The Talpade flyer - Marutsakhā - Possible first in India - भारत से संभवतः पहली मानवरहित उड़ान मशीन

Here I present 3 articles and reports on Shivkar Bapuji Talpade and and the claims that, he and others, invented and constructed a flying machine; which was powered by an exotic solar powered mixture. It then flew unmanned over the skies of India, years before the Wright Brothers.
Summary:
Shivkar Bāpuji Talpade was an Indian teacher with an interest in Sanskrit and aviation. He lived in Mumbai and is said to have constructed and flown an unmanned heavier-than-air aircraft in 1895. There are no contemporary reports of a successful flight, and no reliable historical records document his existence. Pseudo-historical narratives about Talpade proliferated in India in the early 2000s among right-wing Hindu nationalist supporters. These included the false claim that Talpade "invented the modern aircraft".
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.
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade An Uncelebrated Indian Inventor
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade - Wikipedia
A “Vedic” flying machine; Myth or Historic reality? | Sand Prints
Sources
Hector Vladimir 2015-2024©
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyWqApEqGtc6nd-_C6bkiKnMxLBg7DfgK
http://www.youtube.com/@hbcsolarpvtech
https://www.youtube.com/@HBCSolarPVTechByron
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