Texas the First in Flight?

History tells us that the first airplane flight in Texas took place in Houston, when Frenchman Louis Paulhan demonstrated his aircraft, a Farman biplane.

Within two weeks the exuberant Lieutenant Benjamin Foulois, USA, took to the air in a Wright biplane at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Fort Sam became the home of Texas military aviation, with a “fleet” of nine Wright biplanes. And so began the reign of San Antonio as the home of Army aviation. The "West Point of the Air."

But wait! Were these really the first airplane flights in Texas?

German immigrant and Hill Country resident Jacob Brodbeck may have invented and flown an aircraft in 1865 – nearly forty years before the Wright brothers. He demonstrated to potential investors a small model of his proposed aircraft. It was spring-driven, with broad wings and a large tail structure. In his new home in San Antonio Brodbeck used the model to raise funds for his project to construct a full-sized aircraft.

A full-sized version was evidently completed. According to local history, Brodbeck took his first and only flight from a field near Luckenbach on September 20, 1865. His on-board equipment included a compass and a barometer. He is said to have risen 12 feet into the air and flown a hundred feet enough to qualify as a successful venture. Unfortunately he crashed and his airplane was thus destroyed.

But wait again! An alternative narrative says that the flight actually took place at San Pedro Springs in San Antonio. A statue of Brodbeck was placed in San Pedro Park.

There’s just so little documentation. A few faded brochures. Copies of the stock certificates Brodbeck sold, preserved by his descendants. Family stories. A glass-negative photo of a crashed aircraft, again with no certification.

He failed to raise enough money for another attempt. Brodbeck retired to his farm near Luckenbach where he died in 1910.

Louis Brodbeck remains one of those vague footnotes of an alternative history. Did he really make a spring-powered flight forty years before the bicycle makers of Dayton?

Well, the next time I’m in San Antonio I’ll head out to San Pedro Springs Park and look for that statue of Louis Brodbeck. Is it still there?

Dac Crossley
February 18 2016.

“Aging is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person that you always should have been.” – David Bowie

Comments

[Alan]

The Rest of the Story....

1st spring loaded, spring driven flight

Hmm?