Info-Pres. Collection of articles, commentary, and posts about Shivkar Bapuji Talpade. Talpade is said to have constructed an unmanned, heavier-than-air aircraft called Marutsakhā ("friend of the air") and flown it over Bombay's Chowpatty Beach in 1895. There are no contemporary reports of a successful flight, and no reliable historical records document its existence. Talpade's aircraft was said to have flown to an altitude of 1,500 feet (460 m). Pratap Velkar, a local architect who has researched Talpade's life and written a book about him, denies this, stating that it rose to a low altitude before crashing. The plane has been described as a bamboo cylinder, with claims that it used mercury or urine as fuel. Some of Talpade's drawings were said to have been sent to Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), but Anuradha Reddy, an aviation historian, was unable to locate them. The aircraft itself was described as having been sold to Rallis Brothers or to HAL. Some accounts of the event state that the flight was witnessed by Sayajirao Gaekwad III, then the Maharaja of Baroda, but direct evidence of this is scarce. Velkar states that no royalty attended, as it was not well publicized. Some versions of the story say that Talpade was advised by Subbaraya Shastry (1866 - 1940), who later wrote Vaimānika Shāstra ("Science of Aeronautics"), a text often associated with descriptions of aircraft in the Vedas.

Sources:

ShivkarBapuji Talpade An uncelebrated Indian Inventor ShivkarBapuji Talpade - Wikipedia A “Vedic” flying machine; Myth or Historic reality? | Sand Prints

Edited by Hector Vladimir 2025