Clement
Adler was born in France in 1841. He became an engineer in Toulouse
and took a keen interest in aviation. He studied the flight of birds
and bats built small model flying machines. In 1872 he began experimenting
with a flapping wing machine. However, it failed because a man did
not have the strength to operate it.
Adler
was also an inventor who worked on the development of the telephone.
At the 1881 Paris Expedition of Electricity he demonstrated stereophonic
sound transmission by telephone. Later that year he patented his
invention.
In 1886
Adler began building a monoplane powered by a steam engine. It was
bat-shaped and had heavily cambered wings of 45.9 feet (14 m) span.
The Ecole was flown by Adler near Gretz on 9th October, 1890.
It rose about 6 inches off the ground and travelled about 165 feet
(50.29 m).
The French
War Ministry was impressed by Adler's achievement and commissioned
him to produce a new plane. It took him five years to build the
Avion III. Like the Ecole it had bat-shaped wings
that had a span of 52.5 feet (16 m). Powered by two steam engines
it had two tractor propellers.
The Avion
III underwent a secret test at the Sartory Military Base on
12th October, 1897. The engines were too heavy and too weak to lift
the machine off the ground. However, Adler falsely claimed that
he had flown about 1,000 feet (300 m). It was not until 1910 that
the French War Ministry admitted that Adler had been lying about
the achievements of the Avion III.
Clement Adler died in
1925.
