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in category History

Was Abbass ibn Firnas the first to attempt flight preceding Davinci and the Wright brothers?

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An Algerian historian called Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari (d. 1632) mentioned this attempt seven centuries after the death of Abbas ibn Firnas.

Among other very curious experiments which he made, one is his trying to fly. He covered himself with feathers for the purpose, attached a couple of wings to his body, and, getting on an eminence, flung himself down into the air, when according to the testimony of several trustworthy writers who witnessed the performance, he flew a considerable distance, as if he had been a bird, but, in alighting again on the place whence he had started, his back was very much hurt, for not knowing that birds when they alight come down upon their tails, he forgot to provide himself with one (Townsend White Jr., Eilmer of Malmesbury, an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technological Innovation, Its Context and Tradition", Technology and Culture 2 (2), p. 97-111

However he says no sources support this other than a vague mention in a ninth century poem he claims alludes to Abbas's actual flight.

There are apparently no surviving sources to verify this claim.


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