THE aviation section of the Swindon Advertiser cuttings library is dominated by RAF Lyneham, the Royal International Air Tattoo and Concorde flight tests at RAF Fairford.

There are also two envelopes devoted to a Swindon man whose theories about flight were similar to those of none other than Leonardo da Vinci.

More than four centuries separated da Vinci and aircraft engineer Michael Dolling, but both believed human powered flight was possible and both favoured ‘flapping wing’ craft.

Mr Dolling may not have achieved his aims, but he surely deserves credit for being part of the British tradition of eccentric inventiveness that produced everything from the bouncing bomb to the clockwork radio.

Our first article about him appeared on Wednesday, August 20, 1969, and revealed he had a new workshop.

We wrote: “Mr Dolling, 36, has been working on his brainchild in the confined space of his Queens Drive flat. But like many brainchildren it outgrew its original environment.

“Now he has all the space he wants, and the rich agricultural smell in his nostrils as he works doesn’t worry him a bit.

“He has been loaned part of a covered yard in Lower Upham Farm, Ogbourne St George, which belongs to a Mr Bob Brinkworth.”

Mr Dolling told us: “I’m absolutely sure that man-powered flight is possible, and that the flapping wing type of machine is the only way to achieve it. Although I have not had an aeronautical education, I have studied a lot. I have made a special study of bats and birds.”

Our next story about Mr Dolling was in September of 1971, by which time he had built a prototype capable of taking off when towed by a running person.

By August of 1975 he was ready for a test flight from the banked edge of a lake at Cotswold Water Park in South Cerney, but neither he nor son Paul managed to fly even the few feet to the water.

Undaunted, Mr Dolling said: “It’s not a case of back to the drawing board. On paper the thing should fly well, but today we haven’t got the balance quite right.”

On June 12 1979, an American cyclist called Bryan Allen pedalled a craft called the Gossamer Albatross across the Channel, winning a £100,000 prize and a place in history. An unhappy Mr Dolling told us: “Given the proper facilities I know I could have been the first across the Channel. But people just laughed at me – and I couldn’t get any financial backing. It was very frustrating.”

However, that wasn’t the end of the story. On August 12, 1980, we reported that a rookie pilot from Swindon had competed in the Sunday People Birdman Rally off the pier at Bognor Regis. Chris Dolling, we revealed, had built the craft with his father, Michael.

We would love to hear from any member of the family.