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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0702.PDF
42 FLIGHT 12 MARCH 1954 A page from THE ESSO HISTOIRE OF AERIAL LOCOMOTION Adapted from the French de P. Crochet-Damais. Illustrated par Philippe Fe'ty avec permission. BESNIER'S MACHINERY IN 1678, in the French town of Sable, a locksmith named Besnier, tired of anticipating Yale, equipped himself with wings, and jumped off a stool. Le Journal des Savants of the period, which published the report, gives no hint of the met conditions at the time, but Besnier seems to have touched down successfully, for we next hear of him jumping off a table. Encouraged by these adventures, and by a flight through a moderately high window, the intrepid craftsman went upstairs and leaped out of the attic, "whence he flew over the neighbouring "houses". The journal adds that Besnier didn't claim to stay in the air very long — and it will be seen that even for short flights he had to tie his hat on. He affirmed, however, that taking off from a moderately elevated point, he could easily fly over a river.of considerable breadth. Besnier's first wings were bought at a fair by a showman who later achieved some fame as a flying acrobat. A carved wooden panel commemorating the achievements of this great designer was for many years used as the sign of a village inn. The proprietor made a fortune : Besnier, unfortunately, did not. Today genius gets results by remembering that it pays to say £ssa AVIATION FUELS & LUBRICANTS ESSO PETROLEUM COMPANY, LIMITED, 36 QUEEN ANNE'S GATE, LONDON, S.W.I
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