page_title: Ezekiel Airship
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Ezekiel Airship / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: The Ezekiel Airship replica on display at the Northeast Texas Rural Heritage Center and Museum in Pittsburg, Texas (United States).
context_page_description: The Ezekiel Airship was an early experimental aircraft conceived, designed, and built by the Baptist minister Burrell Cannon, an experienced sawmill operator born in 1848 in Coffeeville, Mississippi. Inspired by and named after the Book of Ezekiel, the craft's design featured four "wheel within a wheel" paddle wheels powered by a four-cylinder gasoline engine. There are unverified claims that it was flown in 1902 in Pittsburg, Texas, a year before the Wright Flyer flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
  On an unspecified Sunday in 1902, the aircraft is alleged to have flown approximately 160 feet at a height of between 10 feet and 12 feet in the presence of only a handful of witnesses; there is, however, no physical evidence that such a flight ever took place. Historians have generally discounted claims that the airship ever flew, although some believe that it may have achieved uncontrolled flight.
  The original aircraft was destroyed in a storm near Texarkana, en route to St. Louis for the 1904 World's Fair, while in 1922 Cannon's original plans were destroyed in a fire.
context_section_description: The aircraft was designed and built by Cannon along with a number of other local inventors who were affiliated with Cannon's investor-supported Ezekiel Airship Company. Built at the P. W. Thorsell Foundry in Pittsburg by three employees who worked full-time for Cannon, the project was financed by $20,000 in stock certificates.
  The airship was inspired by the Book of Ezekiel, both in name and general design. Cannon drew particular inspiration from Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel 1:16: "The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of beryl; and they four had one likeness; and their appearance was as it were a wheel within the middle of the wheel." For Cannon, the pertinent text continued with Ezekiel 1:19: "And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them...And when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up."
  The aircraft design featured a three-part wing made of fabric that measured 26 feet (7.9 m); it was powered by four sets of paddle wheels that were driven by a four-cylinder gasoline engine, while the pilot sat at the center of the machine. According to Scott Gold, the airship was designed to take off horizontally, like a conventional airplane, but to land vertically, like a helicopter. Robert Peoples described the aircraft's design as being reminiscent of that of a paddleboat.
  Before its claimed flight, the Ezekiel Airship was profiled in the October 12, 1901 issue of Scientific American. The uncredited article focuses largely upon Cannon's biblical inspirations for the project, noting his belief in "a purpose in every word of the Scriptures". It also highlights Cannon's opinion that "Ezekiel's plans are the first he ever worked at in which he could suggest no improvement". The article describes some of the aircraft's specifications, such as its planned engine speed of 400 to 1,200 revolutions per minute, as well as an overview of Cannon's approach to heavier-than-air flight.
caption: Ezekiel Airship replica, view from front and below
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