Charles M. Manly

Manly and Samuel Langley

The aircraft "The Great Aerodrome"

Charles Matthews Manly (* 1876 ; † 1927 ) was an American engineer and aviation pioneer who built the aircraft "The Great Aerodrome ", a manned, motorized aircraft, on behalf of Samuel Langley of the Smithsonian Institution at the beginning of the 20th century Wings, which, however, was unsuitable for flying.

Together with Stephen Balzer, Manly played a major role in the development of the aircraft's revolutionary propulsion system, a gasoline-powered radial engine with 5 cylinders and 52 hp, the so-called Manly-Balzer machine .

Manly tried twice to fly the Aerodrome himself. The experiments took place in October and December 1903. The plane failed both times and fell into the waters of the Potomac River after taking off from a houseboat . Manly was rescued uninjured, although he was briefly trapped underwater during the second test. Glenn Curtiss then successfully flew the same machine and a modified aircraft.

Manly later wrote a monograph on the machine, which greatly downplayed Balzer's contribution. Manly also held over 50 patents related to self-driving vehicles, power generation and transmission.

In 1929 he was posthumously awarded the Smithsonian Institution's Langley Gold Medal .

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personal data
SURNAME	Manly, Charles M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Manly, Charles Matthews
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American engineer and aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH	1876
DATE OF DEATH	1927