In 1897, Arthur W. Barnard was director of physical training at the Nashville YMCA. In his time off, he was an ambitious inventor. For 10 years he had been mulling the idea of building a flying machine.
Finally, on May 9, 1897, during the Tennessee Centennial Celebration, he hauled his 46-foot-long flying machine to the top of the hill on the west side of the Centennial grounds. As Major E.C. Lewis and a handful of other Centennial officials watched, Barnard began pumping hydrogen into the balloon, which was constructed of cotton and silk held in place by wires. Suspended from the balloon, 18 feet wide at its widest part, was a bicycle, which, when the craft was inflated, Professor Barnard intended to ride.
The dirigible also had a front-end propeller that Barnard would control from his bicycle seat. The Nashville American described the propeller as “a kind of screw that bores into the air and pulls the machine.” Barnard would guide the craft with two rudders which he called “aeroplanes.” To the astonishment of Major Lewis, the other Centennial officials, who paid for the balloon materials, and the reporter from the American, the craft rose into the air. Professor Barnard later said that he crossed the Cumberland River at least six times and traveled between 30 and 40 miles.
Getting a little higher than he liked, Barnard, feeling the cold air, pulled up the collar of his coat and began releasing hydrogen to lower his altitude. He also began looking for a place to land after being airborne for 30 minutes. Spotting an open field near the old William Watkins place on Charlotte Pike, he descended toward it. When about 50 feet above the field a current of air pushed his flying machine over a fence and into a grove of willow trees. He landed unhurt and said that he never completely lost control of his craft. A young man named E.G. Blackman, who had been on Centennial Hill when Barnard took off, happened to be riding his horse near the willow grove when Barnard landed. Seeing Barnard lift off and land was one of the most exciting things he ever saw. A farmer hauled the flying machine back to town.