Site of Quick Airplane
Construction And Flight
On this site, inventor and early aviation pioneer William Lafayette Quick and his sons designed and built the first airplane to be flown in the State of Alabama. Construction began in 1900. Awaiting an engine, it took nearly eight years to complete. Quick’s “Flying Machine” was among the first monoplanes to be flown in the United States When it went airborne on its first and only flight in April, 1908, in a pasture ½ mile northwest of here, across the Flint River. Restored, it is now on display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
(Reverse):
Quick’s mid-wing monoplane was made of wood harvested on the homeplace and cut in his sawmill and metal forged in his blacksmith shop. The design included an upright pilot position, fuselage-mounted engine, direct-drive propeller, three-wheel landing gear, and steerable tail wheel. On it only flight it sustained damage to its right wing and gear upon landing. Quick learned from this experience and designed an “Improved Flying Machine” which he patented in 1912. It included other unique features such as retractable landing gear, folding wings, ornithopter method of thrust propulsion, wing warp, and pitch control.
Marker is on Wallace Lane (County Highway 100) west of Billy D. Harbin Road, on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
