Ader was a military man and also an electrical engineer. This fellow of 19th century technology opposed gravity with the steam engine.
![]() On 9, October 1890, he conducted his first trials of a powered, man-carrying flying machine, "Eole". It had a bat-like form with a steam engine. Ader himself rode on "Eole",@and he claimed a flight of 50m off ground. For me, it didn't look like a flight, rather, it was just 50m running with noisy engine sounds. But he reflected that he failed because he lacked enough horsepower. "If only I could have more horsepower!" he was probably thinking. ![]()
He made a second machine in 1892, and a third machine in 1897. All of them carried strong steam engines, but they never succeeded in a real flight. |