Charles Frederick Page

Charles Frederick Page ( 1864 - November 18, 1937) was a timber contractor who designed and built the first full-scale model of an airship.

Biography

Page was born into slavery in 1864, in Rapides Parish or Caddo Parish Louisiana. and he taught himself to read and write. He designed his airship and filed a patent for it, which was registered as United States patent US817442A dated April 24, 1903.

Page constructed a full-scale model of his design which he shipped to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 for display and as a competition entry, but the airship was stolen in transit and never recovered. Both had filed patents in 1903 with the Wright Brothers being the first by a few weeks.

Career and volunteer work Page worked as a contractor for the timber industry sourcing timber for specific requirements of other industries including railroad ties, telegraph poles and bridge beams. He had married Ida A. Kelso in 1858 and they had eleven children.

A historical marker in his honor was unveiled in Pineville in 2024, the city where Page lived and made his invention. Two models were also produced for display in the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

In 2024 the Louisiana State Museum hosted a display for Page's "tumultuous and trailblazing aviation journey" at its Wedell-Williams Aviation & Cypress Sawmill Museum branch.