The story begins in France around the year 1890. Clement Ader was already a brilliant electrical engineer and inventor. He invented the telephone in France. He was a student of Leonardo da Vinci and became fascinated with his drawing of the airplane. Leonardo da Vinci, around 1500, wrote "the wing of the flying apparatus was inspired on that of a bat."
 

Gabon Stamp showing the Ader bat-plane

Stamp showing Ader

In 1890, using da Vinci's concepts Clement Ader became the first man in history to be lifted off the ground in a powered aircraft of his own design. The bat winged EOLE (The Ruler of the Winds) with Ader seated inside took off at Armainvilliers on October 9, 1890, and flew a distance of 164 feet before crashing. The aircraft was destroyed. The craft was a single steam engine with a single propeller and the wings of the EOLE moved and flapped similar to that of a bat.

Ader was a stubborn person and chose to disregard the work of other French, English and United States aviation pioneers. He continued to base his aircraft designs upon the features of a bat flying. His use of a propeller was wise, but the flapping wing was a step backward. His calculations of weight and power (thrust) were also wrong.

Still a flight of 164 feet was quite an achievement, and as Ader emerged alive from the wreckage, he began planning for further experiments which were backed by the French government. Apparently the French government saw the military value of a powered aircraft.

Ader developed a series of aircraft called AVION I and AVION II but they both failed. By October 12, 1897, he had constructed the AVION III, similar to the EOLE and the earlier AVIONS, but this plane was powered with two steam engines. At the test flight, which Ader himself piloted, the AVION III managed only a few tentative hops (although Ader claimed that the AVION had actually flown) before it crashed and burned.

Ader's experiments though interesting led to a dead end. Since all of this information is true, why isn't Ader credited with the invention of the first successful airplane? The answer is that the Ader flight was a flight to nowhere. His invention could not be controlled, nor could it - once it left the ground - remain in the air. There was no rudder, its steam engine was too heavy and it was simply not powerful enough. Ader had no interest in controlling his aircrafts nor did he attempt to improve the basic engines of the period. Since the French government gave up on him after the failure of AVION III, Ader gave up on flying.
What is unique and remarkable about his efforts is that his airplanes did get off the ground and fly, albeit only 164 feet, and he did survive several crashes as Ader was the test pilot of all of his creations.  
 

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