Clément Ader was a French engineer who played a large role in the development of the telephone. He was interested in aviation and built Éole, a steam-powered machine which apparently left the ground under its own power in 1890. He was able to get funding from the military to build a larger machine called Avion No. 3 (Éole was No. 1, No. 2 was abandoned). Ader claimed that he flew No. 3, but there is no evidence. Here we see No. 3 on display at the Paris Aero Salon. It is preserved today at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris. Be sure to click on the image to see the bat-like winds and the propellers, which are modelled on feathers.
The image comes from a wonderful resource, all issues of Flight magazine from 1909 to 2005:
I wore my red shirt today.
It rained. I got out for a short walk at lunch time.
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