The airframe was made from scrap timber collected from a sawmill,[5] with the flying surfaces covered in cotton.
[7] Inspired by the Wright Brothers[5][8] and pioneering European aviators,[5] Epps first conceived of the design at the age of sixteen.
[9] In 1909, he built the aircraft in the workshop of his bicycle, electrical contracting, and automobile repair business on Washington Street, Athens.
[10] In his 2016 book "To Lasso the Clouds," and his article published in the April 2017 issue of Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine, Dan A. Aldridge Jr. detailed how the history of this plane was misconstrued for decades.
The book shows how the Epps aircraft was actually the first monoplane to fly in the United States, predating by 106 days the monoplane flight of Henry Walden, who allegedly has been mistakenly credited with the historic milestone for many years.