William Samuel Henson (3 May 1812 – 22 March 1888) was a British-born pre-Wright brothers aviation pioneer, engineer and inventor.

[4] In 1849 William Henson and his wife, Sarah, left England and moved to the United States, joining his father and settling in Newark, New Jersey.

Colombine, incorporated as the Aerial Transit Company in 1843 in England, with the intention of raising money to construct the flying machine.

Henson built a scale model of his design, which made one tentative steam-powered "hop" as it lifted, or bounced, off its guide wire.

Henson grew discouraged, married and emigrated in 1849 to the United States, while Stringfellow continued to experiment with aviation.

The Aerial's wings were rectangular, and were formed by wooden spars covered with fabric, and braced, internally and externally, with wires.

The Aerial Steam Carriage was to be powered by two contra-rotating six-bladed propellers mounted in the rear in a push-type system.

[15] He patented and submitted a proposal for an improved low-recoil breech-loading cannon design to the US Navy in 1861; it was rejected as impractical.