Africa's First Flyer

A Midlands Myth or Tall Tale?

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Looking back and sifting through the many accounts of my local towns’ history its origins myths and legends, from the time of the first San people and following onto the Zulu occupation then the Dutch or commonly known as Die Boer who were then ruled by the British Empire, one really has to digest the vast amount of changes that this country has endured in a relatively short time (compared to the likes of countries in Europe with millennia worth). But let me not digress……..during my time spent researching the history of Howick I kept coming across the same story about a man during the 1870’s who apparently claimed to be the world’s first human to take flight, now whether there is any truth behind it or just some drunken rabble turned into legend by overzealous imaginations and distorted over time is something you must decide for yourself.

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John Goodman Household

The story goes that in the 1870’s on a farm in the Karkloof district of Natal there was a young man by the name of Goodman Household with a curious mind and began his aviation interest by shooting vultures and other birds, weighing them and then measuring their wingspan in order to calculate the wingspan to carry his own weight. Goodman was a keen inventor as he designed and created a mechanical sawmill for his parents’ lumber company but, his interest for aviation was quickly disapproved by his parents as being un-Christian and that God did not intend for man to be amongst the birds. With that Goodman carried out his experiments in secret and after ten years of research he started building his glider. The glider was constructed using bamboo and oiled silk imported from Switzerland and a seat was suspended from four ropes under the wings in the hopes that he could control the glider by leaning in various directions (quite the precarious steering system). As not to cause any problems with his parents Goodman undertook flight tests at night with the help of his Zulus who helped him carry the glider up to the nearest hillside and launch it into the darkness. Details of the actual flight have varying accounts of the flight time and distance of Household’s achievement. A native herdsman claimed to have witnessed the many failed attempts and had been present on the night of Household’s successful flight, stating that he “was like a bird about eight feet above the ground” and “he landed in a mielie field about 800 yards from the start”.

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Of course Household’s mother did eventually find out about his misadventures and made him promise to never fly again. He kept his promise and made sure that no other could pursue his flying invention after his death in 1906 by stating in his will that all material, plans and calculations were to be destroyed.
After his death there were follow up reports in the local papers over staggered increments yet eye-witnesses varied too much and there have been no discoveries of official documents reporting the flight. However there has been a memorial plaque erected at the place where the maiden flight supposedly took place which was commissioned by the National Monuments Council.

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Like many myths and legends we like to assume there must be some truth behind the man and his epic adventures……..it’s curiosity and without out it the future will still be in black and white.