The ''Ader Éole'', also called ''Avion'' (French for ''aeroplane''), was an early

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

-powered

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

developed by Clément Ader in the

1890s The 1890s (pronounced "eighteen-nineties") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1890, and ended on December 31, 1899. In American popular culture, the decade would later be nostalgically referred to as the "Gay Nineti ...

and named after the Greco-Roman wind god

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Design and development

Unlike many early flying machines, the Éole did not attempt to fly by flapping its wings, but relied on the lift generated by its wings in forward motion. With wings resembling mechanical copies of

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

wings, its steam engine was an unusually light-weight design driving a

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

at the front of the aircraft, but lacking any means for the pilot to control the direction of flight. According to late 1907 claims made by Clément Ader,Clément Ader (1907)
“La première étape de l'aviation militaire en France”
''J. Bosc et Cie, 38 Chaussée d’Antin 38.'', p. 6 on October 9th, 1890, the machine achieved a short flight of around 50 m (164 ft) at the Chateau d'Armainvilliers in Brie. It reached a height of around 20 cm (8 in). The poor

power-to-weight ratio Power-to-weight ratio (PWR, also called specific power, or power-to-mass ratio) is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measurement ...

of the steam engine and bad weather were felt to limit the flying height achieved. Ader later claimed to have flown the Éole again in September 1891, this time to a distance of 100 m (328 ft), but this claim is less substantiated. EolePatent

Some consider the ''Éole'' to have been the first true aeroplane, given that it left the ground under its own power and carried a person through the air for a short distance, and that the event of 8 October 1890 was the first successful flight. However, the lack of directional control, and the fact that steam-powered aircraft proved to be a dead end, both weigh against these claims. Ader's proponents have claimed that the Wrights' early airplanes required a

catapult A catapult is a ballistics, ballistic device used to launch a projectile at a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden rel ...

to take off; however, the Wrights did not use a catapult for their first flights in 1903, though they did for many flights in 1904 and later. Modern attempts to recreate and evaluate the craft have met with mixed results. A full-size

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built in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

at the ''

École Centrale Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

'' crashed on its first flight, injuring its pilot and leading to the termination of the experiment. Scale models, however, have been successfully flown.

Specifications (Éole)

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ader Eole 19th-century French experimental aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Aircraft manufactured in France Steam-powered aircraft Unflown aircraft

Design and development

Specifications (Éole)

See also

Notes

References