Enrico Forlanini (13 December 1848 – 9 October 1930) was an Italian engineer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer, known for his works on

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

aeroplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spec ...

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains s ...

s and

dirigibles An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early d ...

. He was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

. His older brother

Carlo Forlanini Carlo Forlanini (11 June 1847 – 26 May 1918) was a medical doctor and professor at the Universities of Turin and Pavia. He was also the inventor of artificial pneumothorax, which was the primary treatment method of pulmonary tuberculosis for t ...

was a physician.

Early life

Elicottero sperimentale Enrico Forlanini 1877 Museo scienza e tecnologia Milano

Enrico Forlanini was born to Francesco Forlanini, a notable physician and director of the ''Ospedale Fatebenefratelli'' in Milan. After elementary school he attended one of the three Milan ''Regie Scuole Tecniche'', in 1863 he entered the Military College of Turin. In 1866 he enrolled at the Military Academy of Turin, and become a Lieutenant of Engineers. Enrico enrolled in the ''Scuola di Applicazione Artiglieria e Genio'' (Application School of Artillery and Engineers) in Turin in 1868. Upon graduation in 1870, Forlanini was assigned to Casale Monferrato, where he was able to work in the police station's workshop. He began working on a systematic testing of propellers. He subsequently studied at Politecnico di Milano and graduated in Industrial Engineering.

Helicopter model

In 1877, he developed an early helicopter powered by a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

. It was the first of its type that rose to a height of 13 meters, where it remained for some 20 seconds, after a vertical take-off from a park in Milan.Biografie - Enrico Forlanini
/ref>

Industry

Then, he worked in

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a '' comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Vi ...

, in a society named ''Società Anonima Forlivese per l’illuminazione a gas e per la fonderia di ferro''.

Airships

Later he designed and built a series of dirigibles, notably, designed in 1901 and launched in 1909, the ''

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...

'' that he dedicated to the famous

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

inventor and, in 1912, the ''Città di Milano'', dedicated to his beloved home town. The latter showed exceptionally good characteristics of

stability Stability may refer to: Mathematics *Stability theory, the study of the stability of solutions to differential equations and dynamical systems ** Asymptotic stability ** Linear stability ** Lyapunov stability ** Orbital stability ** Structural sta ...

and

controllability Controllability is an important property of a control system, and the controllability property plays a crucial role in many control problems, such as stabilization of unstable systems by feedback, or optimal control. Controllability and observabi ...

that won Forlanini international renown. New York Times 1918 A further four airships were constructed: F3, F4, F5 and F6. A seventh, named ''Omnia Dir'' was only completed after his death.

Hydrofoils

He is also known for his

s that he started modelling since 1898. One of those, built at full scale, used a ladder system of foils and a engine driving two counter-rotating air props. During testing on

Lake Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; it, Lago Maggiore ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh Maggior; pms, Lagh Magior; literally 'Greater Lake') or Verbano (; la, Lacus Verbanus) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest l ...

in 1906, this craft reached a top speed of 68 km/h (42.5 mph). He also tested a hydrofoil with a steam engine but this only achieved around in 1908-1909. Brozzola

Legacy

Forlanini obtained a number of British and American patents on his ideas and designs, most of which were aimed at seaplane applications.International Hydrofoil Society
Forlanini
, last accessed 2008-06-30 He died in 1930 while still working on the design of the ''Omnia Dir'' airship. Milan has dedicated to him its city airport, also named

Linate Airport Milan Linate Airport is the third international airport of Milan, the second-largest city and largest urban area of Italy, behind Malpensa Airport and Orio al Serio Airport. It served 9,233,475 passengers in 2018, being the fifth busiest a ...

, as well as the nearby park, the Parco Forlanini. He also has an avenue named after him.

Notes

References

*Diego Brozzola. 1999
Aerei Italiani - "Il mio Idroplano" dell'Ing Enrico Forlanini
(Italian) last accessed 2008-06-30 *Gian Luca Lapini. 2004

(Italian) last accessed 2008-06-30 *OFFICINE LEONARDO DA VINC
THE HISTORY - Enrico Formanini and the Officine Leonardo da Vinci
/cite> *The New York Times Magazine. 1918-01-13 Page SM3

last accessed 2008-06-30
full article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forlanini, Enrico 1848 births 1930 deaths Engineers from Milan 19th-century Italian inventors Italian aerospace engineers Airship designers Polytechnic University of Milan alumni 20th-century Italian inventors