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[[Image:Gilmore-Lyman 01.jpg|thumb|Lyman Wiswell Gilmore]]

'''Lyman Wiswell Gilmore, Jr.''' (June 11, 1874 – February 18, 1951) was an [[aviation]] pioneer. In [[Grass Valley, California]], he built a steam-powered airplane and claimed that he flew it on May 15, 1902. Due to the requirement of a heavy boiler and the dependency on coal as a power source, the flights would have been unsustainable. Records and evidence relating to his claim were lost in a 1935 hangar fire.

== First flight ==
Gilmore, in a 1936 interview, reported a successful tethered glider flight in 1893<ref name="Lyman Gilmore">{{cite journal |last1=Elam|first1=F. Leland|year=1936|title=Lyman Gilmore, Jr. – Pioneer|journal=Popular Aviation|volume=18|issue=April|pages=247–248 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G-ZSNuX1jzQC&dq=Lyman+Gilmore+aviation&pg=PA247}}</ref> and a free glider flight in 1894.<ref name="Lyman Gilmore"/> Gilmore further added that (although he had not reported it until 1927) he made a controlled steam-powered flight on May 15, 1902;<ref name="Lyman Gilmore"/> however, all records and papers related to his aircraft were destroyed in a fire.<ref>{{cite journal |year=1934|title=The Gilmore Brothers Were Real Pioneers|journal=Popular Aviation|volume=15|issue=5|pages=312 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V56iKQkRhOQC&dq=Lyman+Gilmore+aviation&pg=PA312}}</ref>

There are photographs from 1898 showing Gilmore's machine, but none showing it in the air. The claims of the aircraft achieving flight are unconfirmed, and given the weight evident by the grounded aircraft photos, the possibility of flight is highly unlikely.

== Work ==
Lyman Gilmore was in contact with other flight pioneers like [[Samuel Langley]] and, eventually, the [[Wright brothers]].

In 1902, Gilmore was granted two patents on [[steam engine]]s. He invented in other areas too: for example, a rotary [[snowplow]]. On March 15, 1907, Gilmore opened the first commercial [[airfield]], Gilmore Airfield, in Grass Valley. There is now a middle school named in his honor on the site of the airfield.

[[Image:Gilmore monoplane.jpg|300px|thumb|Gilmore's second, larger airplane]]
[[File:Gilmore plane drawing.png|300px|thumb|Drawing of the smaller first plane]]
In 1935, Lyman's airplane hangar and the two aging monoplanes were destroyed by fire.<ref>"Lyman Gilmore Jr. - Aeronautical Pioneer" by Stephen Barber. ''Nevada County Historical Society'', Volume 30, No. 2. (April, 1976).</ref> The fire cancelled plans to exhibit the larger monoplane at the World Fair in Chicago. Gilmore began mining for gold and died a poor man in [[Nevada City, California]]. His grave can be found in Pine Grove Cemetery, about a half mile outside of town.

The Lyman Gilmore Middle School in Grass Valley has the motto, "Flying into the Future" and a mural depicting first flight.<ref>Lyman Gilmore Elementary School. {{cite web |url=http://gilmore.ca.gvm.schoolinsites.com/ |title=Lyman Gilmore Middle School |access-date=2013-07-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130721174500/http://gilmore.ca.gvm.schoolinsites.com/ |archive-date=2013-07-21 }}</ref> School children made a YouTube presentation about Gilmore including old video footage of Gilmore and an interview with people who knew him.<ref>"In Search of Lyman Gilmore"--a student production as an entry in the California Preservation Foundation film contest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdUOe0vdJhA</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Early flight]] - for other pre-Wright-brothers inventors.
* [[Mystery airship]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* http://www.aerofiles.com/_ga.html
* http://www.ncngrrmuseum.org/
* http://www.flyingmachines.org/gilmore.html

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilmore, Lyman}}
[[Category:1874 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Thurston County, Washington]]
[[Category:Aviation inventors]]
[[Category:Discovery and invention controversies]]
[[Category:History of aviation]]
[[Category:People from Nevada City, California]]
[[Category:People from Grass Valley, California]]

Lyman Gilmore - Revision history

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