Two 15-year-old twins, Willy and Arthur Gonzales, and their brother Eddy, built the Gonzales Tractor Biplane in San Francisco between 1912 and 1913 (tractor biplane was a common term in that early era, it meant the engine was a puller)

The backyard! 

Arthur and Willy had begun their venture first with kites, which grew ever larger at the home their grandmother purchased in the Richmond District in the wake of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire at 435 16th Avenue in San Francisco.

The brothers learned to fly using kite-type gliders that they launched from sand dunes near their home in San Francisco’s Richmond District. 

At her home, there were sand dunes in the back yard area near the ocean. From 1908 to 1910, their large kites became gliders, the kind you could ride into the sky with one of the boys aboard and people assisting in the flights holding ropes.

By 1909, the two boys began work on the aircraft known as Gonzales No. 1 Tractor Bi-plane, the craft they planned for motorized flight. Each step was carefully planned as they designed using paper, pencils and possible designs, and built their aeroplane. 

Construction took two years. The two boys designed the airframe without an engine using photographs and by observing the aeroplanes flying overhead.

In true bicycle shop fashion, all of the wing support wires are attached with bicycle wire and spoke adjusters.

In 1914 their Grandmother agreed to buy them the engine they needed and the propeller to go with it. Finding an engine suitable to power their aeroplane, required a long search. Finally, they found one which was well-designed from Kemp Machine Works Aeroplane Motors, located in Muncie, Indiana.

It was originally covered with fabric, but Gonzales and the museum are keeping the fabric off so visitors can see the skeleton of hand-carved wood and get an idea of what it took to design and put the biplane together.

San Francisco made one of its first noise ordinances because the Gonzalez plane engine was too loud, and prohibited flying machines from operating in city limits, prompting the brothers to crate the aircraft, load it onto a train flatcar and take it near Woodland and the present site of Travis Air Force Base where they would camp out while working on and flying the aircraft. 

The length of any stay hinged on when they ran out of something essential, keeping in mind the schedule for an available train heading to SF. 

When the time had come, the boxes would be packed up and carried to the railroad platform. This was about a half-block. Then, sitting on their cargo, they would wait to flag down the train, knowing full well they would hear the conductor say loudly, “Here are those crazy Gonzales boys again”.

This statement was first voiced by their brother, Eddie, who was also the first pilot to fly the Gonzales No. 1. One of the Wright Brothers visited Willy and Arthur about this time to examine Gonzales No. 1 to ensure there were infringements on their patent. None were found. 

The brothers later tried running a flying school and aircraft manufacturing business out of the ground floor of their home, but it’s unknown if they ever had a student or sold an engine, Gonzales said.

The brothers moved to Los Angeles in 1915, and took the biplane with them. It ended up in the basement of Bob Gonzales’ grandmother along with everything else the brothers saved.

The steering wheel appears to be from a model T

The shaft the propeller was on, rotates, the sole curved propeller' bite into the air pulling the aircraft had to outdo the Wright Brothers double-propeller pusher bi-plane. The Gonzales No. 1 Tractor Bi-plane was among the first to ever do so with competitors such as Curtiss. At this point in time, before 1914 worldwide, there were only a couple hundred aircraft in existence.

To see a similar aircraft made in San Francisco in 1911: https://www.cavalcadeofwings.com/product/us-marine-one-sikorsky-sh-3-hss-2-sea-king-copy/

https://www.thereporter.com/2020/03/14/get-some-aviation-history-with-a-cup-of-joe
https://gonzalesbrothers.org/the-story

https://gonzalesbrothers.org/their-world

https://www.dailyrepublic.com/news/vacaville-dixon-winters/man-aims-to-rebuild-family-s-historic-biplane/article_f5ea80ce-1fa1-5aed-8d10-d27a5f138973.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacksnell707/8939108062/in/photostream
https://richmondsfblog.com/2010/04/07/the-richmond-districts-place-in-aviation-history/

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=301587928767390&set=pcb.815615943134925