Flights Before the Wrights: Octave Chanute, Chicago aeronautical pioneer, engineer, teacher

Web Exhibits: Crerar Library The University of Chicago Library
  • Introduction and About the Exhibit
  • Acknowledgements
  • Rights and Reproductions
  • Coming to America
  • Engineering
  • Accomplishments
  • Aeronautics
  • World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago
  • Spreading the Word
  • The Next Step
  • Building and Testing Gliders
  • Lilienthal-Type Machine
  • Katydid
  • "How Does it Feel to Fly?"
  • The Experiments Continued
  • 1896 Chanute-Type Biplane
  • Would Be Aviators Contacted Him
  • The Wright Brothers
  • The Last Major Article by Chanute
  • Highlights from Aviation History
  • Space

Would Be Aviators Contacted Him

Now that Chanute knew "How it feels to fly," he made the engineering drawings of his biplane glider available to the public, and continued to write articles and give speeches.

During this time many would-be aviators contacted him, seeking advice. In the late 1890s, two brothers from Dayton expressed an interest in flying kites and began studying the works of other scientists. After contacting the Smithsonian Institution, the brothers received several pamphlets as well as Chanute's book. Wilbur then wrote directly to Chanute. Always willing to pass along information to other experimenters, Chanute obliged and replied.

Chanute

Octave Chanute, Aeronaut and Inventor.
Chicago Record, 29 June 1896.


Flights Before the Wrights: Octave Chanute, Chicago aeronautical pioneer, engineer, teacher
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