Abstract
Chuhachi Ninomiya, a Japanese, developed the airplane quite independently, and succeeded in flying a powered miniature aircraft using rubber to drive the propeller in 1891. His achievement was 12 years in advance of the Wright brothers' success. Ninomiya proposed the manufacture of a practical airplane to the army demonstrating his achievement, but his proposal was dismissed without consideration. Afterwards, he was promoted and saved money and he used his savings to develop his airplane. When his development had made significant progress, he heard the news about the Wright brother's success and so he discontinued his development. Later, airplanes were imported into Japan from abroad and their manufacture technology was transferred also. However, Ninomiya did not participate in this project. His experience or knowledge remained unutilized and his development stopped before coming to fruition.
