Augustus Moore Herring

Lore & Background

Augustus Moore Herring was born in Covington, Georgia, to William F. Herring, a wealthy cotton broker, and Cloe Perry Conyers. He studied in Switzerland and Germany before his family settled in New York in 1884. As a student at the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1885–86, he built models of flying machines. By 1893 he had built a full-sized glider, which he crashed when trying to leave the ground. He studied Otto Lilienthal's work and in 1894 built a Type 11-monoplane glider based on Lilienthal's 1893 German patent.

Herring was hired by Octave Chanute to build and test aircraft models, and later by Samuel Pierpont Langley in 1895. He was rehired by Chanute in January 1896 but continued his own experiments. In December 1896 he applied for a patent for a motor-powered, controllable flying machine, but the application was rejected. On October 10, 1898, he telegraphed Chanute to witness a powered flight attempt at Silver Beach Amusement Park in St. Joseph, Michigan, using a compressed air engine, but could not get airborne. On October 24, 1898, he was reported to have made a flight slightly above the ground for more than 70 feet in 10 seconds, witnessed by two locals.

In 1909 Herring joined Glenn Curtiss to form the Herring-Curtiss Company, but left the next year to work with Starling Burgess. He left Burgess after a year due to disagreements. He later sued Curtiss, claiming he had been cheated out of his property and ideas, asserting a patent for which no proof was found. During World War I he did some aviation design work for the United States Army. He was partially paralyzed by a series of strokes and died in 1926 at age 59, survived by his wife Lillian Mellen. Three years after his death, his estate won a lawsuit against Curtiss with a sizeable financial award.

Reader's Guide

Augustus Moore Herring occupies a contested place in early aviation history. His 1898 flight of more than 70 feet in 10 seconds using a compressed air engine is sometimes promoted by Michigan boosters as the first powered, heavier-than-air flight. However, aviation historian Phil Scott, in The Shoulders of Giants, does not consider Herring a candidate for first flight, noting that his glider was difficult to steer and his engine could operate for only 30 seconds at a time. Scott views Herring's achievement as essentially hang-gliding with an engine added.

Herring's defenders argue that his method of steering by shifting body weight is analogous to modern hang-gliding, and that this was superseded by the Wright Brothers' three-axis control system. The lack of a granted patent and the failure of his 1898 attempt to achieve sustained, controlled flight weaken his claim. Nonetheless, Herring's work with Chanute and Langley, and his later collaboration with Curtiss, place him among the early experimenters who contributed to the development of powered flight. His posthumous legal victory over Curtiss underscores the contentious nature of aviation's early patent battles.

Did You Know?

• Herring's 1898 powered flight attempt used a compressed air engine that could operate for only 30 seconds at a time.
• He applied for a patent for a motor-powered flying machine in December 1896, but the application was rejected.
• Herring joined Glenn Curtiss in 1909 to create the Herring-Curtiss Company.