Background
He was born on March 29, 1869 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, the son of Matthew Bacon and Annie L. (Lewis) Sellers.
He was born on March 29, 1869 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, the son of Matthew Bacon and Annie L. (Lewis) Sellers.
He was educated under private tutors and at private schools. Just when his interest in the dynamics of the air had its inception is not known, but the studies he undertook at the University of Gottingen in Germany seem to indicate that his interest in the subject came early in life. He spent a year in France, and returned to the United States to study at Harvard University where he received the degree of LL. B. in 1892. He later took special courses at the Lawrence Scientific School (Harvard), and the Drexel Institute, Philadelphia.
He began his active research work in aerodynamics in 1900, and continued to pursue it throughout his life, even while practising as a patent lawyer and aerodynamic consulting engineer in New York City.
President Taft appointed him to the Aerodynamical Laboratory Commission, created in 1912, and in July 1915 President Wilson, on the recommendation of the secretary of the navy, Josephus Daniels, appointed him to serve as one of two representatives of the Aeronautical Society of America on the newly formed Naval Consulting Board. He resigned from the Board in 1918 to become its technical assistant, and resigned from that position in 1919 to resume his membership on it.
Much of the work done by the Board in connection with aircraft investigation devolved upon him. The problems of the helicopter particularly interested him since he felt that the basic idea was probably the oldest of all "heavier-than-air machines. " His theoretical research work led him to build an efficient quadroplane in 1911 for experimental purposes and he demonstrated its possibilities in actual flight. He acted as his own pilot and thus was able fully to appreciate the technical difficulties to be encountered. He constructed a wind tunnel for testing propellers and airfoil shapes for discovering their aerodynamic possibilities.
While technical editor of Aeronautics from 1911 he aided others in presenting to the public the results of their work, reviewed books on aeronautics, and carried on a series of answers to questions involving the principles and experimental data of aerodynamics. His most prolific period of publication was from 1909 to 1916. The results of his experimental work appeared in aeronautical periodicals of the day and included his studies of arched surfaces, wings, propellers, wind tunnels, gyroscopic forces, lateral balance, the aerodynamic resistance of solid bodies, and all kindred subjects (see Brockett, post).
He died of a heart attack while recovering from pneumonia at his home, Ardsley-on-Hudson, New York.
Matthew Bacon Sellers II was one of two representatives of the Aeronautical Society of America on the newly formed Naval Consulting Board, appointed by President Wilson. Five patents were issued to him: one for aerial apparatus in 1908, for an aeroplane in 1909, for his quadroplane in 1911, and two in 1914 were issued for improvements in steering and running gear on aeroplanes. the most inportant his invention - construction of the lightest aeroplane flying with the least power (with retractable landing gear). Besides, he piloted the first aircraft to take off and land in Kentucky.
He had his independence of thought and critical abilities.
On June 18, 1918, he was married to Ethel Clark. She and their two sons survived him.
