Frederick Marriott - First Flight

First Flight

In 1841, in London, England, Marriott was one of three board members in the Aerial Transit Company (the other two were John Stringfellow and William Samuel Henson). Marriott was responsible for the illustrations and publicity campaign for their planned airship, the "Ariel". The plane captured the imagination of the public and the company constructed and flew a small glider, but after a failure to build a larger working model and lacking funds, the company folded. Henson married and moved to the United States, while Stringfellow continued aeronautical experiments. Marriott moved to California during the Gold Rush of 1849.

The Hermes Avitor Jr. was built in the basement of the publishing building largely by candlelight and took flight at San Jose, CA's Shellmount Park racetrack near the current San Francisco International Airport. According to a Scientific American journalist (July 31, 1869) the aircraft took about 6 minutes to fill and flew at about 5 miles per hour. On a subsequent flight, however, the aircraft burned completely and was lost. A replica of the craft is on display at the Hiller Aviation Museum. This was not a manned craft.

Black Friday, a stock market crash in 1869 put an end to the efforts of Marriott to fly a lighter-than-air plane, although he did work on a heavier-than-air triplane in the mid 1870s. His nephew, John Joseph Montgomery was inspired by these experiments and became a significant figure in the history of flight.

Frederick Marriott died in San Francisco, CA on December 16, 1884.