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| Roger Bilstein and Jay Miller, Aviation in Texas, Texas Monthly Press, 1985 |
1904 at San Antonio, Texas. Onlookers are waiting to see a balloon flight. This looks like a powered, controllable machine, the three gentlemen at center hide the details of the power unit, there is a steering apparatus on the frame left and a propeller at the right end.
It's hard for me to imagine this thing flying (floating?) in the air, under control, with someone aboard.
ReplyDeleteI don't see a rudder.
The propeller looks way too small.
The elevators look too small, unless the "airship" has a high rate of speed.
I don't see a cat walk for the pilot to shift the balance (is there even a seat?).
No sandbags or water ballast to dump to go up.
(I assume there is some type of gas release valve to come back down, assuming the gas bag is even large enough to lift the airship with a pilot aboard.)
Maybe it could be used, tethered like an observation ballon.
I'm afraid it's some man's failed dream project.
Jack from Illinois
Is that one of Santos-Dumont's airships? D.
ReplyDeleteThis was the cover picture on the June 1904 issue of Popular Science magazine touting airships as the future of aviation which started a trend with the magazine. Every 18 months the magazine will feature renewed interest articles on the future of airships till its demise in 2023 when it ceased publication after 151 years. (No not really, but it seemed like they were always running articles about airships coming back, the magazine did indeed close down in 2023 after 151 years, sadly.)
ReplyDeleteThe caption gave no details. You are right, it seems all wrong. The balloon doesn't look near big enough, and maybe there was no engine, the propeller was turned by pedalling?
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me like some stage in the evolution of this one:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.earlyaviators.com/ebenbow2.htm
The Montana Meteor! That site mentions an aeronaut T. C. Benbow. AI mentions that J.W. Benbow designed an airship which was tested at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
ReplyDeleteIt does look similar to the one in the post.
And here is another balloon guy. His balloon was named the California Arrow. No references to any flights in Texas either. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Scott_Baldwin
ReplyDelete