Lyman Gilmore

Due to the requirement of a heavy boiler and the dependency on coal as a power source, the flights would have been unsustainable.

[1] Gilmore further added that (although he had not reported it until 1927) he made a controlled steam-powered flight on May 15, 1902;[1] however, all records and papers related to his aircraft were destroyed in a fire.

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

Gilmore began mining for gold and died a poor man in Nevada City, California.

The Lyman Gilmore Middle School in Grass Valley has the motto, "Flying into the Future" and a mural depicting first flight.