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This is another episode of Alabama Flying Machine Blogging, in which we promote a story about a Flying Machine that was designed, built, managed, integrated, and/or flown with a significant Alabama role. When we started this blog, one of our goals was to present Alabama to the world, and also present the world to Alabama. This post is a presentation of Alabama's role in aviation or space history, either by a machine, a program, or a flyer. So, let's get down to it: In April 1908, an airplane left the ground in northern Madison County in Alabama. Today, it is hanging in the Davidson Center at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center. Yes, it's the same machine.  It was designed and built by Mr. William Quick, a farmer, father of ten, gristmill operator, blacksmith, machinist, and aviation enthusiast who lived and worked near modern-day Hazel Green. Like many other experimenters of his day, Mr. Quick was not a highly-educated man, but he was intelligent and observant. He studied "buzzards, bumblebees, and all that flew well", read voraciously, and finally turned his understanding into a working aircraft. Join me below the fold, for the story of William Quick's monoplane:
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