Gabriel Voisin (5 February 1880 – 25 December 1973) was a French aviation pioneer and the creator of Europe's first manned, engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft capable of a sustained (1 km), circular, controlled flight, which was made by Henry Farman on 13 January 1908 near Paris, France. During World War I the company founded by Voisin became a major producer of military aircraft, notably the Voisin III. Subsequently, he switched to the design and production of luxury automobiles under the name Avions Voisin. Early life Gabriel Voisin was born on 5 February 1880 in Belleville-sur-Saône, France, and his brother Charles Voisin, two years younger than him, was his main childhood companion. When his father abandoned the family his mother, Amélie, took her sons to Neuville-sur-Saône, where they settled near her father's factory. Their grandfather, Charles Forestier, took charge of the boys' education with military rigor. The boys also went for expeditions along the river, went fishing, and built numerous contraptions. When his grandfather died, Gabriel was sent to school in Lyon and Paris where he learned industrial design, a field in which Voisin claims to have been exceptionally gifted. He often returned home, and by the end of the century the brothers had built, among other things, a rifle, a steam boat and an automobile. Early flying experiments After completing his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Lyon in 1899, he joined an architectural firm in Paris. While in Paris he saw the Clément Ader Avion III, which was displayed at the Paris International Exposition of 1900. This awakened an interest in the problems of powered flight. After nine months of military service, in February 1904, he attended a lecture given by Captain Ferdinand Ferber, one of the leading figures in French aviation circles at the time. After the lecture Voisin approached Ferber and was given an introduction to Ernest Archdeacon, the leading promoter and financial supporter of early French aviation, and Archdeacon hired him to test fly the Wright-type glider that he had had built. The tests took place at Berck-sur-Mer in April 1904, and some short flights of around were achieved. Archdeacon then commissioned Voisin to build another glider of similar design, but differing in having a fixed horizontal stabiliser behind the wings, in addition to its front-mounted elevator. This was tested at Issy-les-Moulineaux on 26 March 1905 by towing it into the air using Archdeacon's automobile.