anazo16 [Aight over Chowpaty that mada istory - Times of Inia
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THE TIMES OF INDIA
A flight over Chowpatty that made history
TNN | Oct 18, 2004,
15 PM IST
UMBAL: As the roar of the engines of the Air Force jets died down when the air show ended on Sunday, there were
a few whose thoughts went back to the first flight of a plane at the very Chowpatty beach over which the air show
was held
In 1895 an Indian pioneer flew what is said to be the first Indian plane in the air, The centenary year of the first successful
flight, by the Wright brothers, was celebrated from December 17, 2003, But our own pioneer from Mumbai, Shivkar Bapuji
Talpade, made an aircraft and had flown it eight years earlier. One of Talpade's students, P Satwelkar, has chronicled that his
craft called 'Marutsakhal(Friend of the Winds) flew unmanned for a few minutes and came down
Talpade belonged to the Pathare Prabhu community, one of the founder of Mumbai, According to aviation historians Mr
Talpade used his knowledge of the Rig Vedas to build a plane, Orville and Wilbert Wright accomplished their feat in California
on December 17,1903. Their flight lasted for 37 seconds.
The Wright brothers based the design of their aircraft by studying bird movements. Mr Talpade used the principle of solar
energy combined with mercury to design his plane
Pratap Velkar, in his book on the Pathare Prabhu community, says that Mr Talpade also studied the achievements of aviation
pioneers like Alva Edison who flew in a balloon and survived a mishap in 1880. Mr Talpade's study included the experiment of
machine gun inventor Hiram Maxim who propelled his steam plane down a slope. It did not take off for technical reasons
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In 1896 Samuel Langley's steam balloon flew at a height of 100 feet and a three quarters of a mile. Then came the famous
Zeppelin 1900 which successfully flew at a height of 1100 feet after three attempts in Germany.
The first breakthrough in flying was made by a Brazlian, Santos D'Monte. He made 14 planes between 1901 and 1904 in his
country. And he flew them himself, Many believe that Santos was the first successful flier and not the Wright Brothers.
According to Mr Velkar, Mr Talpade studied these flights which inspired him to make an aircraft and fly. Mr Talpade was.
staying at what is today Nagindas Shah Marg in Girgaum in the bustling heart of Mumbai. The frame of the historic plane was
gathering dust at his house after his death. One of his nieces, Roshan Talpade, has been quoted by Mr Velkar's book saying the
family used to sit in the aircraft's frame and imagine they were flying. At a recent exhibition on flying at Vile Parle, a model of
Marutsakha’ was exhibited.
Mr Velkar regrets that Mr Talpade's plane has not found a place in the aviation museum at Nehru Centre, noris there a
memorial to his feat at Chowpatty
However some documents relating to his experiment have been preserved at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore.
At an aeronautical conference in Chennai Talpade's flight was discussed by foreign delegates. D H Bedekar, one-time principal
defence scientific officer, has said Mr Talpade's plane for some technical reasons failed to operate to its full design limits
Talpade wanted to unravel the mystery with further experiments. He even made an appeal for funds some Rs 50,000 at a
public meeting in Ahmedabad he had addressed. But to no avail. As his biographer,Professor Kelkar, wrote: "His efforts crashed
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like a bird whose wings are slashed.
In contrast the US army donated 25,000 dollars to the Wright brothers to pursue their feat. In turn the brothers’ invention
redefined how the US fought its wars.
Alas, as planes zoomed over Chowpatty on Sunday nothing was recounted about an Indian visionary whose flight of fancy
remains in the throes of anonymity.
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