Description
Flying, one of man's oldest known desires, has inspired hundreds of fantastic creations. From Daedalus, the Greek architect, to the successful Wright brothers, history has seen countless adventurers whose sole and dangerous wish was to join the flight of birds--a reckless whim that often ended in failure. Scientists, philosophers, doctors, but above all madmen, fill that vast gallery of aviation pioneers. Each made their contribution, sometimes successful, sometimes not so much. This is the story of one of them. The Diary of Captain Arsenio was discovered by chance. Dating back to 1780, it is the most valuable and oldest manuscript on aviation known after Leonardo da Vinci's. Its pages are full of sketches, doodles, and technical notes detailing different flying machines. They are naive, precise, misguided, and prodigious projects. We leave it to the reader--feet firmly on the ground but head in the clouds--to decide whether these attempts ended in success or failure.