James Henry Gatling
James Henry Gatling was an aero inventor in Hertford County, North Carolina. He built an airplane inspired by buzzard flight and reportedly tested it in 1873, hitting a tree and never trying again. James Henry was the older brother of gun inventor Richard J. Gatling.[1][2]
By all accounts, North Carolina's first airplane had a profile similar to those of soaring birds and modern planes. Gatling's observations of buzzards apparently led him to suppose that power, lightweight materials, and a dash of control was a recipe for flight. His plane's fuselage was of light poplar, its triangular monoplane wings of white-oak splits an eighth of an inch thick and held in place by a wire frame. Wires connected the tips of the hinged wings to a cockpit lever so that the pilot could move them up and down as needed. A front elevator caused the nose to move up or down; a vertical rudder, operated by the same lever, was attached at the tail. Twin wooden propellers, worked by a handwheel in the cockpit, would draw air into casings in front of each wing and force it under the wings for lift. It was eighteen feet long, with a fourteen-foot wing-span and tricycle landing gear. Some witnesses labeled the machine "the turkey buzzard," presumably in honor of its inspiration.[3]
Publications by or about James Henry Gatling
- Parramore, 2002, First to Fly (Simple title: First to Fly)
- Parramore, 2002, First to Fly (Simple title: First to Fly)
References
- ↑ Parramore, 2002, First to Fly, pp. 50–54.
- ↑ E. Frank Stephenson, "Gatling, James Henry", Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, edited by William S. Powell; University of North Carolina Press, 1979-1996.
- ↑ Parramore, 2002, First to Fly, p. 52.
| Names | James Henry Gatling |
|---|---|
| Birth date | 1816 |
| Death date | 1879-09 |
| Countries | US |
| Locations | Hertford County, NC |
| Occupations | farmer |
| Tech areas | Heavier-than-air |
| Affiliations | |
| Wikidata id |
