Tom Greer, A Modern Daedalus (1885)
Was he a bird?
Was he a plane?
No. He was literally a human drone.
“An Irish lad invents a one-man flying device which straps to the shoulders. The UK Government attempts to persuade him to use it against Ireland. Though he longs simply for peace, UK military action forces him onto the side of the revolutionaries, and a squadron of Irish fliers gains independence for their oppressed island home.” (Encyclopedia of SF)
Sibling of Daedalus (no relation) adds:
The hero was Jack O’Halloran and if you look at the cover those little things round his waist are bombs. He struck Dublin Castle from the air and sank a dreadnought in Dublin Bay.
‘A Modern Daedalus’ was a mediation on the desirability for home rule by peaceful means and based on the folktale of flying Derry boy Hudy McGuigan.
It was enormously popular among boys at the time and may have influenced not only Joyce (Portrait) but also Michael Collins (guerrilla warfare) and, who knows, maybe even Marvel Comics…
Good times.
