DID PENNINGTON BUILD THE 1897 U.S.A. AIRSHIP (Anonymous), 1970.
PENNINGTON'S AIRSHIP from
THE ILLUSTRATED AMERICAN,
September 24, 1892.
AREA'S OWN AIR SHIP PROVED TO BE A WONDROUS HOAX: ONLY THE MODEL FLEW, From The Valley Advance, Vincennes, Ind., April 8, 1980.
THE MAN BEHIND THE HOAX: PENNINGTON SPENT LIFE GOING THROUGH FORTUNES
From The Valley Advance, Vincennes, Ind., April 15, 1980, By Richard Day, Byron R., Lewis Library staff member
DID PENNINGTON BUILD THE 1897 U.S.A. AIRSHIP (Anonymous), 1970.
PENNINGTON'S AIRSHIP from
THE ILLUSTRATED AMERICAN,
September 24, 1892.
AREA'S OWN AIR SHIP PROVED TO BE A WONDROUS HOAX: ONLY THE MODEL FLEW, From The Valley Advance, Vincennes, Ind., April 8, 1980.
THE MAN BEHIND THE HOAX: PENNINGTON SPENT LIFE GOING THROUGH FORTUNES
From The Valley Advance, Vincennes, Ind., April 15, 1980, By Richard Day, Byron R., Lewis Library staff member
DID PENNINGTON BUILD THE 1897 U.S.A. AIRSHIP (Anonymous), 1970.
PENNINGTON'S AIRSHIP from
THE ILLUSTRATED AMERICAN,
September 24, 1892.
AREA'S OWN AIR SHIP PROVED TO BE A WONDROUS HOAX: ONLY THE MODEL FLEW, From The Valley Advance, Vincennes, Ind., April 8, 1980.
THE MAN BEHIND THE HOAX: PENNINGTON SPENT LIFE GOING THROUGH FORTUNES
From The Valley Advance, Vincennes, Ind., April 15, 1980, By Richard Day, Byron R., Lewis Library staff member
DID PENNINGTON BUILD
THE 1897 U.S.A. AIRSHIP?
Reprinted from BUFORA Journal, British U.F.O. Research Association:
170 Faversham Road, Kennington, Ashford, Kent
Ca as to the origin of the
‘Airship’ reported over the
central States of the U.S.A. in 1897
has resulted in many theories and at
least one of these ateributes the
sightings to the activities of a peculiar
antique sort of U.F.O. 1 understand
that the reason that the craft looked
very much like the current airship
design already flying in Europe is that
the U.F.O. denizens wished to present
their ship to the natives in a manner
that would be acceptable and
understandable. However the airship
in question did not seem to be at all
anxious to present itself, operating as
it did almost exclusively by night and
skulking during daylight hours in and
out of the way places.
Before accepting such ‘way out’
theories it would seem necessary to
exclude any possibility of the machine
being the production of some
far-sighted inventor with the ability,
wealth and resources to build and fly
such a machine and also to keep the
whole project secret.
Witnesses of the airship were often
men of excellent reputation for
and often crowds of
were able to compare
veracity
onlookers
experiences.
The descriptions tallied to a
remarkable degree. It seems clear also
that some of the sightings of night
flying objects were of quite a different
category and to present day ufologists
may be recognized as being the result
of ‘normal’ U.F.O. activity.
From the reports still in existence it
is possible to build up a very good
26
idea of the type of dirigible involved
and there is no doube that in many
respects it was similar to airships
already built and flying in Europe
particularly in France. In 1884
Renard and Krebs devised and buil
electrically propelled airship called ‘La
France’ which made a circular flight
of five miles at its first appearance
It would indeed have been strange
if there had been no parallel activities
in the U.S.A. at that time. Resources
of material and money were there in
abundance and among the fertile
brains of a rapidly growing
scientifically orientated community
was there no person of sufficient
genius engineering ability and wealth
to take up the aerial challenge?
I believe there was and I believe
that his name was Edward J.
Pennington.
Pennington was born in Franklin,
Indiana in 1858 and as a boy showed
remarkable engineering aptitude and
as he developed into manhood he
displayed remarkable initiative, charm
and persuasiveness. With these
attributes it was not long before he
was running his own factory and at
the age of twenty-three had patented
a reciprocating head for planing
machines the first of a continuous
stream of patents which flowed from
his active brain until his death in
1911.
He was ruthless too and could
exhibit considerable showmanship in
order to further his own ideas. A
characteristic of Pennington which in
this contex is significant was the
secrecy he achieved to protect his
projects and his habit of quietly
dropping one idea in favor of another
with little regard to the financial
outcome.
By 1885 Pennington had acquired
sufficient capital to. set up. the
Standard Machine Works in Defiance,
Ohio and two years later he created
two further firms to make pulleys and
woodworking machinery. A flood of
Pennington Patents were registered at
this time at Fore Wayne.
There were rumors of a company
capitalized at one million dollars in
Oswego, Kansas and another at
Cincinnati with factories to produce
‘Preight Elevators’. (Could this phrase
possibly have been a euphemism for
load-carrying Airships?)
After a brief appearance at
Edinburg, Illinois, where he collected
some 50,000 dollars from the
inhabitants for yet another ‘pulley
works’ he came to rest at Mount
Carmel, Illinois in 1890.
Now things begin to
develop. . this new Company was
actually a four cylinder radial
engine.. “for the propulsion of an
aerial vessel”. He also let it be known,
that he was “readying a vessel to
from Mount Carmel to New York”.
In 1891 he exhibited a captive
airship some thirty feet long and six
feet in diameter. It flew in a circle
airserew turned
propelled by an
electrically. The current was conveyed
by wires in the tethering cable.
In 1893 he turned his attention to
motor driven vehicles and again aspate of patents flooded from the
Pennington brain. Soon he was
making motorcycles in Cleveland,
Ohio and here he invented the first
balloon tyre.
Such giddy progress was bound to
meet with reverses and due to his
dogmatic attitude and ruthless
decisions he began to make enemies:
yet his uncanny instinct for avoiding
trouble kept him from falling foul of
the law.
During 1894 he joined Thomas
Kane who made kerosene engines
widely used in dairies for milk
separation. This event is most
important in this thesis which will be
evident later. Here, in Racine on the
shores of lake Michigan they financed
a really large concern for the
development of petrol engines.
‘They patented among other things
an ‘electric igniter’ for petrol driven
engines which was really the first
sparking plug, in 1895. In this year
Pennington visited England and took
some of his vehicles with him.
Exercising his well-known assurance
and charm he persuaded Henry J
Lawson a successful manufacturer of
bicycles to purchase patents to the
tune of a half a million dollars. He was
still here in 1896 and entered the
Brighton Run. After an altercation
with Mons. Leon Bollée his claim to
have won the event was not disputed.
‘After this he participated in the aerial
demonstrations in the U.S.A. late in
1896 and during 1897.
In December 1895 he had deposed
with the American Patents Office the
design for full sized Airship. Many of
the features of this design are so close
to those described by witnesses of the
aerial ship seen in 1896 and 1897 that
on this evidence alone one would
suspect that Pennington could have
been responsible.
Basing the scale of the design on
the size of the passenger seats the
overall length of the ship would be
about 140 ft. The keel beneath which
provided accommodation for the crew
and passengers, also housed large
batceries and extended for 70 ft. with
an equal amount of overhang of the
envelope at each end. At the front end
of the envelope a large airscrew about
50 fe. from tip to tip provided
action. At the rear an ample rudder
and a horizontal fin allowed control
of direction.
At the sides two horizontally
disposed propellers furnished lateral
‘trimming’. Along the top of the ship
a high dorsal fin would help to
prevent sideways drift and yawing at
slow speeds. Altogether a
impressive aeronautical design for that
period of time.
It is probable that the finished
airship based on this plan would
deviate in minor details. Pethaps
laterally placed aircrews were found
to give a better lift and control if
suitably shaped.
Wings or large ailerons above the
envelope would also help to provide
life if suitably angled. In 1895 during
his motoreycle phase Pennington was
heard to remark: “Suppose I have a
cycle, screw driven, making a mile a
minute. . just suppose that. . .then
suppose that I put aeroplanes on that
machine. ..and they are under good
control, what then?”
What then indeed, the Wright
Brothers would have been forestalled
by several years.
‘The sighting of the Airship on the
ground in 1897 by Captain Hooton at
6 pm. on about 20th April is usually
regarded as a true account of his
experience which he recounted in the
Little Rock, Arkansas, Gazette. He
was, he said, out hunting near Homan
when he heard the sound of ‘pumping?
ike the noise of a Westinghouse
locomotive brake.
Going in the direction of the sound
he was amazed to behold “the famous
airship” in an open space. A man
wearing dark glasses_was doing
something at the rear of the ship. As
he approached four other men
appeared.
During the ensuing conversation
there was no doubt in his mind that
the crew were American. When the
ship was ready, three large ‘wheels?
started to rotate on either side of the
airship and with a hissing sound she
took off. ‘The ‘aeroplanes’ on top of
the envelope sprang forward and the
ship rapidly gained height and speed.
(For a more detailed account of
this sighting please refer to the
JULY/AUGUST 1966 issue of The
Flying Saucer Review.)
‘The ‘pumping noise’ is of great
significance. This noise is noted in at
least three of the sightings. Twice it
was referred to as being similar to that
made by a milk separator. This is
almost conclusive, it was Thomas
Kane whom Pennington joined in
1894, who made the motors for these
separators.
All witnesses agree that there were
lights aboard in abundance with our
very bright searchlight which was seen
to dim as the airship accelerated.
One witness encountering the
aeronaut grounded claims to have
asked why he turned the light on and
off so much. He replied, no doubt
truthfully that it consumed a grear
deal of motive power. We ate led to
the conclusion that Pennington’s ship
was propelled by a petrolelectric, ot
diesel-electric system. A bank of large
batteries would be charged by a motor
driven dynamo and would then
operate electric motors geared to the
airscrew(s). This system was widely
used for the propulsion of road
vehicles in the early years of this
century.
After a trip of some miles it might
be necessary to land to recharge
batteries. Such a propulsion system
would be well within Pennington’s
capabilities at this time.
The crew referred to by some
witnesses included a woman, and it
was customary for Pennington to take
his wife on most of his exploits. (He
married three times but I cannot find
record of any children.) Also a
bearded man.
1 have a photograph of Pennington
with one of his vehicles and here he is
accompanied by a man with a beard.
Pennington himself was tall and of
good physique. He usually sported a
rather long dark moustache.
The next evidence required toward
proving that the ship was not only
terrestrial but Pennington’, is to plot
the course of the airship from
recorded sightings during the ‘voyages’
of 1897 and to show that its speed
was within the capabilities of such an
early craft and that it operated in the
vicinity of Pennington workshops.
Here I suggest the reader obtain a
good large scale map of the central
States of America. Those included in
the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1911
are most useful being nearly
contemporary
Two series of sightings occurred in
1897.
aExpedition One. Starting from
Pennington’s base at Oswego, Kansas,
to Belleville, Kansas, to arrive March
25th, thence to Sioux City some 200
miles northward travelling at night.
Making around 40 mph and in fair
weather the six or so hours of
darkness would allow easy arrival by
28th March. Here the ship landed and
charged batteries?
Turning southward an easy night
run of 100 miles allowed late
worshippers leaving church at Omaha,
Nebraska to view the aerial visitor.
Continuing via Lincoln and Beatrice
on the southerly run arrival at Everest,
Kansas on April Ist., another 100
miles apart. In fact Kansas City was
reached quite early at 8:15.
Back to base at Oswego without
serious mishap on about the 3rd.
April?
After this there are three
possibilities. a) Pennington flew to
Racine on lake Michigan by April 9th
keeping to outof-theway landing
sites. b) The ship was partly
dismantled and carried by rail in
Pennington’s closed railcars to
Racine. c) That Thomas Kane had
another similar airship at Racine. [
would suggest (b) as being the most
probable in the circumstances,
Pennington had the resources and the
experience in moving large objects by
rail from place to place, vide his
captive airship which was shown at
exhibitions at Chicago and elsewhere.
Expedition Two. ‘The Aitship
would have taken the air on the
evening of April 9th 1897 and leaving
Racine some 60 miles from Chicago
was seen first north of the city and
then to south-east at 9:30 pam.
passing over the lake.
Turning westward the ship would
have reached vicinity of Eldon in Iowa
some 200 miles after five hours at
around forty mph. Spending the day
of the 10th on the ground at some
secluded spot the batteries would
again be charged and ready for the
take-off on the evening of April 10th.
Then passing over Eldon westward ro
Ottumwa (10 miles) at 7:25 and 7:40
p.m. respectively, the ship is seen near
Albia 25 miles further on at about
8:10 p.m. This chain of sightings
allows some estimation of the airship’s
speed—35 miles in 45 minutes which
is better than 45 mph. Wind speed
28
must be taken into account, but from
the sighting her
during this period seems to have been
remarkably calm.
Steering now toward the north-west
apparently en route for Racine, the
ship would have passed near Mount
Carroll but the date given for the
airship over this city is April Sth. One
must conclude that if this date is
correct that the craft passed over this
city on the westward leg of its journey
before turning south-east toward
Eldon, This is perfectly possible on
the time schedule estimated.
However, and here must
speculate on Pennington's movements,
it is not certain how the airship
arrived at its next point at Yates
Center, Kansas on April 19th. It could
well have travelled at night over the
next week or so southward which
would be well within its 40 mph
capabilities. Or, it may have returned
to Racine and have been once more
despatched by rail
At Yates Center there was the
unfortunate incident of a young heifer
becoming entangled in the mooring
rope on takeoff. Then southeast and a
fairly long haul—400 miles—to near
‘Texarkana, but at 40 mph only ten
hours of darkness were necessary.
Here the ship was obliged to land on
April 21st. to recharge batteries. In
the evening when all was ready for
take-off the airship was spotted by
cone Captain J. Hooton whose detailed
report is well known,
Airborne again and tavelling in a
leisurely manner Hot Springs,
Arkansas was reached on May 6th.
Once more the ship landed and was
encountered by the Law Officers,
Constable Sumpter and Deputy
Sheriff McLemore. Both these
gentlemen have sworn affidavits to
their evidence in which they tell of a
bearded mechanic and a young
woman. There was also a young man
who was engaged in filling a water
bag. They were informed that the ship
was en route for Nashville, Tennessee.
This may well have been so, but I feel
that it was not long before it was once
again safely at Oswego, Kansas with
Pennington highly satisfied with his
aerial exploits. There is litele evidence
of its re-appearanee.
From the foregoing evidence it
must be conceded that the itinerary
reports the wea
lowed by the 1897 airship was not
pocticularly miraculous even for a
craiz of that period, only it took place
in America where hitherto. no such
aetial exploits hod been seen. No
wonder that the onlookers
became and confused
suspecting a work of the Devil. The
only Devil responsible was in my
then,
seared
opinion one eccentric, brilliant
inventor named Edward Joel
Pennington
Of course there are so. many
questions left unanswered. For
instance why did Pennington decide
to drop the whole project just when
fame and fortune might seem to have
been within his grasp? I would suggest
that he was clever enough to realize
that his airship, though a ver
remarkable invention, had very sever
limitations which could not readily be
There would be little prospect of
increasing the battery capacity
without making the ship larger and
unwieldy, It was obviously very much
a fine weather craft and he had been
extraordinarily lucky co have had such
a long spell of fine, calm weather for
his erials.
Also, he would have realized that
until the internal combustion engine
could be improved considerably. in
size and reliability the whole airship
ptoject had better be shelved. The
new and more financially rewarding
field of the motor car must have
seemed to Pennington to offer much
better prospects of immediate
financial rewards. He must also have
known that there were aeronautical
designers in Europe who had forged
ahead in the airship field with whom
he could hardly compete
In the Motor Museum in Beaulieu,
Hampshire there is a very rare vehicle
It is an 1896 Pennington
motortricycle. It is worth looking at
closely. The twin-cylinder, water
cooled engine functions by fuel
injection and the ignition system is
remarkably ingenious, operating an
early form of spark plug on each
cylinder. The wheels have wire spokes
and furnished wich wide tires of
modern cross section. It is a really
remarkable piece of advanced
engineering for its time and marks its
designer, Pennington, as a brilliant
engineer of foresight and genius.SEPTEMBER 24, 1892.
Pennington’s Airship.
Epwarp J, PENNINGTON promises that an experiment
with his airship shall be made very shortly. One of the
machines is being completed at the works of the airship com=
pany at Chicago Heights,
Mr. Pennington is an aviator, that is, according to the defi-
nition by O. Chanute, one who points to the birds as indicat=
ing the way to success in aerial navigation, who believes that
the apparatus must be heavier than the air, and who hopes for
suecess by purely mechanical means. An aeronaut, on the
other hand, is one who believes that success is to come
through some form of balloon, and that the apparatus must be
lighter than the air which it displaces. European engineers
are generally aeronauts, The French have obtained measur-
able’success. They have driven navigable balloons fourteen
miles an hour, and Mr, Chanute thinks it is probable that
speeds of from twenty-five to thirty miles an hour, or enowgh
to go out when the wind blows less than a brisk gale, are even
ow in sight, Very much greater speed is not likely to be
obtained ‘with balloons, for lack of sufficiently light motive
power, and because of unmanageable sizes. It is stated that
the German, Russian, and Portuguese governments have or
‘ganized acronautical establishments for war purposes, and are
experimenting in secret. It may be remembered by our read=
cers that upon the recurrence last spring of the annual Euro-
Pean war scare, a story came from Warsaw that a German
war balloon had been seen hovering over the Russian frontier,
and that it seemed under perfect contrel. Fact or fancy this
may be; it is certain that the Austrian army had a tolerably
eflicient balloon service.
American inventors, traditionally bolder and more original
than. their European fellows, have been seeking to penetrate
the secret of the birds. ‘The interesting experiments of Hiram
S. Maxim and Prof. $, P. Langley indicate that they may
succeed in constructing a’ flying’ machine with aeroplanes.
Throw a piece of cardboard through the air, and you will see
‘what it is hoped to accomplish with aeroplanes,
THE ILLUSTRATED AMERICAN.
According to the published accounts, the Pennington air-
ship is constructed entirely of aluminum, this metal being
used on account of its lightness, strengeh, and ductility. Thy
‘main part of the machine is the buoyancy chamber, which is
shaped like @ huge cigar, is 125 feet long and 38 feet mean
diameter, and is calculated to be capable of lifting a weight of
two and one-half tons. In it there are two compartments,
fone of which js filled with hydrogen gas, and the other con
tains the machinery. Along the entire length of the chamber
extend, on top, a vertical fin, which should help to propel the
machine Tike the sail of a ship, and, at the sides, horizontal
aeroplanes. To the fin and to the aeoroplanes are attached
rudders, to steer the machine to right or left, and up or dowa,
Under the ship is the car for passengers; it is of aluminum,
‘and bas cushions filled with hydrogen gas. It weighs only
235 pounds. A car of the same size, constructed with ordi=
ary materials, would weigh 1,880 pounds. The fin and the
aeroplanes are hollow, and are filled with hydrogen,
The aitship is to be propelled by a serew placed in front,
It has four spoon-shaped blades. Motive power is furnished
by two engines, each with four cylinders. The piston rods
are attached toa single centre, and act reciprocally. They
are driven by hydrogen gas exploded by an electric. spark
‘The engines are of aluminum, are very light, and are said to
be wonderfully powerful
In each of the aeroplanes at the sides of the chamber are
two screws which will be used in elevating or lowering the
ship.
‘The first airship is designed to carry ten passengers, Mr.
Pennington’s plan is to begin by sailing over Lake Michigan to
Chicago the first day. ‘Then he will set out for New York
city, New Orleans, and San Francisco,
‘The speed of the ship is as problematical as her ability
to sail at all. Aviators think, however, that a speed of
sixty or seventy miles an hour can be obtained without much
‘rouble so soon as the preliminary problem of how to fly has
been solved.
THE PENNINGTON AIRSHIP.
EDWARD J. PEXNINGTON'S FLYING MACIIINE,
This reel i now beng constructed at Chicago Height, Il, and advrted to start fr New York i Oetober. ‘This machine fx guranteed to fy atthe cate
of serentyive miles an hour
(See page 231.)AREA'S OWN AIR SHIP PROVED TO BE A WONDROUS HOAX: ONLY THE MODEL
FLEW
From The Valley Advance, Vincennes, Ind., April 8, 1980
By Richard Day, Byron R. Lewis Library staff member
THE GREATEST WONDER OF THE AGE! an advertisement in the Chicago Tribune of Feb.
8, 1891, called the Mt. Carmel airship. The Greatest Hoax would have been more accurate.
The airship was first reported in the Vincennes Weekly Commercial of Oct. 31, 1890. The Mt.
Carmel Aeronautic Navigation Company had been formed at Chicago on Oct. 22 for the
construction “at the earliest possible moment" of a large airship designed by Edward J.
Pennington and Richard H. Butler of Mt. Carmel, III
Capitalists from Chicago, Grand Rapids, Columbus, New York, and Birmingham, England,
were going to invest an alleged 20 million dollars in the scheme. Work would begin at once
ona plant at Mt. Carmel
The company letterhead pictured monster machine-shops and factories, "beside which the
McCormick reaper-works or the rolling-mills of South Chicago would look like coal-sheds."
The Mt. Carmel airship, according to Pennington’s description in the Nov. 10 Weekly
Western Sun, was to be 200 feet long, but made entirely of that new wonder-metal,
aluminum, so that its total weight would be only 4,200 pounds.
A cigar-shaped cylinder of aluminum, one-hundredth of an inch thick, and containing 100
buoyancy chambers filled with hydrogen gas would enable the ship to carry a ton of cargo.
Along the sides of the buoyancy chamber wings would extend, forming parachutes to assist
in descending. Four electric-powered propellers in the corners of the wings would raise or
lower the ship.
Steering was to be by a rudder running along the top of the lifting chamber, with another
rudder at the tail for up-and-down direction. A passenger coach suspended below would hold
40 passengers and a pilot, who could control the ship by electric appliances.
In front, a large four-bladed propeller powered by a gas engine would drive the airship up to
250 miles an hour.
“Within three weeks we will sail into Chicago in the first of our airships," Pennington told a
stockholder’s meeting at Chicago, according to the Dec. 19 Weekly Commercial.
Pennington, a "neatly-dressed, intelligent and studious-looking man," said the ship would
make its trial flight from its place of manufacture at Mt. Carmel to St. Louis, from there to
Chicago, and thence to New York, carrying a half-dozen reporters and any of the
stockholders who wished to accompany him
Soon, however, disenchantment began to set in. The Dec. 26 Western Sun said that only a
24-foot model would be displayed at Chicago, to be replaced in three weeks by the 200-foot
ship, which would fly from Mt. Carmel to Chicago in one hour. The Jan. 16, 1891 Western
Sun printed the text of an agreement by which Pennington sold the right to exhibit the 24-foot
model at Chicago for $100,000.
"But we expected to see the original flying by this time in the open air," complained the
Western Sun.The following week Pennington tried to reassure the press and his stockholders that the
full-size airship would soon be ready.
“All the parts of the large machine, which will carry 40 persons, are on the ground at Mt.
Carmel," the Western Sun quotes him as saying, "and we shall put them together at once."
He also claimed he had been sick for the last two months, and had received bad publicity in
some newspapers, whom he was considering suing for "liable" (sic).
"Have you ever sailed through the air with your ship, Mr. Pennington?" asked a reporter
from the Chicago Post.
The inventor looked surprised.
"Why, no," he replied, "But then, you know, | am not an aeronaut."
The same issue of the Western Sun reprinted a satiric letter from Mt. Carmel to the Chicago
Post, purporting to explain that the cause of the delay was modifications in the
airship--which the writer renamed The Vibrator--to increase its speed from 200 miles per
hour to 200 miles per minute, thus enabling it to fly to the moon in eight to 10 hours.
"A little fishy" was the headline story in the Jan. 30, 1891 Western Sun, reporting that the
model airship had arrived at Chicago, but shipped by railroad express in a box, not flown
from Mt. Carmel.
"This airship," said Pennington, "is only thirty feet long, and is a duplicate of the larger ones.
It will carry about 120 pounds, and hence is not large enough for passengers.”
The large box contained 965 pounds of silk and rubber bags made in New York.
"The gas chambers of the large ships are of aluminum," explained Pennington, in a
dead-level monotone, "but those of the model are of silk, because we could not get the
chamber finished." This would not make any difference in the test, however, because the
airships would be guided automatically, by an electric compass connected to the rudders.
Pennington was unable to answer Chicago reporters’ questions about the size of the large
ships or amount of cubic feet of gas necessary for them--he had forgotten the figures. "The
company has nothing to do with this working miniature which | have in Chicago," he said
"It is a side issue of my own."
"But he did not say," noted the Chicago Times, "why a man who was at the head of a
company with $20,000,000 capital, and who was engaged in building airships which will
mark the greatest epoch in human achievement, should embark in a side-show and exhibit
an incomplete and useless mode as a freak is shown at a circus."
"The railroads are agin me," said Pennington in his low monotone, "and don't overlook no
chance to run me down."
The Mt. Carmel Airship went on exhibit at the Chicago Exposition Building on Feb. 2.
Admission to see the demonstration flights was 25 cents.
True, the airship only rose 25 feet in the air and flew in a 100-foot circle at the end of a line.
And true, the three-quarter-horse-power engine could only turn the two-blade propeller at
42 r.p.m., and drive the ship at a top speed of six miles per hour.
But thousands went to view the flights, and "at the close of each demonstration the
enthusiasm is spontaneous and earnest, and loud applause resounds throughout the vast
hall.”
The Times grudgingly commented, "One who can work up a scheme whereby 500 to 1,000
people per day are induced to separate themselves from 25 cents each to see an airship
which resembles an exaggerated link of bologna sausage, traveling a limitedcircuit of 100 feet is entitled to be called a bird. He may lack feathers, but he is entitled to
them all the same.”
The final blow for Pennington’s airship came in the March 7, 1891 issue of Scientific
American quoted in the March 13 Commercial with the headline, "Airship Exposed." A
full-page article, accompanied by a large picture of the "machine," declared Pennington’s
airship a failure.
It said that the art of flying in the air by mankind had not yet been learned, nor the means
thereto invented. The article spoke of the airship as a "deceptive and visionary scheme,
lacking the essential elements of a flying machine. . .As a thing promising in the way of
aerial navigation, it is without value.”
The last ad for the Mt. Carmel airship appeared in the March 17, 1891 Chicago Tribune.
CHICAGO NEWSPAPERS ran the ad at left to announce demonstrations of the Mt.
Carmel Air Ship. Those who paid their quarter were enthusiastic, despite the small size
of the model which Edward J. Pennington actually brought to the exposition Building.
The full-scale version, he said, would hold 40 passengers and go as fast as 250 miles an
hour. The engraving shows the cigar-shaped body, the rudder along the top of the
cylinder, two of the propellers which would lift, and the larger propeller to drive the craft.
The lettering along the passenger gondola reads Mt. Carmel Aeronautic Navigation
Company.
EMAIL: rking@indian.vinu.edu
THE MAN BEHIND THE HOAX: PENNINGTON SPENT LIFE GOING THROUGH
FORTUNES
From The Valley Advance, Vincennes, Ind., April 15, 1980
By Richard Day, Byron R., Lewis Library staff member
The instigator of the "Mt. Carmel Airship Hoax" reported in last week's Valley Advance
was a fascinating scoundrel named Edward J. Pennington. "The man is as much of a
scientific curiosity as his airship," correctly observed the Chicago Times
Pennington was described as a neatly-dressed, intelligent and studious-looking man of
about 30 years old.
Though he spoke glibly of the latest aeronautic theories of Prof. Octave Chanute, he was
remarkably ungrammatical saying, "We have went," "I'm agin it," and "There ain’t no
difference." Perhaps it was Pennington’s sober demeanor which caused so many to
believe in him
One newspaper said he looked enough like the Rev. Samuel J. McPherson, noted
clergyman of the day, to be his brother. Pennington was deliberate in speech and
movement. The most incredible statements seemed credible when delivered in
Pennington’s characteristic low, monotone. He seemed so sincere.E.J. Pennington came originally from Indiana. (He was not related, though, to the
Edward Pennington who lived in Vincennes at the time.) Pennington’s earliest ventures
were made in small towns in Indiana and Ohio, where, as one newspaper put it, "he
furnished experience and others furnished capital, with a reversal of conditions at the
finish."
In 1883 he built a factory at Centerville, Ohio, and organized half a dozen companies.
Then the bottom fell out and Pennington moved on. He repeated at Defiance, Ohio. At
Ft. Wayne he organized three companies with big capital. At Oswego, Kansas, a million
dollar company to manufacture freight elevators attested to his "Napoleonic financial
genius." Then he located in Cincinnati and had a scheme for furnishing power for
various industries. He married into a well-known family and tried to establish a million
dollar wood-pulley factory, but failed to float the project.
Pennington next appeared in Mt. Carmel, Ill, in 1889 where he organized successively
a $250,000 corrugated iron company, the Standard Machine Co., capital $100,000, and
the Mt. Carmel Pulley Works, capital $100,000.
Then came his noted airship project. The Mt. Carmel! Aeronautic Navigation Co. was
organized in Chicago in 1890 with $20 million in capital, on paper. The flying machine
was supposed to be all aluminum, 200 feet long, and capable of carrying 40
passengers at 250 mph.
Ascale model of the projected airship was demonstrated at the Chicago Exposition
Building to enthusiastic crowds, until an expert revealed in an article in Scientific
American that the full-scale version couldn't fly.
Pennington next was the promoter of a scheme to connect the larger towns of the
Indiana gas belt with an electric railway. It also failed. Pennington was well-known at
Vincennes, where he tried to work one of his schemes. He was best remembered by
the shortness of his coat.
Pennington left this country about 1894, leaving his wife and several children in
Arlington Place, Cincinnati. For a time his wife received long letters from Pennington,
telling of the money he was making in London with his cycle motor and other wonderful
schemes.
Subsequently, the letters came less frequently, until Mrs. Pennington for a long while
received no word whatever. In desperation she went to London and found Pennington
living with a Mrs. Marie Alice Durant, a rich Detroit woman, prominent in New York
society until she deserted her husband and eloped with Pennington. They were living in
the most elegant apartments in London.
Pennington soon identified himself with some of the big automobile companies. He sold
some of his inventions and squandered several fortunes.
In 1898 he returned to this country, creating a furor in eastern social circles. Mrs.
Pennington had him arrested, and the courts ordered him to contribute to the support of
his family in Cincinnati.
While Durant was negotiating the terms of an amicable settlement, Pennington slipped
out of the country and returned to England. In 1900 he married Mrs. Durant in
Milwaukee.
The last mention of Pennington is in the May 18, 1901 Vincennes Daily Sun, which
reported that he had been arrested in Philadelphia, while testing his latest invention, a
“war automobile." Before police could stop him, he had caused several runaways,almost killed half a dozen pedestrians and barely escaped several collisions with street
cars. The next morning Pennington and his two assistants were fined $7.50 each, which
he cheerfully paid. Pennington said that the Russian government had sent agents to
see his new invention. The "war automobile" was a skeleton steel frame nine feet long,
with seats for five soldiers, an engineer, and a speed regulator. Pennington claimed it
would go 75 mph on smooth roads, 130 on rails, and 30 in a plowed field.
There were places for two machine guns at each end, and the entire upper front could
be covered with armor plate.
The subsequent career of this real-life Tom Swift with his incredible inventions is
unknown, though he was yet a young man in 1901.
As for the Mt. Carmel airship, the model was taken back to Mt. Carmel, thence to St.
Louis and was last heard of in 1893, in Belleville, Ill. It is interesting to note that
descriptions of the mysterious “airship of 1891" bore a marked resemblance to
Pennington's ship. Perhaps the exhibition of it in St. Louis and Chicago in 1891
influenced the later sightings in 1897.
Actually, Pennington was not so far ahead of his time. In 1897 in Germany David
Swartz built a 130,000 cubic foot aluminum-hulled airship. Like Pennington's ship it had
an aluminum framework covered by aluminum sheeting. It was powered by a gasoline
engine.
Swartz's airship crashed on its first flight, but inspired Count Ferdinand Zeppelin to build
his successful aluminum-framed airship in 1900.
EMAIL: rking @indian.vinu.edu