Octave Chanute (1832-1910), US aviation pioneer. Chanute had a successful career as a railroad engineer, working on major projects in Kansas and Chicago, USA, in the 1860s and 1870s. From 1875 he began developing his interest in the new discipline of aviation. He published Progress in Flying Machine (1894), the first collection of research writings on aviation. Chanute worked with, and encouraged, several early aviation pioneers, including Herring, Avery and the Wright brothers. Photographed on 9 July 1910. This photograph is from the Bain News Service, one of the USA's earliest news picture libraries.