Lyman Gilmore

Lyman Wiswell Gilmore

Lyman Wiswell Gilmore, Jr. (June 11, 1874 Beaver Creek, Thurston County, Washington- February 18, 1951) was an aviation pioneer. In Grass Valley, California, USA, he built a steam-powered airplane and claimed that he flew it on May 15, 1902. Due to the requirement of a heavy boiler and the dependency on coal as a power source, the flights would have been short. Proofs of his claim were lost in a 1935 hangar fire.

First flight

Gilmore, in a 1936 interview, reported a successful tethered glider flight in 1893^[1] and a free glider flight in 1894.^[1] Gilmore further added that (although he had not reported it until 1927) he made a controlled steam-powered flight on May 15, 1902,^[1] however all records and papers related to his aircraft were destroyed in a fire.^[2]

There are photographs from 1898 showing Gilmore's machine, but none showing it in the air. The claims of the aircraft achieving flight are unconfirmed, and given the weight evident by the grounded aircraft photos, the possibility of flight is highly disputed.

Personal life

Some people who remember him claim that Lyman Gilmore, an eccentric man, vowed to never cut his hair or beard, and wore a trench coat even in the middle of summer.^{[citation needed]}

Work

Lyman Gilmore was in contact with other flight pioneers like Samuel Langley and, eventually, the Wright brothers.

In 1902, Gilmore was granted two patents on steam engines, the first of which was granted in 1902. He invented in other areas too, for example a rotary snowplow. On March 15, 1907, Gilmore opened the first commercial airfield, Gilmore Airfield, in Grass Valley. There is now middle school named in his honor on the site of the airfield.

Local legend says Gilmore wore the same long coat for years and was never far from it. It continues to say that when he was involuntarily hospitalized for his last illness the coat and all of his long-worn clothing were burned. While he had never accumulated much money, it was said that all he had was sewn into the lining of that coat and was destroyed with it.

Gilmore's second, larger airplane

Drawing of the smaller first plane

In 1935, Lyman's airplane hanger and the two aging monoplanes were destroyed by fire.^[3] The printed story indicated accidental causes, but another version hinted that the fire was retribution for a dead dog ostensibly shot by Gilmore. The fire cancelled plans to exhibit the larger monoplane at the World Fair in Chicago. Gilmore began mining for gold and died a poor man in Nevada City, California. His grave can be found in Pine Grove Cemetery, about a half mile outside of town.

The Lyman Gilmore Elementary School in Grass Valley has the motto, "Flying into the Future" and photos of a mural depicting flight.^[4] School children did a YouTube presentation about Gilmore including old video footage of Gilmore and an interview with people who knew him.^[5]

See also

• Early flight - for other pre-Wright-brothers inventors.
• Mystery airship
• Lyman Gilmore Middle School

References

Books

Land, R.A., America's First Commercial Airfield and Lyman Gilmore Junior. Xlibris publishing, 2006. Biography.

Notes

ROBERT S. SLAGLE, SR. August 1, 2013

I am writing this note to clear some details about Lyman Gilmore, my father was Lymans great nephew. I received an article from Argosy magazine in the 1970s regarding Lymams airplane hanger around 1907 with one aircraft built to carry (8) eight people and another aircraft with an internal combustion engine. Amazingly historians dug up four type written manuscript pages describing Lymans accomplishments. The pages told of a flight which took place on May 15, 1902 when the aviaton pioneer flew a 32-foot span monoplane glider, powered by a steam engine.

Quote: GWEN YOUNT GARDEN, who created this article for Argosy Magazine.

External links

• http://www.aerofiles.com/_ga.html
• http://www.ncngrrmuseum.org/
• http://www.flyingmachines.org/gilmore.html