Was an Indian, The First Man to Fly?

This article is somewhat controversial from our previously written articles as the contents related to this topic are not completely based on strong published evidence of any scientific journal but from different web resources so we can’t claim its authenticity.

This is the story of an Indian who is claimed by many to have flown 1^st aircraft eight years before the Wright Brothers flew their plane in 1903. We are talking about Shivkar Bapuji Talpade. He was an Indian instructor in the Sir JJ School of Art with an interest in Sanskrit and in aviation. He lived in Bombay and is claimed to have constructed and flown an unmanned, heavier-than-air aircraft in 1895. Yes the aircraft claimed was unmanned so it should be compared with a drone and not with an airplane and unmanned aircraft (drone) built by English engineer John Stringfellow existed as early as 1848, but still, Talpade developed a reputation as the "first man to fly an aircraft" by many in our country.

Anyway it’s an interesting thought to have that a common man of 18^th century India had such interest in aviation science and technology and to commemorate him Bollywood has even made the movie ‘Hawaizaada (2015)’ starring Ayushmann Khurrana.

Read more on this topic, go to Dr. Enrico Baccarini's article 📜