Outdoor albumen CDV. VIEW OF FIRST UNMANNED AIRCRAFT TO FLY BY ITS OWN POWER IN THE UNITED STATES [near San Francisco, California], [circa 2 July 1869].

This unusual outdoor photograph depicts an experimental early dirigible. A group of men stands beneath and around the blimp-like airship, seemingly engaged in preparing or stabilizing its undercarriage.

An image held by the University of Southern California Special Collections (UC133742) identifies the airship as the "Avitor Hermes Jr." The "Avitor Hermes Jr." was powered by a steam engine featuring a single 2-inch-diameter cylinder with a 3-inch stroke, capable of producing approximately eight pounds of steam. This engine drove two two-bladed propellers, each measuring four feet in diameter and mounted within a pair of flat wings. Measuring approximately 37 feet in length with an overall width of 14 feet, the Avitor Hermes, Jr. was constructed as a test model for a proposed passenger-carrying airship. 

Its inventor, Frederick Marriott (1805-1884), was a publisher and early aviation enthusiast born in Enfield, England, who became notable in 19th-century San Francisco. After a varied early career that included work with the East India Company and the Bank of England, he invested in publishing and helped launch several significant periodicals in Britain before moving to California during the Gold Rush era, where he founded the San Francisco News Letter. Marriott is remembered for his visionary interest in powered flight, founding the Aerial Steam Navigation Company, and creating the Avitor Hermes Jr. Although his ambitious passenger airship was never realized, Marriott’s work represents a significant and often overlooked milestone in early American aviation history.

[Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards]