Descendants of a Georgia mountain man are convinced that he mastered flight decades before the Wright brothers took off. "I would just put my life on it that it's a true story," says Roma Sue Turner Collins, whose grandmother swore she saw Micajah Clark Dyer's contraption aloft.
Dyer's flying machine looked more like a boat carried by a balloon and the 19th-century inventor reportedly built rails up the side of Rattlesnake Mountain then slid the craft down the mountain, gathering speed to take off into a cornfield across a nearby creek.Micajah, a man ahead of his time, also has his own blog.
Family members are hoping someone eventually will build a full-scale version of his machine, listed as Patent No. [1]54,654 as his "Apparatus for Navigating the Air." [Link]
Chris, he's another one that's got to be distant kin. I have several Micajahs in my family with various surnames, including Clark and Anthony. Many of the Clarks and Anthonys did come to Georgia. As to whether they flew, I never heard about that!
Sadly, none of my relatives ever took flight--though my brother did once convince me to jump off the shed roof carrying an umbrella.
Micajah Clark Dyer,commonly known as Clark Dyer, is my 4th Great Grandfather. He rocks!