Chanute Glider

Chanute Glider. . , The glider you see above you and to your left was designed by Octave Chanute, whose statue you see on your right. In June of 1896 (ten years before Gary, Indiana was founded), Chanute, a leading civil engineer, came across Lake Michigan from Chicago and conducted a series of glider experiments between what is now Lake Street and Marquette Park. The most advanced of the gliders tested featured rigidly braced bi-plane wings. Here on Miller Beach, Chanute helped to lay the foundation for the birth of powered flight. He later became a friend and advisor of the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright and assisted their efforts towards the achievement of powered flight, the Chanute glider became the pattern for the Wright flier. Unique to all previous designs for flying machines, the rigidly trussed bi-plane wings became the standard for all airplanes up to World War II. While this reproduction is exact in size and shape, the materials are quite different. The original uprights were made of spruce and the wings of rattan and chemically treated silk. This reproduction uses solid steel for the uprights and galvanized tubing with sheet aluminum for the wings. The structure is designed to withstand fearsome Lake Michigan winds. The pilot was William Avery, a Chanute associate, who was dressed much like you see the pilot today. A replica of the Chanute’s 1896 camp is in the Chanute wing of this building and may be viewed on request by calling (219-938-8080). Experimental flights using the glider were performed on the beach in September of 1896 and again in 1897. The Wright Brothers contacted Chanute in 1900 and invented the first airplane using this design. In 1911, Wilbur Wright said of Octave Chanute after his death “… if he had not lived, the history of human flight would have been quite different from what it has been.", The glider was dedicated on August 16, 2014, and was made possible by the following committee Greg Reising, Mark J. Stern, Shannon Smith, Ed Rodriguez, James Mattull, Sean Smith, Judy Tonk, Ray Norman, Greg Gondell, Gina Bernardi and George A. Rogge and was constructed by the workers at Kidstuff Playsystems, Inc. for the Society for the Restoration of the Gary Bathing Beach Aquatorium and Octave Chanute's Place in History.