Matthew Bacon Sellers Jr. (March 29, 1869 – April 5, 1932) was a United States inventor and scientist known for pioneering work with airplanes.

Only 5 years after the historic Wright Brothers flight, he built and flew his own airplane, making such innovations as the first patent on retractable landing gear, and an ultra-lightweight design.

[3] Sellers Jr. would later build a large farm house in the rural and mountainous area, continuing to live in Baltimore as his primary residence until 1918, and traveling to Kentucky on occasion.

[3] In 1903, the same year the Wright Brothers made their historic first flight, Sellers was the first to determine the lift and drift of arched surfaces, by means of a wind tunnel he built himself.

[5] In 1915, President Wilson, on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, appointed Sellers to serve as one of two representatives of the Aeronautical Society of America on the newly formed Naval Consulting Board.

[11] Sellers also spent time in Georgia, North Carolina, and eventually settled in Ardsley-on-Hudson, New York, where he married Ethel Clark in 1918 at age 49, she was many years younger.

[5] By this time the cutting edge of aircraft design was maturing into an industry, and the pioneering days of experimental machines by one designer/builder/flyer were passing.

[5] Misfortune continued to follow Sellers - while visiting friends in Larchmont, New York, in early 1932, he became ill after exposure to a cold wind from Long Island Sound.

[7] In 1967, aviation historian Edward Peck learned of Sellers achievements and began collecting artifacts, documents, photos, and oral histories.

[5] Blakemore burned in 1974 during restoration, and his work shop that survived the fire was destroyed by a tornado in 1979 while in storage at the New England Air Museum.

[5][12] An airplane control bar from the quadruplane was donated to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, where it is sometimes on display, along with other physical and written artifacts from Sellers.