Giacomo D'Angelis was a Corsican-

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

hotelier and

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

pioneer who piloted the first powered airplane flight in Asia in

Madras (Chennai) Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, India on 10 March 1910. Giacomo D'Angelis 1572x2565 pixeles (2)

The flight reportedly occurred nine months prior to another published account of a flight in Allahabad. D'Angelis performed the flight in a self-built aircraft.

Life

Giacomo D’Angelis, a confectioner from Messina,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, arrived in Madras in 1880 and opened his "Maison Francaise" as

chef de cuisine A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities ...

, and his excellent service soon enabled him to open a small hotel in 1906, the latter Heritage Hotel d'Angelis at

Anna Salai Anna Salai (), formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towards St. Thomas Mount, and e ...

, the former ''Mountain Road', in Chennai.Viola, Antonella Viola (2013
Migration across three continents : the d’Angelis family, Conserveries mémorielles
/ref>

D'Angelis 's biplane

The biplane has been built by D'Angelis entirely from his own designs, experimenting with a small horse-power engine. D'Angelis seems to have been inspired by Louis Blériot who was the first to fly across the English Channel in July 1909. D'Angelis tested his aeroplane in Pallavaram,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, and then arranged a public viewing in March 1910 reported by the local newspapers. A'Dangeli's made its flight on March 26, 1910: "''We are posting you what we believe is the first aeroplane in India, which has been constructed by one of our customers, Mr. G. D'Angelis of Madras. The machine has been built by our friend entirely from his own design, and we understand that although upto the present he has been experimenting with a small horse-power engine, the results given by this are so satisfactory that with a higher horse-power he anticipates being able to make long and consecutive flights''." The aircraft's engine may have been supplied by E. and A Levetus, and Co. '' India Weekly'' mentioned that the motor of the biplane had been built by Samuel John Green, an engineer of the Simpson's company.

References

External links

archivosdangelis.blogspot.com

kbhargava.com: Aviation in India
*

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Giacomo D'Angelis Flight in Madras 1910
{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Angelis, Giacomo Indian aviators Italian aviators Italian people of Corsican descent Aviation pioneers Aviation history of India Italian expatriates in India