Article Man Flies By Own Lung Power
Summary: A widely printed photograph showed a man flying by means of a device powered by the breath of his lungs.
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In April 1934 numerous U.S. newspapers printed a photograph distributed by the International News Photo agency that showed a man flying through the air by means of his own lung power.
The man was identified as German pilot Erich Kocher. Captions that accompanied the photo explained that Kocher was wearing a device strapped to his chest which consisted of a box and two horizontal rotors. By blowing into the box, he could make the rotors revolve. This created enough suction in front of him to propel him through the air. He also wore skis on his feet as landing gear, and a fin on his back to steer himself.
Among the papers that printed this photo as an authentic piece of news were the New York Daily News (which, at that time, had the largest circulation in the U.S.), the New York American, Daily Mirror, Chicago Herald & Examiner, and the New York Times.
The New York Times ran the photo on April 15, 1934 in its Rotogravure Picture Section. Beneath the photo it ran the following caption:
A man flies on his own power for the first time in history: Erich Kocher, wearing a safety costume and blowing into a box to make two rotors revolve, soars from a runway into the air near Berlin. A tail skid attached to his waist steadies him in the air and skis on his feet act as landing gear.
The Truth
A second photo that ran in some papers showed Kocher operating the “lung-power” motor. What the American papers that ran the photograph did not realize, was that the original source of the photo was the April Fool’s Day edition of a German magazine, the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung. International News Photo had distributed the photo to its American subscribers without realizing the photo was a joke.
International News Photo also confused details of the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung’s original article. In the original, it was not the force of Kocher’s breath that caused the rotors to turn. Instead, the pilot breathed normally into the box, triggering a chemical reaction that extracted the carbon dioxide from his breath and used it to power a small motor. The fact that carbon dioxide is not very combustible and thus would make a terrible fuel was part of the joke.
International News Photo also misspelled the pilot’s name. In the original it was Erich Koycher, which was a pun on the German word “keuchen” meaning to wheeze or gasp for breath.
References
- “Daedalus". (Apr 23, 1934). Time Magazine.
- “A man flies on his own power for the first time in history.” (Apr 15, 1934). The New York Times. p. RP3.
- “Flying on his own power.” (Apr 13, 1934). The Daily Independent (Monessen, PA). p.7.