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3 unusual facts about William Samuel Henson


Stringfellow machine

The aerial steam carriage was designed by Stringfellow and William Samuel Henson in 1848, and is often considered to be the first practical design for a powered and manned flying machine, although only a model was ever flown.

William Samuel Henson

Henson appeared as a character in a fictional newspaper story by Edgar Allan Poe, which recounted a supposed trans-Atlantic balloon trip, in which Henson was one of the passengers on the balloon.

The Aerial Transit Company's publicist, Frederick Marriott, commissioned prints in 1843 depicting the Aerial Steam Carriage over the pyramids of Egypt, in India, and over London, England, and other places, which drew considerable interest from the public.



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