've been up close and personal to that beast of his. Glenn had big ol' brass ones, no doubt about it.

[Testarossa]

And he invented the flying boat. And trained America's first military pilots. Curtiss pushers were the first aircraft to launch from and land on ship-board flight decks.

[Testarossa]

He invented the Aileron not Curtis.

The photos I can find of the reconstructed Pearse machine don't show ailerons, just a flap on the center section that might have served as an elevator. There isn't even a rudder on the museum example, nor any control cables.  Maybe there was a later version with real controls. Can you point me at drawings of Pearse ailerons?

[John Ulrich]

Happy 37th birthday, Mouser.. 
2019-05-29_09-05-44 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

Wow, you built that one when your were 28 years old..........  Congrats!   

[Lannis]

Wow, you built that one when your were 28 years old..........  Congrats!   

Uh oh.   

NOW you have to take a lick for EITHER being an incorrigible suck-up OR very bad at arithmetic ...     

Lannis

[John A]

It's both. And he is our Fearless Leader, MN MGNOC rep. 

[Porterhouse]

https://youtu.be/xif818y9z3g

[John A]