A flying machine arrived at Mansfield Lahm Airport on Monday. No news there right? But what if it was a flying machine from 1859? Really? Before the Civil War? It wasn’t until the 1890s that aviation was an active field of study, and it wasn’t until 1902 that the Wright brothers celebrated their first successful airplane. So what’s this about an 1859 flying machine appearing at Mansfield? Time travel, right?
Sure, why not? At least that’s how it must feel to local historian Tim McKee who was intrigued by the invention of D.M. Cook back when he was nine or ten years old.
The flying machine arrived in time for this weekend’s 2014 Mansfield Lahm Airport Day on Saturday, July 5 and it will certainly be the oldest flying machine on display representing early aviation. Notice, though, it’s not an airplane—it’s a flying machine. Did it ever actually fly? That’s doubtful. McKee noted that in a 1860s newspaper article Cook assured readers that he was still working on it.
In one of his earliest Native Son columns for Richland Source, writer and visual artist Tim McKee wrote about Daniel McFarland (D.M.) Cook. On Monday he told “the rest of the story.”
“When I was about nine or ten years old, I read an article about the flying machine and it said it was on Cook Road next to Woodville School. So I just got on my bike and rode over there and at that time I was younger, smaller and it seemed like it was about 12 feet tall and it was mostly silver with little bits of rust around the joints. And then like 20 years go by and when I was around 30, I noticed it was no longer on Cook Rd and I just assumed it had gotten scrapped or something,” said McKee.
He continued, “But one day I was driving down Mansfield-Washington Road and I saw it up on a hill and so I was so thrilled that it still survived. Then about another 20 years go by and I was getting ready to do my film and I knew it had to be somewhere but it wasn’t on the hill where I had seen it. So I just went out to that neighborhood and started knocking on doors and I’d say, ‘You remember that thing that was up on that hill over there and it looked like a bullet?’ And everyone thought I was nuts.”
His persistence paid off, however. Finally a young man answered his query saying, “Oh, you mean the submarine with the portholes?” And I said, “That’s it. Where’s the submarine?” He said, “Oh, it’s back in the woods behind my uncle’s house.”
And he took McKee to meet the men who had it. Their names were Lowell and John Finley, two brothers who lived next door to each other. They didn’t know what it was; they were using it to store things in. At some point it had been used as a smoker, so the bench that once lined the interior were long gone. McKee noted, “They were very gracious and gave it to me so that it could be preserved.”
He told a friend who lived in Lucas about the flying machine and the friend said, “This thing still exists? Let’s go get it.”
The man loaded it onto a trailer and moved it to his farm and it sat there for perhaps two years. Recently McKee spoke with people at the airport and Mansfield Airport Days Chairman Bill Schmidt was intrigued.
“We celebrate the spirit of aviation and it appears Crazy Cook had that spirit back in the mid-1800s. It’s a just wonderful story. With the help of some other people, we’re able to bring the actual flying machine that Cook envisioned and we’re able to bring it here for people who want to learn more about it. It’s a rich piece of local history,” said Schmidt.
On Monday, Cook’s flying machine was moved to the airport and set in front of some banners, designed by McKee and created by Premier Graphics. The invention, which was intended to be powered by an electric motor, never did get off the ground.
Mansfield Airport Day visitors will get a chance to see the flying machine behind the Mansfield Lahm Airport terminal where McKee’s dogged pursuit has landed it.
Schmidt, who is also a member of the Airport Commission, encouraged the community to visit the airport on Saturday. He noted, “The purpose is to hold an open house one day a year to allow citizens to see and touch airplane. And this year children 8-10 years old will get to fly for the first time thanks to some volunteer pilots who are lined up.”
Schmidt expects up to 100 children to get to fly on a private single engine airplane. He said there will also be historical presentations, a chance to tour a C-130 Hercules at the 179th Airlift Wing, an exhibit of a World War II plane, a pancake breakfast. A sail plane will also fly in.
The airport may be the flying machine’s permanent home. “It will take perhaps a campaign for restoration and preservation,” said Schmidt. It may move to the Garden of Heros beside the terminal.
“It’s a dream come true for me but it’s also in my mind, he’s a world class dreamer, and to see he his dream, yeah, it’s maybe not flying, but it’s where it belongs after all these years,” said McKee.
For more background on Daniel McFarland Cook and his flying machine watch the 6.5 minute film “Dreams and Rust” produced by Tim McKee.
“You remember that thing that was up on that hill over there and it looked like a bullet?” And everyone thought I was nuts,” said Tim McKee of his search for the flying machine.
