Уильям Генсон: Ұшудың алғашқы жасампазы және инженері

British born aviation pioneer, engineer and inventor

William Samuel Henson (3 May 1812 – 22 March 1888) was a British born pre Wright brothers aviation pioneer, engineer and inventor. He is best known for his work on the aerial steam carriage alongside John Stringfellow.

Henson was born in Nottingham, England on 3 May 1812. Henson was involved in lace making in Chard and he obtained a patent on improved lace making machines in 1835. Henson is best known as an early pioneer in aviation but he patented many other inventions, some of which are in wide use today. In 1849 William Henson and his wife, Sarah, left England and moved to the United States, joining his father and settling in Newark, New Jersey. Henson never did any further aviation research while in the United States and worked as a machinist, civil engineer and inventor. He had 7 children, only 4 of whom lived to adulthood. Henson remained in the United States for the remainder of his life, except for a short period between 1864 and 1866 when he lived in Peru. died on 22 March 1888 in Newark, New Jersey. He and most of his family were buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Orange, New Jersey.

Starting c. 1838, Henson became interested in aviation. In April 1841 he patented an improved lightweight steam engine, and with fellow lacemaking engineer John Stringfellow in c. 1842 he designed a large passenger carrying steam powered monoplane, with a wing span of 150 feet, which he named the "Henson Aerial Steam Carriage". He received a patent on it in 1843 along with Stringfellow. Henson, Stringfellow, Frederick Marriott, and D. E. Colombine, incorporated as the Aerial Transit Company in 1843 in England, with the intention of raising money to construct the flying machine. Henson built a scale model of his design, which made one tentative steam powered "hop" as it lifted, or bounced, off its guide wire. Attempts were made to fly the small model, and a larger model with a 20 foot wing span, between 1844 and 1847, without success. Henson grew discouraged, married and emigrated in 1849 to the United States, while Stringfellow continued to experiment with aviation. 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. Henson and Stringfellow are frequently mentioned in books on the history of aviation. The Royal Aeronautical Society holds annual "Henson Stringfellow" lectures; as of 2008 they have held 52. A glacier in Antarctica is named after him due to his work in aviation (Henson Glacier: 64'06'S, 60'11'W). Henson and Stringfellow were referred to in the 1965 film The Flight of the Phoenix.

The Aerial's wings were rectangular, and were formed by wooden spars covered with fabric, and braced, internally and externally, with wires. The Aerial Steam Carriage was to be powered by two contra rotating six bladed propellers mounted in the rear in a push type system. The design follows earlier "birdlike" gliders, and the ideas of George Cayley, and Henson corresponded with Cayley in an attempt to obtain funding after the efforts to obtain the support of Parliament and sell stock failed. The Aerial Transit Company never built the largest version of the Aerial Steam Carriage because of the failed attempts with the medium sized model. Henson, Stringfellow, Marriott and Colombine dissolved the company around 1848.

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. The prints have appeared on several stamps of various countries. Marriott later became an aviation pioneer in California.