Clément Ader, (b. Feb. 4, 1841, Muret, France--d. March 5, 1926, Toulouse) was an early enthusiast of aviation who constructed a balloon at his own expense during the Franco-German War of 1870-71.  In 1876 he quit his job in the Administration of Bridges and Highways to make more money to support his hobby.  His early inventions in electrical-communications included a microphone and a public-address device.  He then focused on the problem of heavier-than-air flying machines and in 1890 built a steam-powered, bat-winged monoplane, which he named the Eole (pictured below).
 
 

On October 9 he flew it a distance of 50 m (160 feet) on a friend's estate near Paris. The steam engine was unsuitable for sustained and controlled flight, which required the gasoline engine; nevertheless, Ader's short hop was the first demonstration that a manned heavier-than-air machine could take off from level ground under its own power. Between 1894 and 1897 Clément Ader built a larger but still 'batlike' twin screw machine which he named the Avion.  In all he worked on 3 flying machines:  the Eole, Avion II, and AvionIII, but the Avion II was never completed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Avion III  at the Paris Exposition Universelle (built in 1897)	Avion III on display today

 
 
 
 

This plane employed two steam engines to drive tractor propellers. This particular project was aborted after two failed tests in front of military witnesses in 1897.  The more than 100 year old machine is now preserved at the Musee de l'Air at Le Bourget, France. .Later on, when work began on Avion IV, the French Army had already lost interest in flying machines, and they terminated his contract the following year.
 
 

Links to information about Clement Ader:
 
 

http://home.att.net/~dannysoar2/eole.htm
 

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