In 1909 the then-17-year old student of engineering Władysław Zalewski begun designing an airplane being essentially a scaled-down Farman. In 1911 he proceeded to construction works but financial constraints caused a break until 1913 when they resumed only to be interrupted again year later by the outbreak of the Great War, this time for good. Interestingly, already built elements managed to survive the war and years later some of them were used in construction of another Zalewski’s aircraft, the WZ-XI/XII.
Constructed by Italian aeronautical pioneer Count Francesco Zambeccari, who had served as an officer in the Spanish navy, fought against the Turks in 1787, and after three years of captivity in a Constantinople prison devoted himself to the study of lighter-than-air flight. Between 1803 and 1812 he made a number of ascents with balloons of his own conception. The balloons used were of the type known as rozières, consisting of hot air balloon in combination with a gas bag, the latter giving a constant buoyancy, while ascent and descent could be accomplished by regulating the flame of the hot air balloon, without expending gas or ballast. This was of course a very dangerous mixture. Zambeccari had several accidents and his death in 1912 was caused by burns suffered during the last of them.
Feng Yue #2 at the National Aviation Museum in Nanking.
Although the “Feng Ru No. 1″ airplane was damaged during the first test flight, it can be proven that it flew, and the Chinese immigrants in the USA were legitimately very proud. They continued to support Feng Ru’s airplane endeavors, and in January 1911 Yue started his new airplane”Feng. 2” in Oakland.
Yue launched his second airplane above the Piedmont hills on September 21, 1909. The Feng Yue #2 was Curtiss-like, but had some differences in the front elevator assembly.
This was the first airplane manufactured by an Oakland resident to fly in that area. Unfortunately, this airplane crashed as well after a twenty minute flight when the bolt holding the propeller shaft broke. Fong continued building planes, and in 1911, his plane stayed in the air for 40 minutes and landed without a mishap.
With financial support from other Chinese immigrants in the USA, Feng Yue began to build an airplane in 1906. In 1907, in Oakland, a city east of San Francisco, in spite of all kinds of difficulties, he constructed the Guangdong Airplane Factory. By 1909 he had built an aeroplane, the first which had been designed and built by a Chinese. He called it “Feng Ru No. 1”.
On September 21, 1909, Feng Ru completed the first test flight from a hill in the proximity of Oakland, which was witnessed by some American journalists as well as three of his coworkers. Feng Ru reached a height of 4.5 meters with his airplane, and flew some 800 meters along the hill. Thus, he was the first Chinese who had built and flown an airworthy airplane.
After approximately 20 minutes, the flight came to a sudden end when the propeller failed and the aeroplane fell to earth from a small height. Fortunately, Feng Ru got off with only a bad scare and was not hurt. The first one crashed into his own workshop, starting a fire that burned it to the ground.
Born on 15 December 1882 in the Yanping district of Kwangtung province, Fong Yue (or the now more accepted spelling of his name, Feng Ru, also seen as Fung Joe Guey and Feng Ru) came to the United States at the age of twelve, living and working in various parts of California and attended evening classes to study English before trying to settle in San Francisco in 1906. The earthquake spoiled his plan and sent him fleeing to Oakland. He developed an interest in machinery and electrical technology, spending his evenings home carrying on experiments to satisfy his curiosity. He designed and constructed electric motors and set up a wireless telegraph set in his own room. He was always interested in machinery, and one of the first things he did after arriving in Oakland was to organize an airplane manufacturing company, only a few years after the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk flight.
1904 brought the Japanese-Russian war in northeast China. Feng Ru participated in the happening in China in the USA, and he was conscious itself of the military meaning of the new flight apparatuses. He said: “Had we had thousands of airplanes at the Chinese border, the foreign forces would have surely been deterred.” Thus he decided to dedicate himself to the development of aviation in China.
Fong Yu in his Machine Shop, circa 1907
Within two years of founding the company in 1908, Fong Yue constructed his first airplane and even manufactured his own motor.
On its test flight the first one crashed into his own workshop, starting a fire that burned it to the ground. Assumably the airplane went with it, but Yue was undaunted, and built a second ship that he flew from the Piedmont Hills on 21 September 1909, as reported by Associated Press. After 20 minutes a bolt on its propeller shaft broke and it, too, crashed, and its creator was thrown out, but escaped injury. He returned to China in 1911 with his mechanic and two Curtiss planes, and built China’s first aircraft. Yue was killed in a crash there in 1912, but his legend is perpetuated by a play, “Dragonwings,” last presented, as known, in San Francisco 1992.
Undaunted, the aviation pioneer found space to build his second airplane which he launched above the Piedmont hills on September 21, 1909. This was the first airplane manufactured by an Oakland resident to fly in that area. Unfortunately, this airplane crashed as well after a twenty minute flight when the bolt holding the propeller shaft broke. Fong continued building planes, and in 1911, his plane stayed in the air for 40 minutes and landed without a mishap.
Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the prominent revolutionary who at the time was in the USA and had heard of the flights of the Chinese Feng Ru in Oakland. When he learned more of the successful test flights, Sun Yat Sen commended the flight pioneer Feng Ru’s courage and encouraged him to dedicate himself to aviation in China and help organize a national air force.
He did. In February 1911, Feng Ru made his way to China from Oakland, taking with him two airplanes. He wanted to develop aviation in China.
A revolution led by Sun Yat Sen caused the downfall of the Qing dynasty monarchy in China in October, 1911. Feng Ru participated in it and was appointed Captain of the Air Force by the revolutionary government of the Guangdong province. In March 1912, he built his first airplane in China, the very first airplane to be manufactured in China. At that time, the country as a whole acknowleged that Feng Ru had become the pioneer of Chinese aviation.
Later, he organized aviation shows on several occasions in China in order to popularize aviation among the Chinese. On August 25, 1912, at one of the shows in Guangzhou, Feng Ru crashed and died. He was only 29 years of age.
The contribution of Feng Ru to the development of aviation in China is not forgotten. After his death a monument for him was erected in Guangdong.
Swiss designed and built by Fritz Wullschleger and Albert Peier in 1913; their design of the triplane was uniquely implemented as the wing tips on the upper plane were folded down and on the lowest plane were folded up. The whole resulted in an almost closed-wing construction. As can be seen from other photographs of the machine, it was a two-seater, powered by a 5-cylinder Anzani air-cooled engine. Unfortunately the machine never got off the ground.
In 1911 Piotr Wróblewski-Salvez built in France in Berthaud factory at Ambrieu near Lyon a monoplane aircraft with partially metal construction (of fuselage) which made numerous successful flights (piloted by designer’s brother Gabriel Wróblewski-Salvez); one year later it was heavily modified and in July 1912 it made some flights with passengers, one of which was then-12-years old Antoine de Saint-Exupéry for whom it was his first flight.
W-IV 1913-15
Later Wróblewski-Salvez brothers built an improved design but during one of the test flights in 1914 it crashed, killing both brothers.
All Aero 