Samuel Pierpont Langley - Did He Invent The First Airplane?

SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY (1834-1906)

Samuel Langley was born in Roxbury, Mass. Langley's love as a child was astronomy, but he eventually chose civil engineering as his field of choice.

After several years at jobs as a qualified engineer and architect, he went back to his childhood love of studying astronomy and science. "He taught mathematics at the U.S. Naval Academy, became director of the Allegheny Observatory, and taught physics and astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh though he had never earned a college degree. In the late 1880s his studies on the effects of the sun on the weather and wind currents led him to aviation." (www.trivia-library.com)

Samuel Pierpont Langley was soon building and designing models. These were powered by rubber bands. After he became the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, he worked closely with the technicians and scientists there and drew upon their knowledge and expertise. As a result he completed a series of test planes. On May 6, 1896, with his friend Alexander Graham Bell (who designed the Silver Dart, the first airplane flown in Canada) as an observer, Langley sent his Aerodrome Number 5 into the air, launched from a catapult on top of a houseboat in the middle of the Potomac River. "This 30-lb. craft with a steam engine flew for 1 min. 20 sec. at an altitude of 70 to 100 ft. for a distance of 3,000 ft. It was the first successful flight of an unmanned heavier-than-air flying machine. Langley's Aerodrome Number 6 had mechanical problems that day, but it flew 4,200 ft. in November of 1896." (www.trivia-library.com)

Does a catapulted airplane, with a running engine but no pilot, make Langley the inventor who invented the airplane? What are the requirements for the definition of an airplane? Do you need an engine or can a glider aircraft suffice? Do you have to be able to control the aircraft once airbourne, or is going in a straight line sufficent to be called an airplane? These are all questions that need to be answered as we continue the debate as to who invented the first airplane. Here are the other contenders who wish to lay claim to this title. Clement Ader or Alberto Santos Dumont or maybe The Wright Brothers Tough decision! There is also a conclusion to this debate which can be found here.

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