sonora2sonoma

A collection of short essays on my recollections of growing up in the Sierra foothills in the 1950s.

In 1913, my grandfather invented a motorized airplane. He obtained patents for his invention in the US and 6 other countries.

My grandfather, Tim, fabricated the aircraft in his machinist shop in San Mateo, back when the idea of airplanes was just beginning to get off the ground, so to speak.

Twenty-nine feet in length, the craft consisted of a long cylindrical fuselage, open on each end, with propellers affixed front and aft. It featured wings that were biplane by design, but rather than extending laterally, like other aircraft, they extended out the front and back. The wings could be raised and lowered to control lift.

The prototype Tim constructed was not designed to carry passengers: It was piloted remotely via cables my grandpa operated while riding ahead of the contraption on a motorcycle: At one time, he used to fly it down the main street of San Mateo on Sunday mornings.

As my father explained it to me, the open fuselage with the twin propellors at both the front and rear of the cylinder created an airflow through the body of the craft, presaging the later development of the jet engine.

I’ve thought it would be interesting to run that jet-flow idea by an aerospace engineer, but to date I’ve yet to meet one.

I was never told the story of whatever came of my grandfather’s airplane. Subsequent aircraft favored the more traditional design featuring wings perpendicular to the fuselage—obviously the winner in the design competition.

I’ve always wondered how the lack of lateral wings affected the flight stability of my grandfather’s airplane. The ubiquitous lateral-wing design seemed more intuitive.

Again, though, that’s nothing but pure speculation on my part, as I have absolutely no knowledge that would qualify me to speak on the topic beyond a layman’s level.

I wish I’d been old enough to ask my grandfather these questions, and many more, while he was still around, but he flew off to the Great Beyond when I was just a few months shy of ten years old.

***

One of the occasional twists of irony that make life such an interesting and rewarding affair occurred decades after Tim invented his airplane. Concerned over the growing threat to our nation following the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor, my grandfather contributed to the war effort by donating another of his inventions—an anti-aircraft gunsight—to the United States Navy.  

To be continued: