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Octave Alexander Chanute

	Octave Alexander Chanute lived from 1832 to 1910. His birth place was Paris, France, but he came to the United States as a child. He was a respected engineer and scientist who had dedicated his live to improving travel. He was a railroad engineer who later became famous in the field of aeronautics. He flew gliders BEFORE the Wright brothers first flight. Source: Library of Congress
	He published Progress in Flying Machines in New York in 1894, which summarized and analyzed the technical accomplishments of the world's aviation pioneers up to that time. The book became a classic and a guidebook for the efforts of many would-be aviators around the world, including the Wright brothers. On the left is the first page from a letter from the Wright Brothers to Octave Chanute. Source: Library of Congress
	Chanute was a mentor to the Wright Brothers and visited their camp on many occasions. After the Wright brothers were acknowledged as having made the first successful flight, interest in airplanes began to decline in Europe. Chanute went to Europe and lectured on aeronautics thus rekindling interest once more. A rear view of Chanute's glider multiplane model, with movable main panel controls Source: Library of Congress
	"Let us hope that the advent of a successful flying machine, now only dimly foreseen and nevertheless thought to be possible, will bring nothing but good into the world; that it shall abridge distance, make all parts of the globe accessible, bring men into closer relation with each other, advance civilization, and hasten the promised era in which there shall be nothing but peace and goodwill among all men." Octave Chanute Progress in Flying Machines 1894 Octave Chanute's flying biplane glider, also known as the Chanute-Herring glider - 1896 Source: Library of Congress
	His gliding experiments on the shores of Lake Michigan in the 1890's contributed much to flight science in the areas of control systems and stability, efficiency of materials, aircraft structural integrity and strength. In utilizing his knowledge of braced box structure in bridge construction, he invented the familiar strut-wire braced wing structure still employed in biplane aircraft. Wilbur Wright in his 1911 eulogy of Chanute said, "his labors had vast influence in bringing about the era of human flight." He was Invested 1974 in the International Aerospace Hall of Fame Source: U.S. Air Force
Link to book by Chanute - Progress In Flying Machines	In the Chicago, Tribune, 24 June, 1896 the paper discussed Chanute's flights: ...If a lake steamer had cruised by the beach opposite Miller's, Ind. yesterday, the passengers would have had a good opportunity to see men flying through the air, borne not exclusively on the wings of the wind but apparently sustained by twelve gigantic white swans. Octave Chanute, No. 413 Huron Street, ex President of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and three companions were practicing aerial navigation with a Lilienthal aeroplane...." Chanute freely shared his knowledge about aviation with anyone who was interested and expected others to do the same. This led to some friction with the Wright brothers, who wanted to protect their invention through patents.
	But Chanute wasn't the first to actually make something fly. For two centuries small machines with flapping wings called ornithopters. But these only worked on a bird size scale. The first fixed wing glider was built by Sir George Cayley 1799, it was the first true airplane. Cayley had experimented with wing design, differentiated between lift and drag, developed the concept of steering rudders and vertical tail surfaces, rear elevators and air screws. Source :NASA

Prior Events Leading Up to Wright Brothers Flight

1831
Thomas Walker proposes a tandem-wing aeroplane with the pilot and the propulsion system amidships. This would later influence Samuel Langley as he designed his aerodromes.

1843
William Samuel Henson, England, proposes the Aerial Steam Carriage in Mechanics Magazine, the first known design for a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft.

Henson based the deign of his Aerial, as he called it, on Cayley's work. He asked Cayley for support in building the craft, but Cayley declined.

1845-48
William Samuel Henson and John Stringfellow attempt to form the Aerial Transit Company, which (if only they had a practical airplane), would have been the world's first airline. To drum up support, they build and test a model of Henson's aerial carriage with a 20-foot wingspan. It makes brief glides, but does not sustain flight.

1849
Sir George Cayley builds a small glider designed to lift about 80 pounds of the ground. He refers to it as his Boy Glider. It is the first recorded manned (or boyed) fixed-wing aircraft. It lifts a 10-year old boy off the ground for a few yards on test runs. Cayley also flew it in a high wind like a kite, tethered to the ground.

1853 FIRST FLIGHT
Sir George Cayley builds an improved version of his glider and convinces his coachman to pilot it. The coachman, whose name is lost to us, makes an wavering, uncontrolled glide of a few hundred feet -- the world’s first true manned flight in a fixed-wing aircraft. The coachman quits Cayley’s service immediately after his one and only feat of airmanship, reportedly saying, "I wish to give notice, sir -- I was hired to drive, not to fly."

Over the years other flights ensued.