19 Facts About Ferdinand Ferber

Louis Ferdinand Ferber was a French Army officer who played an important role in the development of aviation during the early 1900s.

Ferdinand Ferber then constructed a similar but smaller second machine, which he attempted to fly both as a kite and by towing it behind a horse, without much success.

In early 1901 Ferdinand Ferber was transferred from Fontainbleu to Nice, where he was placed in command of the 17th Alpine Battery of the 19th Regiment.

In 1901 Ferdinand Ferber became aware of the aeronautical experiments of Octave Chanute, a French-born American civil engineer, as a result of reading an article in the Revue Scientifique published in the issue dated 1 June 1901.

Ferdinand Ferber wrote to Chanute, and through him learnt of the experiments of the Wright Brothers, receiving a copy of Wilbur Wright's paper "Some Aeronautical Experiments" which had been published in the Journal of the Western Society of Engineers in December 1901.

Ferdinand Ferber then built his fifth aircraft, based on photographs of the Wright's 1901 glider.

Ferdinand Ferber did not attend Chanute's lecture to the Aero Club de France in April 1903, but after hearing of it he wrote to Ernest Archdeacon, one of the founder members of the Aero Club.

Ferdinand Ferber's letter asked Archdeacon to use his influence to get the Aero Club to announce a prize for a glider flight, and contained the exhortation.

Ferdinand Ferber then built another aircraft very similar to his 1902 glider.

Ferdinand Ferber wrote that trials of this machine "were completely useless, but drew public attention to aviation".

Shortly after this Charles Renard, commander of the French Army balloon school at Chalais-Meudon, invited Ferdinand Ferber to join this establishment, and he took up this new post in early May 1904.

Ferdinand Ferber constructed another aircraft, the Type VI, notable for its use of a rear-mounted horizontal stabiliser and featuring dihedral in an attempt to obtain lateral stability.

In June 1905 Ferdinand Ferber wrote to the Wright Brothers offering to buy one of their machines.

The Wrights were unwilling to do this but their reply, dated 9 October 1905, detailed the flights they had recently made, and so Ferdinand Ferber was the first European to learn of these achievements.

In 1908, Ferdinand Ferber founded the Ligue Nationale Aerienne with the help of the well-known physiologist Rene Quinton.

In May 1908 Ferdinand Ferber addressed the group at Quinton's suggestion and after receiving a standing ovation for his accomplishments in aviation, Quinton was inspired to establish a 10,000 francs prize for the first person to fly for 5 minutes with engine stopped and without losing more than 50 metres altitude.

Captain Ferdinand Ferber was killed on 22 September 1909 at a flying meeting in Boulogne, when, attempting a turn at low altitude in a Voisin biplane, one wing struck the ground.

Ferdinand Ferber was only the third victim of an aeroplane accident after Thomas Selfridge and Eugene Lefebvre.

Ferdinand Ferber was buried at the Cemetery of Loyasse in Lyon.