Matthew Piers Watt Boulton
Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, also published under the pseudonym M. P. W. Bolton, was a British classicist, elected member of the UK's Metaphysical Society, an amateur scientist and an inventor, best known for his invention of the aileron, a primary aeronautical flight control device. He patented the aileron in 1868, some 36 years before it was first employed in manned flight by Robert Esnault-Pelterie in 1904.
Portrait of Boulton by Sir Francis Grant, c. 1850
Soho House, in Handsworth, Birmingham, one of several Boulton family residences
Boulton aileron patent, p. 1
Boulton aileron patent, p. 16
An aileron is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll, which normally results in a change in flight path due to the tilting of the lift vector. Movement around this axis is called 'rolling' or 'banking'.
An aileron and roll trim tab of a light aircraft
Boulton's 1864 paper, "On Aërial Locomotion" describing several designs including ailerons
A 1912 Farman HF.20 biplane with single acting ailerons hinged from the rear spar. The ailerons hang down when at rest and are pushed up into position when flying by the force of the air, being pulled down by cable to provide control.
A Yak-52 using ailerons to roll counter-clockwise during an aerobatic maneuver