Octave Chanute – 1832-1910

Born in Paris, Chanute was brought to the United States as a child. He was a civil engineer most of his life, but during his sixties set up a glider camp on the shore of Lake Michigan near Chicago, where he and colleagues made over 2,000 flights in gliders of Chanute’s design. Chanute and his work had a profound influence on Orville and Wilbur Wright, with whom he carried on a long correspondence.