Maurice FarmanBorn 21 Mar 1877; died 25 Feb 1964 at age 86.Maurice Alain Farman was a French aircraft designer and aircraft manufacturer who contributed greatly to early aviation. In 1908, with his brother Henri Farman, he made the first circular flight of over 1-km, completing a 1.6-km (one-mile) flight near Paris. They built a plane the following year and flew a record distance of 160 km (100 miles). Four years after that, the two brothers started their own aviation company at Boulogne-sur-Seine, supplying the army in France and other countries. The UK also made use of Farman's inventions, for example, air-screw reduction gears, in WW II. In 1917 the Farman brothers built the first long-distance passenger plane, the Goliath. They were born of English parents in Paris. |
