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Other documents randomly have
different content
be corrected in later models by utilising data gathered in
future experiments under varied conditions.
One of the most remarkable results attained was the
production of a gasoline engine furnishing over fifty
continuous horse-power for a weight of 120 lbs.
The aerodrome, as completed and prepared for test, is
briefly described by Professor Langley as ‘built of steel,
weighing complete about 730 lbs., supported by 1,040 feet of
sustaining surface, having two propellers driven by a gas
engine developing continuously over fifty brake horse-power.’
The appearance of the machine prepared for flight was
exceedingly light and graceful, giving an impression to all
observers of being capable of successful flight.
On October 7 last everything was in readiness, and I
witnessed the attempted trial on that day at Widewater, Va.,
on the Potomac. The engine worked well and the machine
was launched at about 12.15 p.m. The trial was unsuccessful
because the front guy-post caught in its support on the
launching car and was not released in time to give free flight,
as was intended, but, on the contrary, caused the front of the
machine to be dragged downward, bending the guy-post and
making the machine plunge into the water about fifty yards in
front of the house-boat. The machine was subsequently
recovered and brought back to the house-boat. The engine
was uninjured and the frame only slightly damaged, but the
four wings and rudder were practically destroyed by the first
plunge and subsequent towing back to the house-boat. This
accident necessitated the removal of the house-boat to
Washington for the more convenient repair of damages.
On December 8 last, between 4 and 5 p.m., another
attempt at a trial was made, this time at the junction of the
Anacostia with the Potomac, just below Washington Barracks.
 On this occasion General Randolph and myself
represented the Board of Ordnance and Fortification. The
launching car was released at 4.45 p.m. being pointed up the
Anacostia towards the Navy Yard. My position was on the tug
Bartholdi, about 150 feet from and at right angles to the
direction of proposed flight. The car was set in motion and
the propellers revolved rapidly, the engine working perfectly,
but there was something wrong with the launching. The rear
guy-post seemed to drag, bringing the rudder down on the
launching ways, and a crashing, rending sound, followed by
the collapse of the rear wings, showed that the machine had
been wrecked in the launching, just how, it was impossible
for me to see. The fact remains that the rear wings and
rudder were wrecked before the machine was free of the
ways. Their collapse deprived the machine of its support in
the rear, and it consequently reared up in front under the
action of the motor, assumed a vertical position, and then
toppled over to the rear, falling into the water a few feet in
front of the boat.
Mr Manly was pulled out of the wreck uninjured and the
wrecked machine was subsequently placed upon the house-
boat, and the whole brought back to Washington.
From what has been said it will be seen that these
unfortunate accidents have prevented any test of the
apparatus in free flight, and the claim that an engine-driven,
man-carrying aerodrome has been constructed lacks the
proof which actual flight alone can give.
Having reached the present stage of advancement in its
development, it would seem highly desirable, before laying
down the investigation, to obtain conclusive proof of the
possibility of free flight, not only because there are excellent
reasons to hope for success, but because it marks the end of
a definite step toward the attainment of the final goal.
 Just what further procedure is necessary to secure
successful flight with the large aerodrome has not yet been
decided upon. Professor Langley is understood to have this
subject under advisement, and will doubtless inform the
Board of his final conclusions as soon as practicable.
In the meantime, to avoid any possible misunderstanding,
it should be stated that even after a successful test of the
present great aerodrome, designed to carry a man, we are
still far from the ultimate goal, and it would seem as if years
of constant work and study by experts, together with the
expenditure of thousands of dollars, would still be necessary
before we can hope to produce an apparatus of practical
utility on these lines.—Washington, January 6, 1904.
 Dynamometer tests of engine built in the
Smithsonian shops for the full-size Langley
Aerodrome.
Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington.

A subsequent report of the Board of Ordnance and Fortification

to the Secretary of War embodied the principal points in Major
Macomb’s report, but as early as March 3rd, 1904, the Board came
to a similar conclusion to that of the French Ministry of War in
respect of Clement Ader’s work, stating that it was not ‘prepared to
make an additional allotment at this time for continuing the work.’
This decision was in no small measure due to hostile newspaper
criticisms. Langley, in a letter to the press explaining his attitude,
stated that he did not wish to make public the results of his work till
these were certain, in consequence of which he refused admittance
to newspaper representatives, and this attitude produced a hostility
which had effect on the United States Congress. An offer was made
to commercialise the invention, but Langley steadfastly refused it.
Concerning this, Manly remarks that Langley had ‘given his time and
his best labours to the world without hope of remuneration, and he
could not bring himself, at his stage of life, to consent to capitalise
his scientific work.’
The final trial of the Langley aerodrome was made on December
8 th, 1903; nine days later, on December 17th, the Wright Brothers
made their first flight in a power-propelled machine, and the
conquest of the air was thus achieved. But for the two accidents that
spoilt his trials, the honour which fell to the Wright Brothers would,
beyond doubt, have been secured by Samuel Pierpoint Langley.
 XI

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS

Such information as is given here concerning the Wright Brothers is

derived from the two best sources available, namely, the writings of
Wilbur Wright himself, and a lecture given by Dr Griffith Brewer to
members of the Royal Aeronautical Society. There is no doubt that
so far as actual work in connection with aviation accomplished by
the two brothers is concerned, Wilbur Wright’s own statements are
the clearest and best available. Apparently Wilbur was, from the
beginning, the historian of the pair, though he himself would have
been the last to attempt to detract in any way from the fame that his
brother’s work also deserves. Throughout all their experiments the
two were inseparable, and their work is one indivisible whole; in
fact, in every department of that work, it is impossible to say where
Orville leaves off and where Wilbur begins.
It is a great story, this of the Wright Brothers, and one worth all
the detail that can be spared it. It begins on the 16th April, 1867,
when Wilbur Wright was born within eight miles of Newcastle,
Indiana. Before Orville’s birth on the 19th August, 1871, the Wright
family had moved to Dayton, Ohio, and settled on what is known as
the ‘West Side’ of the town. Here the brothers grew up, and, when
Orville was still a boy in his teens, he started a printing business,
which, as Griffith Brewer remarks, was only limited by the smallness
of his machine and small quantity of type at his disposal. This
machine was in such a state that pieces of string and wood were
incorporated in it by way of repair, but on it Orville managed to print
a boys’ paper which gained considerable popularity in Dayton ‘West
Side.’ Later, at the age of seventeen, he obtained a more efficient
outfit, with which he launched a weekly newspaper, four pages in
size, entitled The West Side News. After three months’ running the
paper was increased in size and Wilbur came into the enterprise as
editor, Orville remaining publisher. In 1894 the two brothers began
the publication of a weekly magazine, Snap-Shots, to which Wilbur
contributed a series of articles on local affairs that gave evidence of
the incisive and often sarcastic manner in which he was able to
express himself throughout his life. Dr Griffith Brewer describes him
as a fearless critic, who wrote on matters of local interest in a kindly
but vigorous manner, which did much to maintain the healthy public
municipal life of Dayton.
Editorial and publishing enterprise was succeeded by the
formation, just across the road from the printing works, of the
Wright Cycle Company, where the two brothers launched out as
cycle manufacturers with the ‘Van Cleve’ bicycle, a machine of great
local repute for excellence of construction, and one which won for
itself a reputation that lasted long after it had ceased to be
manufactured. The name of the machine was that of an ancestor of
the brothers, Catherine Van Cleve, who was one of the first settlers
at Dayton, landing there from the River Miami on April 1st, 1796,
when the country was virgin forest.
It was not until 1896 that the mechanical genius which
characterised the two brothers was turned to the consideration of
aeronautics. In that year they took up the problem thoroughly,
studying all the aeronautical information then in print. Lilienthal’s
writings formed one basis for their studies, and the work of Langley
assisted in establishing in them a confidence in the possibility of a
solution to the problems of mechanical flight. In 1909, at the
banquet given by the Royal Aero Club to the Wright Brothers on
their return to America, after the series of demonstration flights
carried out by Wilbur Wright on the Continent, Wilbur paid tribute to
the great pioneer work of Stringfellow, whose studies and
achievements influenced his own and Orville’s early work. He
pointed out how Stringfellow devised an aeroplane having two
propellers and vertical and horizontal steering, and gave due place
to this early pioneer of mechanical flight.
Neither of the brothers was content with mere study of the work
of others. They collected all the theory available in the books
published up to that time, and then built man-carrying gliders with
which to test the data of Lilienthal and such other authorities as they
had consulted. For two years they conducted outdoor experiments in
order to test the truth or otherwise of what were enunciated as the
principles of flight; after this they turned to laboratory experiments,
constructing a wind tunnel in which they made thousands of tests
with models of various forms of curved planes. From their
experiments they tabulated thousands of readings, which Griffith
Brewer remarks as giving results equally efficient with those of the
elaborate tables prepared by learned institutions.
Wilbur Wright has set down the beginnings of the practical
experiments made by the two brothers very clearly. ‘The difficulties,’
he says, ‘which obstruct the pathway to success in flying machine
construction are of three general classes: (1) Those which relate to
the construction of the sustaining wings; (2) those which relate to
the generation and application of the power required to drive the
machine through the air; (3) those relating to the balancing and
steering of the machine after it is actually in flight. Of these
difficulties two are already to a certain extent solved. Men already
know how to construct wings, or aeroplanes, which, when driven
through the air at sufficient speed, will not only sustain the weight of
the wings themselves, but also that of the engine and the engineer
as well. Men also know how to build engines and screws of sufficient
lightness and power to drive these planes at sustaining speed.
Inability to balance and steer still confronts students of the flying
problem, although nearly ten years have passed (since Lilienthal’s
success). When this one feature has been worked out, the age of
flying machines will have arrived, for all other difficulties are of
minor importance.
 ‘The person who merely watches the flight of a bird gathers the
impression that the bird has nothing to think of but the flapping of
its wings. As a matter of fact, this is a very small part of its mental
labour. Even to mention all the things the bird must constantly keep
in mind in order to fly securely through the air would take a
considerable time. If I take a piece of paper and, after placing it
parallel with the ground, quickly let it fall, it will not settle steadily
down as a staid, sensible piece of paper ought to do, but it insists on
contravening every recognised rule of decorum, turning over and
darting hither and thither in the most erratic manner, much after the
style of an untrained horse. Yet this is the style of steed that men
must learn to manage before flying can become an everyday sport.
The bird has learned this art of equilibrium, and learned it so
thoroughly that its skill is not apparent to our sight. We only learn to
appreciate it when we can imitate it.
‘Now, there are only two ways of learning to ride a fractious
horse: one is to get on him and learn by actual practice how each
motion and trick may be best met; the other is to sit on a fence and
watch the beast awhile, and then retire to the house and at leisure
figure out the best way of overcoming his jumps and kicks. The
latter system is the safer, but the former, on the whole, turns out the
larger proportion of good riders. It is very much the same in learning
to ride a flying machine; if you are looking for perfect safety you will
do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds, but if you really wish
to learn you must mount a machine and become acquainted with its
tricks by actual trial. The balancing of a gliding or flying machine is
very simple in theory. It merely consists in causing the centre of
pressure to coincide with the centre of gravity.’
 Wilbur Wright.

These comments are taken from a lecture delivered by Wilbur

Wright before the Western Society of Engineers in September of
1901, under the presidency of Octave Chanute. In that lecture
Wilbur detailed the way in which he and his brother came to interest
themselves in aeronautical problems and constructed their first
glider. He speaks of his own notice of the death of Lilienthal in 1896,
and of the way in which this fatality roused him to an active interest
in aeronautical problems, which was stimulated by reading Professor
Marey’s Animal Mechanism, not for the first time. ‘From this I was
led to read more modern works, and as my brother soon became
equally interested with myself, we soon passed from the reading to
the thinking, and finally to the working stage. It seemed to us that
the main reason why the problem had remained so long unsolved
was that no one had been able to obtain any adequate practice. We
figured that Lilienthal in five years of time had spent only about five
hours in actual gliding through the air. The wonder was not that he
had done so little, but that he had accomplished so much. It would
not be considered at all safe for a bicycle rider to attempt to ride
through a crowded city street after only five hours’ practice, spread
out in bits of ten seconds each over a period of five years; yet
Lilienthal with this brief practice was remarkably successful in
meeting the fluctuations and eddies of wind-gusts. We thought that
if some method could be found by which it would be possible to
practise by the hour instead of by the second there would be hope
of advancing the solution of a very difficult problem. It seemed
feasible to do this by building a machine which would be sustained
at a speed of eighteen miles per hour, and then finding a locality
where winds of this velocity were common. With these conditions a
rope attached to the machine to keep it from floating backward
would answer very nearly the same purpose as a propeller driven by
a motor, and it would be possible to practise by the hour, and
without any serious danger, as it would not be necessary to rise far
from the ground, and the machine would not have any forward
motion at all. We found, according to the accepted tables of air
pressure on curved surfaces, that a machine spreading 200 square
feet of wing surface would be sufficient for our purpose, and that
places would easily be found along the Atlantic coast where winds of
sixteen to twenty-five miles were not at all uncommon. When the
winds were low it was our plan to glide from the tops of sandhills,
and when they were sufficiently strong to use a rope for our motor
and fly over one spot. Our next work was to draw up the plans for a
suitable machine. After much study we finally concluded that tails
were a source of trouble rather than of assistance, and therefore we
decided to dispense with them altogether. It seemed reasonable that
if the body of the operator could be placed in a horizontal position
instead of the upright, as in the machines of Lilienthal, Pilcher, and
Chanute, the wind resistance could be very materially reduced, since
only one square foot instead of five would be exposed. As a full half
horse-power would be saved by this change, we arranged to try at
least the horizontal position. Then the method of control used by
Lilienthal, which consisted in shifting the body, did not seem quite as
quick or effective as the case required; so, after long study, we
contrived a system consisting of two large surfaces on the Chanute
double-deck plan, and a smaller surface placed a short distance in
front of the main surfaces in such a position that the action of the
wind upon it would counterbalance the effect of the travel of the
centre of pressure on the main surfaces. Thus changes in the
direction and velocity of the wind would have little disturbing effect,
and the operator would be required to attend only to the steering of
the machine, which was to be effected by curving the forward
surface up or down. The lateral equilibrium and the steering to right
or left was to be attained by a peculiar torsion of the main surfaces,
which was equivalent to presenting one end of the wings at a
greater angle than the other. In the main frame a few changes were
also made in the details of construction and trussing employed by Mr
Chanute. The most important of these were: (1) The moving of the
forward main crosspiece of the frame to the extreme front edge; (2)
the encasing in the cloth of all crosspieces and ribs of the surfaces;
(3) a rearrangement of the wires used in trussing the two surfaces
together, which rendered it possible to tighten all the wires by simply
shortening two of them.’
The brothers intended originally to get 200 square feet of
supporting surface for their glider, but the impossibility of obtaining
suitable material compelled them to reduce the area to 165 square
feet, which, by the Lilienthal tables, admitted of support in a wind of
about twenty-one miles an hour at an angle of three degrees. With
this glider they went in the summer of 1900 to the little settlement
of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, situated on the strip of land dividing
Albemarle Sound from the Atlantic. Here they reckoned on obtaining
steady wind, and here, on the day that they completed the machine,
they took it out for trial as a kite with the wind blowing at between
twenty-five and thirty miles an hour. They found that in order to
support a man on it the glider required an angle nearer twenty
degrees than three, and even with the wind at thirty miles an hour
they could not get down to the planned angle of three degrees.
Later, when the wind was too light to support the machine with a
man on it, they tested it as a kite, working the rudders by cords.
Although they obtained satisfactory results in this way they realised
fully that actual gliding experience was necessary before the tests
could be considered practical.
A series of actual measurements of lift and drift of the machine
gave astonishing results. ‘It appeared that the total horizontal pull of
the machine, while sustaining a weight of 52 lbs., was only 8.5 lbs.,
which was less than had been previously estimated for head
resistance of the framing alone. Making allowance for the weight
carried, it appeared that the head resistance of the framing was but
little more than fifty per cent of the amount which Mr Chanute had
estimated as the head resistance of the framing of his machine. On
the other hand, it appeared sadly deficient in lifting power as
compared with the calculated lift of curved surfaces of its size ... we
decided to arrange our machine for the following year so that the
depth of curvature of its surfaces could be varied at will, and its
covering air-proofed.’
After these experiments the brothers decided to turn to practical
gliding, for which they moved four miles to the south, to the Kill
Devil sandhills, the principal of which is slightly over a hundred feet
in height, with an inclination of nearly ten degrees on its main north-
western slope. On the day after their arrival they made about a
dozen glides, in which, although the landings were made at a speed
of more than twenty miles an hour, no injury was sustained either by
the machine or by the operator.
 ‘The slope of the hill was 9.5 degrees, or a drop of one foot in
six. We found that after attaining a speed of about twenty-five to
thirty miles with reference to the wind, or ten to fifteen miles over
the ground, the machine not only glided parallel to the slope of the
hill, but greatly increased its speed, thus indicating its ability to glide
on a somewhat less angle than 9.5 degrees, when we should feel it
safe to rise higher from the surface. The control of the machine
proved even better than we had dared to expect, responding quickly
to the slightest motion of the rudder. With these glides our
experiments for the year 1900 closed. Although the hours and hours
of practice we had hoped to obtain finally dwindled down to about
two minutes, we were very much pleased with the general results of
the trip, for, setting out as we did with almost revolutionary theories
on many points and an entirely untried form of machine, we
considered it quite a point to be able to return without having our
pet theories completely knocked on the head by the hard logic of
experience, and our own brains dashed out in the bargain.
Everything seemed to us to confirm the correctness of our original
opinions: (1) That practice is the key to the secret of flying; (2) that
it is practicable to assume the horizontal position; (3) that a smaller
surface set at a negative angle in front of the main bearing surfaces,
or wings, will largely counteract the effect of the fore and aft travel
of the centre of pressure; (4) that steering up and down can be
attained with a rudder without moving the position of the operator’s
body; (5) that twisting the wings so as to present their ends to the
wind at different angles is a more prompt and efficient way of
maintaining lateral equilibrium than shifting the body of the
operator.’
Wilbur Wright in a high glide, 1903.
Orville Wright making the world’s record in gliding flight, 10 minutes
1 second, stationary against a wind of 25 miles per hour, east of Kill
Devil Hill.

For the gliding experiments of 1901 it was decided to retain the

form of the 1900 glider, but to increase the area to 308 square feet,
which, the brothers calculated, would support itself and its operator
in a wind of seventeen miles an hour with an angle of incidence of
three degrees. Camp was formed at Kitty Hawk in the middle of July,
and on July 27th the machine was completed and tried for the first
time in a wind of about fourteen miles an hour. The first attempt
resulted in landing after a glide of only a few yards, indicating that
the centre of gravity was too far in front of the centre of pressure.
By shifting his position farther and farther back the operator finally
achieved an undulating flight of a little over 300 feet, but to obtain
this success he had to use full power of the rudder to prevent both
stalling and nose-diving. With the 1900 machine one-fourth of the
rudder action had been necessary for far better control.
Practically all glides gave the same result, and in one the
machine rose higher and higher until it lost all headway. ‘This was
the position from which Lilienthal had always found difficulty in
extricating himself, as his machine then, in spite of his greatest
exertions, manifested a tendency to dive downward almost vertically
and strike the ground head on with frightful velocity. In this case a
warning cry from the ground caused the operator to turn the rudder
to its full extent and also to move his body slightly forward. The
machine then settled slowly to the ground, maintaining its horizontal
position almost perfectly, and landed without any injury at all. This
was very encouraging, as it showed that one of the very greatest
dangers in machines with horizontal tails had been overcome by the
use of the front rudder. Several glides later the same experience was
repeated with the same result. In the latter case the machine had
even commenced to move backward, but was nevertheless brought
safely to the ground in a horizontal position. On the whole this day’s
experiments were encouraging, for while the action of the rudder did
not seem at all like that of our 1900 machine, yet we had escaped
without difficulty from positions which had proved very dangerous to
preceding experimenters, and after less than one minute’s actual
practice had made a glide of more than 300 feet, at an angle of
descent of ten degrees, and with a machine nearly twice as large as
had previously been considered safe. The trouble with its control,
which has been mentioned, we believed could be corrected when we
should have located its cause.’
It was finally ascertained that the defect could be remedied by
trussing down the ribs of the whole machine so as to reduce the
depth of curvature. When this had been done gliding was resumed,
and after a few trials glides of 366 and 389 feet were made with
prompt response on the part of the machine, even to small
movements of the rudder. The rest of the story of the gliding
experiments of 1901 cannot be better told than in Wilbur Wright’s
own words, as uttered by him in the lecture from which the
foregoing excerpts have been made.
‘The machine, with its new curvature, never failed to respond
promptly to even small movements of the rudder. The operator could
cause it to almost skim the ground, following the undulations of its
surface, or he could cause it to sail out almost on a level with the
starting point, and, passing high above the foot of the hill, gradually
settle down to the ground. The wind on this day was blowing eleven
to fourteen miles per hour. The next day, the conditions being
favourable, the machine was again taken out for trial. This time the
velocity of the wind was eighteen to twenty-two miles per hour. At
first we felt some doubt as to the safety of attempting free flight in
so strong a wind, with a machine of over 300 square feet and a
practice of less than five minutes spent in actual flight. But after
several preliminary experiments we decided to try a glide. The
control of the machine seemed so good that we then felt no
apprehension in sailing boldly forth. And thereafter we made glide
after glide, sometimes following the ground closely and sometimes
sailing high in the air. Mr Chanute had his camera with him and took
pictures of some of these glides, several of which are among those
shown.
‘We made glides on subsequent days, whenever the conditions
were favourable. The highest wind thus experimented in was a little
over twelve metres per second—nearly twenty-seven miles per hour.
‘It had been our intention when building the machine to do the
larger part of the experimenting in the following manner:—When the
wind blew seventeen miles an hour, or more, we would attach a rope
to the machine and let it rise as a kite with the operator upon it.
When it should reach a proper height the operator would cast off the
rope and glide down to the ground just as from the top of a hill. In
this way we would be saved the trouble of carrying the machine
uphill after each glide, and could make at least ten glides in the time
required for one in the other way. But when we came to try it, we
found that a wind of seventeen miles, as measured by Richards’
anemometer, instead of sustaining the machine with its operator, a
total weight of 240 lbs., at an angle of incidence of three degrees, in
reality would not sustain the machine alone—100 lbs.—at this angle.
Its lifting capacity seemed scarcely one-third of the calculated
amount. In order to make sure that this was not due to the porosity
of the cloth, we constructed two small experimental surfaces of
equal size, one of which was air-proofed and the other left in its
natural state; but we could detect no difference in their lifting
powers. For a time we were led to suspect that the lift of curved
surfaces very little exceeded that of planes of the same size, but
further investigation and experiment led to the opinion that (1) the
anemometer used by us over-recorded the true velocity of the wind
by nearly 15 per cent; (2) that the well-known Smeaton coefficient
of .005 V² for the wind pressure at 90 degrees is probably too great
by at least 20 per cent; (3) that Lilienthal’s estimate that the
pressure on a curved surface having an angle of incidence of 3
degrees equals .545 of the pressure at 90 degrees is too large, being
nearly 50 per cent greater than very recent experiments of our own
with a pressure testing-machine indicate; (4) that the superposition
of the surfaces somewhat reduced the lift per square foot, as
compared with a single surface of equal area.
‘In gliding experiments, however, the amount of lift is of less
relative importance than the ratio of lift to drift, as this alone decides
the angle of gliding descent. In a plane the pressure is always
perpendicular to the surface, and the ratio of lift to drift is therefore
the same as that of the cosine to the sine of the angle of incidence.
But in curved surfaces a very remarkable situation is found. The
pressure, instead of being uniformly normal to the chord of the arc,
is usually inclined considerably in front of the perpendicular. The
result is that the lift is greater and the drift less than if the pressure
were normal. Lilienthal was the first to discover this exceedingly
important fact, which is fully set forth in his book, Bird Flight the
Basis of the Flying Art, but owing to some errors in the methods he
used in making measurements, question was raised by other
investigators not only as to the accuracy of his figures, but even as
to the existence of any tangential force at all. Our experiments
confirm the existence of this force, though our measurements differ
considerably from those of Lilienthal. While at Kitty Hawk we spent
much time in measuring the horizontal pressure on our unloaded
machine at various angles of incidence. We found that at 13 degrees
the horizontal pressure was about 23 lbs. This included not only the
drift proper, or horizontal component of the pressure on the side of
the surface, but also the head resistance of the framing as well. The
weight of the machine at the time of this test was about 108 lbs.
Now, if the pressure had been normal to the chord of the surface,
the drift proper would have been to the lift (108 lbs.) as the sine of
13 degrees is to the cosine of 13 degrees, or (.22 × 108) / .97 = 24
+ lbs.; but this slightly exceeds the total pull of 23 pounds on our
scales. Therefore it is evident that the average pressure on the
surface, instead of being normal to the chord, was so far inclined
toward the front that all the head resistance of framing and wires
used in the construction was more than overcome. In a wind of
fourteen miles per hour resistance is by no means a negligible factor,
so that tangential is evidently a force of considerable value. In a
higher wind, which sustained the machine at an angle of 10 degrees
the pull on the scales was 18 lbs. With the pressure normal to the
chord the drift proper would have been (17 × 98) / ·98. The travel
of the centre of pressure made it necessary to put sand on the front
rudder to bring the centres of gravity and pressure into coincidence,
consequently the weight of the machine varied from 98 lbs. to 108
lbs. in the different tests) = 17 lbs., so that, although the higher
wind velocity must have caused an increase in the head resistance,
the tangential force still came within 1 lb. of overcoming it. After our
return from Kitty Hawk we began a series of experiments to
accurately determine the amount and direction of the pressure
produced on curved surfaces when acted upon by winds at the
various angles from zero to 90 degrees. These experiments are not
yet concluded, but in general they support Lilienthal in the claim that
the curves give pressures more favourable in amount and direction
than planes; but we find marked differences in the exact values,
especially at angles below 10 degrees. We were unable to obtain
direct measurements of the horizontal pressures of the machine with
the operator on board, but by comparing the distance travelled with
the vertical fall, it was easily calculated that at a speed of 24 miles
per hour the total horizontal resistances of our machine, when
bearing the operator, amounted to 40 lbs, which is equivalent to
about 2⅓ horse-power. It must not be supposed, however, that a
motor developing this power would be sufficient to drive a man-
bearing machine. The extra weight of the motor would require either
a larger machine, higher speed, or a greater angle of incidence in
order to support it, and therefore more power. It is probable,
however, that an engine of 6 horse-power, weighing 100 lbs. would
answer the purpose. Such an engine is entirely practicable. Indeed,
working motors of one-half this weight per horse-power (9 lbs. per
horse-power) have been constructed by several different builders.
Increasing the speed of our machine from 24 to 33 miles per hour
reduced the total horizontal pressure from 40 to about 35 lbs. This
was quite an advantage in gliding, as it made it possible to sail about
15 per cent farther with a given drop. However, it would be of little
or no advantage in reducing the size of the motor in a power-driven
machine, because the lessened thrust would be counterbalanced by
the increased speed per minute. Some years ago Professor Langley
called attention to the great economy of thrust which might be
obtained by using very high speeds, and from this many were led to
suppose that high speed was essential to success in a motor-driven
machine. But the economy to which Professor Langley called
attention was in foot pounds per mile of travel, not in foot pounds
per minute. It is the foot pounds per minute that fixes the size of the
motor. The probability is that the first flying machines will have a
relatively low speed, perhaps not much exceeding 20 miles per hour,
but the problem of increasing the speed will be much simpler in
some respects than that of increasing the speed of a steamboat; for,
whereas in the latter case the size of the engine must increase as
the cube of the speed, in the flying machine, until extremely high
speeds are reached, the capacity of the motor increases in less than
simple ratio; and there is even a decrease in the fuel per mile of
travel. In other words, to double the speed of a steamship (and the
same is true of the balloon type of airship) eight times the engine
and boiler capacity would be required, and four times the fuel
consumption per mile of travel; while a flying machine would require
engines of less than double the size, and there would be an actual
decrease in the fuel consumption per mile of travel. But looking at
the matter conversely, the great disadvantage of the flying machine
is apparent; for in the latter no flight at all is possible unless the
proportion of horse-power to flying capacity is very high; but on the
other hand a steamship is a mechanical success if its ratio of horse-
power to tonnage is insignificant. A flying machine that would fly at
a speed of 50 miles per hour with engines of 1,000 horse-power
would not be upheld by its wings at all at a speed of less than 25
miles an hour, and nothing less than 500 horse-power could drive it
at this speed. But a boat which could make 40 miles an hour with
engines of 1,000 horse-power would still move 4 miles an hour even
if the engines were reduced to 1 horse-power. The problems of land
and water travel were solved in the nineteenth century, because it
was possible to begin with small achievements, and gradually work
up to our present success. The flying problem was left over to the
twentieth century, because in this case the art must be highly
developed before any flight of any considerable duration at all can
be obtained.
‘However, there is another way of flying which requires no
artificial motor, and many workers believe that success will come first
by this road. I refer to the soaring flight, by which the machine is
permanently sustained in the air by the same means that are
employed by soaring birds. They spread their wings to the wind, and
sail by the hour, with no perceptible exertion beyond that required to
balance and steer themselves. What sustains them is not definitely
known, though it is almost certain that it is a rising current of air. But
whether it be a rising current or something else, it is as well able to
support a flying machine as a bird, if man once learns the art of
utilising it. In gliding experiments it has long been known that the
rate of vertical descent is very much retarded, and the duration of
the flight greatly prolonged, if a strong wind blows up the face of the
hill parallel to its surface. Our machine, when gliding in still air, has a
rate of vertical descent of nearly 6 feet per second, while in a wind
blowing 26 miles per hour up a steep hill we made glides in which
the rate of descent was less than 2 feet per second. And during the
larger part of this time, while the machine remained exactly in the
rising current, there was no descent at all, but even a slight rise. If
the operator had had sufficient skill to keep himself from passing
beyond the rising current he would have been sustained indefinitely
at a higher point than that from which he started. The illustration
shows one of these very slow glides at a time when the machine
was practically at a standstill. The failure to advance more rapidly
caused the photographer some trouble in aiming, as you will
perceive. In looking at this picture you will readily understand that
the excitement of gliding experiments does not entirely cease with
the breaking up of camp. In the photographic dark-room at home we
pass moments of as thrilling interest as any in the field, when the
image begins to appear on the plate and it is yet an open question
whether we have a picture of a flying machine or merely a patch of
open sky. These slow glides in rising current probably hold out
greater hope of extensive practice than any other method within
man’s reach, but they have the disadvantage of requiring rather
strong winds or very large supporting surfaces. However, when
gliding operators have attained greater skill, they can with
comparative safety maintain themselves in the air for hours at a time
in this way, and thus by constant practice so increase their
knowledge and skill that they can rise into the higher air and search
out the currents which enable the soaring birds to transport
themselves to any desired point by first rising in a circle and then
sailing off at a descending angle. This illustration shows the
machine, alone, flying in a wind of 35 miles per hour on the face of
a steep hill, 100 feet high. It will be seen that the machine not only
pulls upward, but also pulls forward in the direction from which the
wind blows, thus overcoming both gravity and the speed of the
wind. We tried the same experiment with a man on it, but found
danger that the forward pull would become so strong, that the men
holding the ropes would be dragged from their insecure foothold on
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