Octave Chanute and the Indiana Glider Trials of 1896
1997; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Volume: 35; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2514/2.7445
ISSN1533-385X
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis
ResumoDuring the critical years 1885-1903, Octave Chanute served as the focal point of an international community of flying machine experimenters. One of the leading civil engineers in the United States, he corresponded with virtually every major figure in the field, from aging and inactive pioneers like Francis Herbert Wenham to such promising newcomers as Wilbur and Orville Wright. He personally linked his correspondents into an informal network, providing them with information, encouragement, and, on occasion, financial assistance. Chanute organized sessions of aeronautical papers for the professional engineering societies to which he belonged, gave lectures that attracted fresh talent and new ideas into the field, and produced critically important publications that helped to establish a baseline of shared information. In addition, working with Augustus Moore Herring, Chanute designed and built one of the most significant aircraft of the pre-Wright era, the famous two-surface glider of 1896. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of that machine, and of the Chanute glider trials in the Indiana Dunes, attention is focused on the role of Octave Chanute in shaping the community of engineers/experimenters who gave birth to the airplane.
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