# The first powered flight...



## Creator (Apr 7, 2007)

I wonder who did the first powered flight in human history...... I am now can see that there is a lot of claims that would make the Wright Brothers newcomers to the subject.


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## Culhwch (Apr 8, 2007)

I'm fairly certain there was a Kiwi bloke that made the claim before the Wright brothers. The name escapes me, but I'll have a dig and see what I can find...


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## Mouse (Apr 9, 2007)

There's also a bloke called Stringfellow who supposedly did the first powered flight. He was from my home town of Chard in Somerset so it's a pretty big thing in the town!!

Ok, just found the info from Wikipedia:
Chard claims to be the birthplace of aviation, as it was here in 1848 that the Victorian aeronautical pioneer John Stringfellow (1799-1883) first demonstrated that engine-powered flight was possible.


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## The Ace (Apr 9, 2007)

Hiram Maxim took a crack at it as well, but one of his friends suggested he'd do better with a device for people to slaughter each other, thus the Maxim gun.  The Wright brothers were the first to control their powered flight actually landing the aircraft rather than letting gravity do it.


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