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The Merle 1910 Biplane was the first powered aircraft made in Alameda, California. It was commissioned by businessman Adrian J Merle and designed and built by machinist and inventor Hans Peter Nielsen.

Development
In January 1910, Adrian J Merle flew as a passenger in a Curtiss biplane at the Dominguez Air Meet in Los Angeles. After this experience, Merle became determined to start manufacturing aircraft.

Later that month, Merle met local mechanic and inventor HP Nielsen at an aviation meet in San Francisco, and offered the local inventor the financial backing he needed to begin manufacturing aircraft, starting with a biplane for Merle. While Nielsen initially anticipated completion of the first aircraft in two months, the construction took months longer than anticipated. Merle's biplane was ready to fly in September, 1910, just in time to beat William Gorham for the title of first airplane built in Alameda, California.

Design
Nielsen initially described his plans for “a plane for pleasure purposes that will combine speed and safety...about thirty feet in width, and [with the] capacity of carrying two passengers.” He later elaborated on his plans for a larger, safer aircraft: "The Curtiss biplane will go about twenty-seven miles an hour when it first rises from the ground, but in learning to fly this speed is inadvisable, and for that reason I made a large ship, which will go slowly, making a dangerous accident almost impossible. Merle and I propose to take the biplane out in the country, where we can get a level tract of ground. Mr. Merle is in the game for the sport of it. He rode in the Curtiss machine in Los Angeles and got the fever."

- Hans P Nielsen in

Another news article described the "Merle airship" in greater detail: "The Nielson [sic] biplane is to be thirty-eight feet in length, the tail being carried eighteen feet in the rear of the aeronaut's seat. Ahead of the operator is a plane, twenty feet in length and about five feet in breadth. With this and the tail the general lateral guidance of the plane will be controlled. The wings of the aeroplane are each to be twenty feet in length, and are now waiting to be fitted to the remainder of the airship. The motor will be a forty-five horse power, six cylinder vertical engine, capable of developing great speed. It will drive a two bladed propeller, made of hickory and eight feet in diameter. The aeroplane will have a carrying capacity of two persons, and will weigh only 880 pounds when fully equipped and ready for flight. This is several hundred pounds lighter than any other vessel of the kind and size."

Operational history
Merle tested his aeroplane at the Stockton Airport on September 17, 1910. The plane only remained airborne for a few hundred feet at a time, possibly due to its weight, and was taken back to Alameda for repairs. According to Merle's daughter the plane was dismantled and kept in crates in Merle's basement for decades afterwards.