Rubur the Conqueror

Jules Verne was born in 1828 in France. His dream was to write a new kind of novel, which combined scientific fact with fiction. Verne eventually wrote 40 novels in his Voyages extraordinaires series. Robur-the-Conqueror is a science fiction novel published in 1886. It is also known as The Clipper of the Clouds. The sequel, The Master of the World, which was published in 1904. From Wikipedia, "The story begins with strange lights and sounds, including blaring trumpet music, reported in the skies all over the world.

The events are capped by the mysterious appearance of black flags with gold suns atop tall historic landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

These events are all the work of the mysterious Robur (Latin for "oak" and figuratively taken to mean "strength"), a brilliant inventor who intrudes on a meeting of a flight-enthusiast's club called the Weldon Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."