Domenjoz Sail Glider

This quirky, truly unique gliding sloop was created by Swiss-born aviator and inventor John Domenjoz (1886-1952). Domenjoz was a celebrated stunt pilot who performed in major European cities and across North and South America. In 1916, Domenjoz returned to his adopted home in France to serve in World War I, first as a test pilot and then as a civilian flight instructor in both France and the United States. After the war, he eventually settled in Connecticut and became an American citizen.

In the early 1920s, Domenjoz had become interested in gliding. He based the airframe of this sailing glider on the Bleriot but added a mast, bowsprit, mainsail and jib. Domenjoz believed that, once airborne, the sails would keep the aircraft aloft. How an experienced sailor, pilot and mechanic could come up with this seemingly aeronautically impossible contraption remains unanswerable. However, he was serious enough to form the Domenjoz Sail Plane, Inc. and to patent his glider it in both France and the U.S.

Domenjoz tested this glider in 1929-1930 at Maine’s Old Orchard Beach, then a hub for aviation experimentation. The glider was assembled in the hangar of pioneer Maine aviator, Harry M. Jones. Requiring winds of 25 mph or higher to achieve lift, the glider never flew independently, but managed to reach altitudes of 200-300 feet when towed behind an automobile.

Later in 1930, Domenjoz disassembled the glider, packed it away and abandoned it. It remained at Old Orchard Beach, safe in its obscurity, until it was rescued and given to the Owls Head Transportation Museum in 1974. The impossible machine was then painstakingly restored, and stands today as a prime example of the oddities of early attempts at heavier-than-air flight.