Melkuti’s ungainly aircraft drew crowds when he showed it off last year at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Some stared in disbelief, unsure if it was a serious design or, well, a joke. Others pictured the AMV 211 sitting in their driveway.

In August 1901, the Wright brothers were ready to give up. They had spent a frustrating summer testing their latest glider on the beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and nothing seemed to go as planned. The glider, a biplane with a 22-foot wingspan, was difficult to control and almost killed Wilbur. It proved even less maneuverable than the glider the Wrights had built and flown the previous year. Wilbur, nursing bruises from his crash in the dunes, was especially depressed.