உலகத்தின் முதல் நவீன விமானம் இந்துக்கள் உருவாக்கியதே

ரைட் பிரதர்ஸ் தான் முதலில் நவீன விமானத்தை உருவாக்கியவர்கள் என்று ஆங்கிலேயர் எழுதிய வரலாறு கூறுகிறது.

ஆனால், அவர்களுக்கு 8 வருடங்களுக்கு முன்னரே இந்துக்கள் விமானத்தை ஓட்டியிருக்கின்றனர்.

இஸ்லாமிய ஆங்கில படையெடுப்புகளில் இந்தியர்கள் தோற்காமல் இருந்திருந்தால், உலக வரலாறு இந்தியர்களாலேயே எழுதப்பட்டிருக்கும்.


flight over Chowpatty that made history
18 Oct 2004, 1905 hrs IST,Pradeep Vijayakar,TNN

MUMBAI: As the roar of the engines of the Air Force jets died down when the air show ended on Sunday, there were a few whose thoughts went back to the first flight of a plane at the very Chowpatty beach over which the air show was held.

In 1895 an Indian pioneer flew what is said to be the first Indian plane in the air. The centenary year of the first successful flight, by the Wright brothers, was celebrated from December 17, 2003. But our own pioneer from Mumbai, Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, made an aircraft and had flown it eight years earlier. One of Talpade's students, P Satwelkar, has chronicled that his craft called 'Marutsakha'(Friend of the Winds) flew unmanned for a few minutes and came down.

Talpade belonged to the Pathare Prabhu community, one of the founder of Mumbai. According to aviation historians Mr Talpade used his knowledge of the Rig Vedas to build a plane. Orville and Wilbert Wright accomplished their feat in California on December 17,1903. Their flight lasted for 37 seconds.

The Wright brothers based the design of their aircraft by studying bird movements. Mr Talpade used the principle of solar energy combined with mercury to design his plane.

Pratap Velkar, in his book on the Pathare Prabhu community, says that Mr Talpade also studied the achievements of aviation pioneers like Alva Edison who flew in a balloon and survived a mishap in 1880. Mr Talpade's study included the experiment of machine gun inventor Hiram Maxim who propelled his steam plane down a slope. It did not take off for technical reasons.

In 1896 Samuel Langley's steam balloon flew at a height of 100 feet and a three quarters of a mile. Then came the famous Zeppelin 1900 which successfully flew at a height of 1100 feet after three attempts in Germany.

The first breakthrough in flying was made by a Brazlian, Santos D'Monte. He made 14 planes between 1901 and 1904 in his country. And he flew them himself. Many believe that Santos was the first successful flier and not the Wright Brothers.