Aerial navigator, born in Paris, France. He went to the USA when his family emigrated in 1838, and went on to a successful career as a civil engineer, building iron railroad bridges. His favourite pastime was the study of aerial navigation, and he conducted the first scientific experiments in America on gliding (18967). He constructed a biplane glider which the Wright Brothers used as a model for their own first glider. In addition to piloting gliders, he wrote pioneering works on the engineering and navigational problems of flight.
Octave Chanute (18 February 1832 - November 23, 1910) was an American railroad engineer and aviation pioneer.
Railroad Engineering
Octave Chanute was widely considered a brilliant and innovative railroad engineer.
Chanute invented a system for pressure treating rail ties and telephone poles with creosote to preserve them. He also introduced the railroad date nail into the United States - a simple and efficient way of recording the age of railroad ties and other wooden structures by date stamping the heads of nails.
Aviation
Chanute first became interested in aviation during a visit to Europe in 1875.
Following his systematic engineering background, Chanute first collected all the data that he could find from flight experimenters around the world.
At the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Chanute organised a highly successful International Conference on Aerial Navigation.
Chanute was too old to attempt to fly himself. In 1896 and 1897 Chanute, Herring and Avery tested gliders based on designs by German aviator Otto Lilienthal, as well as gliders of their own design, on the shores of Lake Michigan in what is now Gary, Indiana not far from Chicago.
These experiments convinced Chanute that the best way to achieve extra lift without a prohibitive increase in weight was to stack several wings one above the other. Chanute invented the "strut-wire" braced structure that would be used in all biplanes of the future.
Chanute corresponded with many early aviators, including Louis Mouillard, Gabriel Voisin, Louis Blériot and Alberto Santos Dumont. In 1897 Chanute started a correspondence with British aviator Percy Pilcher. Following Chanute's ideas, Pilcher designed a triplane, but he was killed in a glider crash before he could build it.
Chanute was in contact with the Wright brothers from 1900, when Wilbur Wright wrote to him after reading Progress in Flying Machines. Chanute helped to publicise the Wright brothers' work, and provided consistent encouragement, making several visits to their camp near Kitty Hawk.
Chanute freely shared his knowledge about aviation with anyone who was interested and expected others to do the same. The friendship was still impaired when Chanute died in 1910, although Wilbur Wright delivered the eulogy at Chanute's funeral.
The town of Chanute, Kansas is named after him, as well as the former Chanute Air Force Base near Rantoul, Illinois, which was decommissioned in 1993. The former Base, now turned to peacetime endeavors, includes the "Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum", detailing the history of aviation and of Chanute Air Force base. Octave Chanute Progress in Flying Machines
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