Mozhaysky, Aleksandr Fyodorovich

Aleksandr Fyodorovich Mozhaysky, (born March 9, 1825, Rochensalm, Russia [now Kotka, Fin.]—died March 20, 1890, St. Petersburg), Russian naval officer and early experimenter with winged flying machines.

Having conducted his own studies of aerodynamic phenomena, Mozhaysky constructed a series of flying models and kites. One account suggests that he designed a glider and was towed into the air by horses. His plans for a full-scale powered flying machine were studied and approved by a government commission that included the great Russian chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev. Mozhaysky’s aircraft apparently made a short hop into the air following a run down a launch ramp in 1884. The French pioneer Felix du Temple had made the first powered hop under similar circumstances as early as 1857–58. Mozhaysky’s aeronautical experiments were almost completely unknown until rediscovered by Soviet propagandists, who falsely portrayed him as the inventor of the airplane.