William Frost

William Frost (28 May 1848 – March 1935) was a Welsh designer of an early flying machine, the Frost Airship Glider. Biography William Frost was born on 28 May 1848 in Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire, to Rebecca and John Frost. His ambition to invent a flying machine started about 1880. Despite his poverty he constructed the "Frost Airship Glider", which seems, in principle, to have resembled a vertical takeoff airplane, with gas-filled tanks. From the patent description: The flying machine is propelled into the air by two reversible revolving horizontally. When sufficient height is gained, wings are spread and tilted by means of a lever, causing the machine to float onward and downward. When low enough the lever is reversed causing it to rise upward & onward. When required to stop it the wings are tilted so as to hold against the wind or air and lowered by the reversible fans. The steering is done by a helm fitted to front of machine.