Friday, September 20, 2024

Question: What Texan is remembered for his attempts at powered flight in the 1860s?

Answer: Jacob Brodbeck. Born in Germany in 1821, he settled in Fredericksburg in 1847, where he worked as a school teacher and administrator. In 1863, he built a model of a flying machine and persuaded a number of investors to help him build a full-scale version. He is reported to have performed a test flight near Luckenbach in 1865, during which his airship, powered by a propeller wound with a spring, rose to a height of 12 feet, crashing after traveling a distance of 100 feet. Although Brodbeck was not injured, his investors backed out of the project. According to other accounts, this event occurred in 1868 in San Antonio’s San Pedro Park, where a bust of Brodbeck is displayed. No drawings or blueprints of Brodbeck’s craft have survived.