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author: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-03-03 05:36:17 -0800
committer: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-03-03 05:36:17 -0800
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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 38758 ***</div>
+<div class="document" id="story-of-the-aeroplane">
+<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">Story of the Aeroplane</h1>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<div class="container" id="pg-produced-by">
+<p class="noindent pfirst">Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at <a class="reference external" href="http://www.bookcove.net">http://www.bookcove.net</a>.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="container titlepage">
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost">
+<div class="line"><span class="bold x-large">Story of the Aeroplane</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">By</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"><span class="large">C. B. Galbreath, M. A.</span></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">PUBLISHED JOINTLY BY</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">F. A. OWEN PUB. CO., Dansville, N. Y.</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">and</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">HALL &amp; McCREARY, Chicago, Ill.</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"><span class="small-caps x-small">INSTRUCTOR LITERATURE SERIES--No. 253</span></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="container verso">
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost">
+<div class="line">COPYRIGHT, 1915</div>
+<div class="line">F. A. OWEN PUBLISHING CO.</div>
+<div class="line"><em class="italics">Story of the Aeroplane</em></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="contents level-2 section" id="id1">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">Table of Contents</h2>
+<ul class="compact simple toc-list">
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-ocean-of-air" id="id2">The Ocean of Air</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#early-attempts-at-aviation" id="id3">Early Attempts at Aviation</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#early-flying-machines" id="id4">Early Flying Machines</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#nineteenth-century-experiments" id="id5">Nineteenth Century Experiments</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#claims-of-maxim-and-ader" id="id6">Claims of Maxim and Ader</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#langleys-tandem-monoplane" id="id7">Langley’s Tandem Monoplane</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#experiments-with-gliders" id="id8">Experiments with Gliders</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#aviation-at-the-beginning-of-the-present-century" id="id9">Aviation at the Beginning of the Present Century</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-kite" id="id10">The Kite</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-plane-defined" id="id11">The “Plane” Defined</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#essentials-of-the-aeroplane" id="id12">Essentials of the Aeroplane</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-wright-brothers-and-their-problem" id="id13">The Wright Brothers and Their Problem</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#balancing-the-machine" id="id14">Balancing the Machine</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#at-kitty-hawk" id="id15">At Kitty Hawk</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#the-first-flight" id="id16">The First Flight</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#machine-balanced-by-warping-of-planes" id="id17">Machine Balanced by Warping of Planes</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#newspaper-reports-verified" id="id18">Newspaper Reports Verified</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#trial-flights-at-fort-meyer" id="id19">Trial Flights at Fort Meyer</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#fatal-accident" id="id20">Fatal Accident</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#wilbur-wright-wins-fame-in-france" id="id21">Wilbur Wright Wins Fame in France</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#wright-brothers-honored" id="id22">Wright Brothers Honored</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#united-states-government-requirements-successfully-met" id="id23">United States Government Requirements Successfully Met</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#recent-improvements" id="id24">Recent Improvements</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#future-of-the-aeroplane" id="id25">Future of the Aeroplane</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost">
+<div class="line"><span class="bold xx-large">Story of the Aeroplane</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="the-ocean-of-air">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id2">The Ocean of Air</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Around the dry land of the earth are the oceans of
+water. We may never have seen them, but we have
+knowledge of them and their navigation, and their
+names suggest very definite and concrete objects of
+thought. We sometimes do not realize, however, that
+we live and move and have our being at the bottom of
+a vaster and deeper ocean that covers to a depth of
+many miles the whole earth, and to the surface of which
+man nor beast nor bird has ever ascended; an ocean
+with currents and whirlpools and waves of more than
+mountain height; an ocean in which we are as much at
+home as are the finny tribes and the monsters of the
+deep in their watery caverns. This is the ocean of the
+air. We are about to consider man’s efforts to rise from
+the bottom of this ocean and wing his flight a little way
+through the atmosphere above him. His excursions
+upward are limited, for he could not live near the surface
+heights of this ocean, vast and deep and boundless.
+The art and science of his flight through the air, because
+of its relation to the flight of birds, we call aviation.
+(<em class="italics">Avis</em>: Latin, a bird.)</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="early-attempts-at-aviation">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id3">Early Attempts at Aviation</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">“The birds can fly and why can’t I?”</p>
+<p class="pnext">This query of Darius Green’s, in various forms, has
+suggested itself to man since the dawn of history. Born
+with an inspiration to look upward and aspire, the navigation
+of the air has appealed with peculiar force to his
+imagination and through the centuries has at different
+times led bold and adventurous spirits to attempt what
+the world long regarded as impossible. The heavens
+seemed reserved for winged insects, birds and angels.
+Audacious man might not venture out upon the impalpable
+air. Can man fly? After more than four thousand
+years it was left for man to answer yes, to rise from
+the earth on wing and thrill the world “with the audacity
+of his design and the miracle of its execution.”
+Bold enterprise! Fitting achievement to usher in a new
+century! A seeming miracle at first, but destined soon
+to excite no more curiosity than the flight of bees and
+birds. The solution of the problem of human flight was
+no miracle nor was it the swift work of genius accomplished
+at a magic master stroke. It was the result of
+intelligence and industry patiently applied for years till
+the barriers of difficulty gave way and man ventured
+out with assurance on the highways of the air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just when he first attempted to fly is not known.
+Ancient Greek mythology abounds in stories of flying
+gods and mortals. Kites which bear some relation to
+the aeroplane were toys among the Chinese thousands
+of years ago. A Greek by the name of Achytes is reported
+to have made a wooden dove which flew under
+the propelling power of heated air. Baldad, a tribal
+king in what is now England, so tradition has it, attempted
+to fly over a city but fell and broke a leg. A
+similar accident is said to have happened to a Benedictine
+monk in the eleventh century and to others attempting
+like exploits in after years. A fall and a broken
+leg seem to have been the usual results of these early
+attempts at aerial flight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the fifteenth century students and inventors gave
+serious attention to the navigation of the air and trustworthy
+accounts of their labors come down to us. Jean
+Baptiste Dante, a brother of the great Italian poet,
+made a number of gliding flights from high elevations
+and while giving an exhibition at a marriage feast in
+Perugia, like his predecessors in the middle ages,
+alighted on a roof and broke a leg. Leonardo da Vinci,
+the great painter and sculptor, was an amateur aviator
+of no mean attainment for his day. He invented a
+machine which the operator was to fly by using his arms
+and legs to set wings into flapping motion, like those of
+birds. This was called an orthopter, or ornithopter, a
+name which may be properly applied to any similar device.
+Another machine invented by him was in the
+form of a horizontal screw ninety-six feet in diameter.
+By the twisting of this the machine was designed to fly
+upward. This was called a helicopter. Da Vinci’s third
+invention in this line was the parachute, with which
+successful descents were made from towers and other elevations.
+In the early half of the eighteenth century the
+Swedish philosopher, Emanuel Swedenborg, sketched
+in one of his works a flying machine of the orthopter
+style which he knew would not fly but which he suggested
+as a start, saying “It seems easier to talk of such
+a machine than to put it into actuality, for it requires
+greater force and less weight than exists in the human
+body.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">In 1742 the Marquis di Bacqueville at the age of sixty-two
+attempted to make a gliding flight from the tower
+of his home in Paris across the river Seine to the gardens
+of the Tuileries, started successfully in the presence
+of a great multitude, but suddenly halted over the
+river and fell into a boat, paying the historic penalty of
+a broken leg.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At this point it may be well to classify the flying devices
+thus far considered.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="early-flying-machines">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id4">Early Flying Machines</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">1. The <em class="italics">orthopters</em>, or as they are less commonly called,
+the ornithopters. The word “orthopter” means straight
+wing and the word “ornithopter” bird wing. This
+class of machines includes those designed to fly by the
+flapping of wings, somewhat in imitation of birds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">2. The <em class="italics">helicopters</em>. The word “helicopter” means
+spiral wing. Flying machines of this class are designed
+to fly by the rapid horizontal rotation of two spiral propellers
+moving in opposite directions but so shaped that
+their combined effect is to move the machine upward.
+They are like a pair of tractor propellers of the modern
+aeroplane but arranged horizontally to lift the machine
+instead of drawing it forward in a vertical position.</p>
+<p class="pnext">3. The <em class="italics">gliders</em>. As the name suggests, these were designed
+to coast or glide down the air, to start from a
+high elevation and by sailing through the air in an
+oblique direction reach a lower elevation at some distance
+from the starting point. Down to the latter part
+of the nineteenth century only the gliders were successfully
+used in man flight. In reality they can scarcely
+be called flying machines for they could not lift their
+own weight, though late experiments prove that when
+once in air they may rise above their starting point
+under the influence of a strong wind. The glider, however,
+performed a most important part in the evolution
+of the aeroplane. In coasting the air from hills, sand
+dunes and towers against steady wind currents a number
+of inventors through a series of years learned how
+to guide and control these gliders in their downward
+flight--an essential preparation for the application of
+motive power to lift the glider against the force of
+gravity and thus make it a veritable flying machine or
+aeroplane.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="nineteenth-century-experiments">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id5">Nineteenth Century Experiments</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">In the early part of the last century an Englishman,
+Sir George Cayley, made many experiments with gliders
+and tabulated with great care the results of his investigations.
+He concluded, like Swedenborg, that man has
+not the power to fly by his own strength through any
+wing-flapping device, or orthopter, but he intimated
+that with a lighter and more powerful engine than had
+then been invented a plane like those used in his gliders,
+if slightly inclined upward, might be made gradually
+to ascend through the air. The results of his experiments
+he published in 1810. They clearly foreshadowed
+the triumph that came almost a century later.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In 1844 two British inventors, Henson and String-fellow,
+working out the suggestions of Cayley, made an
+aeroplane model equipped with a steam engine which is
+said to have made a flight of forty yards--the first real
+upward flight of a heavier than air machine on record.
+This model was a monoplane, that is, the lifting surface
+was a single plane like the outstretched wings of a bird.
+Twenty-two years later experiments were made with a
+biplane, that is, an aeroplane with two lifting planes
+or surfaces, one above the other.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="claims-of-maxim-and-ader">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id6">Claims of Maxim and Ader</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">While others had made flying models, Sir Hiram
+Maxim in England constructed a multiplane, driven by
+a powerful steam engine over a track and rising at one
+time, as he declares, a few inches from the ground. He
+claims that his was the first machine to “lift man off
+the ground by its own power.” This test was made in
+1889.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Clement Ader, a Frenchman, also claims this honor,
+saying that he was the first to make a machine that
+would rise and lift a passenger. On October 9, 1890,
+his friends say he made a short forward flight of 150
+feet in a monoplane propelled by a forty horse power
+steam engine. In 1897 he claims to have made a number
+of secret flights, but a little later, in a test before
+officers of the French army who had become interested
+in the invention, the machine turned over and was
+wrecked. The support of the army for further experiments
+was withdrawn and Ader in despair abandoned
+the problem of aerial navigation which had claimed long
+years of study and unremitting effort. He stopped just
+short of the goal “with success almost within his grasp.”</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="langleys-tandem-monoplane">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id7">Langley’s Tandem Monoplane</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">About this time two Americans, Samuel Pierpont
+Langley, of the Smithsonian Institution and Octave
+Chanute were conducting along scientific lines a series
+of experiments in aviation. On May 6, 1896, a steam-propelled
+model was started in a flight over the Potomac
+River. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the
+telephone, who was present, declared that after a flight
+of eighty to one hundred feet the machine “settled
+down so softly that it touched the water without the
+least shock and was in fact immediately ready for a second
+trial.” Other experiments were tried with success.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langley’s first machine was a tandem monoplane, that
+is it had two pairs of wings, one immediately following
+the other. The engine and the propellers were between
+the two pairs of wings. In later models he used the biplane
+construction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Finally the United States government appropriated
+$50,000 to build a machine that would carry a passenger.
+In constructing this, Langley equipped it with a gasoline
+engine of about three horse power. The machine
+was comparatively light, weighing all told only fifty-eight
+pounds. On August 8, 1903, a public test was
+made “without a pilot,” on the Potomac River near
+Washington. Spectators and reporters congratulated
+the inventor on the success of the experiment, while he
+with modest satisfaction said, “This is the first time in
+history, so far as I know, that a successful flight of a
+mechanically sustained flying machine has been made
+in public.” This statement was no doubt true of machines
+of any considerable size, but as we shall presently
+see, toy flying machines of the <em class="italics">helicopter</em> type had long
+ere this been exhibited to the wondering gaze of boys
+who were ultimately to bring to a practical conclusion
+man’s long line of effort to rise triumphant and shape
+his course through the ocean of air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langley’s machine had flown without a pilot. A little
+later the inventor announced himself ready for the final
+test. Like his first model, his machine was a tandem
+monoplane. Its weight with pilot was 830 pounds and
+its plane or wing surface was 1040 square feet. It was
+fifty-two feet long and its arched wings measured forty-eight
+feet from tip to tip. The gasoline motor with
+which it was equipped developed fifty-two horse power
+and with all accessories weighed about 250 pounds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At Widewater, Virginia, September 7, 1903, the machine
+was tested. On a barge it was carried out into
+the Potomac River, with Charles M. Manley, Professor
+Langley’s assistant, who was to pilot it in its first flight.
+The moment for the supreme test arrived. A mechanical
+device on the barge shot the machine and pilot into
+the air. To the disappointment and dismay of the spectators,
+the machine plunged front downward into the
+water. It was rescued with the young pilot unharmed.
+Another attempt was made to launch it in the air with
+a similar result, except that this time it dropped into the
+water rear end downward. The government gave the
+project no further encouragement, and the query ascribed
+to Darius Green remained unanswered. Professor
+Langley died a few years afterward, his life shortened,
+it is believed, through the blighting of the hope that he
+had long entertained to be the first successfully to navigate
+the air.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="experiments-with-gliders">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id8">Experiments with Gliders</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Through the latter part of the last century experiments
+were carried on with gliders. Among those who
+achieved much success in this field was the German,
+Otto Lilienthal, the “flying man,” who made remarkable
+glides in the early nineties. He would run along the
+crest of a hill, jump from a precipitous declivity and
+sail on the wings of his glider over the valley below,
+guiding his course up and down and from side to side
+with a rudder attached to the machine. It was his idea
+that the problem of aviation was to be solved by perfecting
+the glider so that it could be controlled in its
+downward flight and then adding a propelling power
+that would sustain it and lift it through the air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">After the death of Lilienthal by accident in 1896,
+others continued experiments along similar lines with
+the same purpose in view. Among these were Octave
+Chanute and A. M. Herring. They tried at first a monoplane
+glider and afterward one of five planes. This
+number they reduced to two. The rudder was made of
+movable horizontal and vertical blades. It was found
+that the glider with two planes, the biplane, was most
+satisfactory.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Herring made for this a compressed air engine and
+claimed that with this he accomplished a flight of seventy-three
+feet. There is some doubt, however, as to
+this claim and some question as to whether it was an
+upward flight or a downward glide.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="aviation-at-the-beginning-of-the-present-century">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id9">Aviation at the Beginning of the Present Century</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">As briefly outlined here, such was the status of aviation
+at the beginning of the new century. Much progress
+had been made and substantial vantage ground
+had been gained, but the problem still awaited practical
+solution. At this point it may be well to consider some
+of the features of the problem and the devices thus far
+evolved by long years of investigation and experiment.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="the-kite">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id10">The Kite</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">One of the simplest forms of the aeroplane is the common
+kite. This takes various forms. It is usually made
+of a framework of three light strips of wood crossing a
+little above the center and secured at the outer ends by
+similar strips, or strong cord tautly drawn and making
+when covered with paper a six-sided figure. From the
+corners of the framework cords are drawn to a common
+point near the center and there firmly united. At this
+point of union is attached the twine which is held in the
+hand of the kite flyer. From the base of the kite is suspended
+a string with light horizontal paper rolls, each
+about the size of a lead pencil, tied at intervals of a few
+inches, and forming the tail which steadies the kite in
+air. The paper surface of the kite is the plane on which
+the pressure of the air current and the power applied to
+the string is to lift the kite upward. As this simple
+form of the kite has but one plane, it may be considered
+a monoplane. The box kite presents two such surfaces
+joined together at the sides by the ends of the “box,”
+and may therefore be called a biplane.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When the boy flies his kite he first determines the
+direction of the wind and runs in that direction. In
+other words he flies his kite against the wind. The pressure
+of the moving current against the under surface
+keeps the kite aloft. When the boy runs against the
+wind, moving the kite forward with him, this pressure
+is increased and the kite tends to rise higher and higher.
+If instead of the long string and the boy there could be
+placed with the kite itself a very light motor that would
+give to it the same forward impulse, the kite would float
+through the air without boy or string and we would
+have a small aeroplane flying machine--a monoplane.
+If there were two kites, with parallel surfaces a few
+inches apart, united with light framework so that the
+air would pass between them, we should have a biplane.
+For many years the great problem in aviation was to get
+an engine of sufficient lightness and power to propel
+monoplanes, biplanes and multiplanes at an upward
+angle through the air.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="the-plane-defined">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id11">The “Plane” Defined</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">It may not be out of place here to consider what Constitutes
+a plane, as that term is used in aviation. It is
+that part of the aeroplane, the pressure of the air upon
+the surface of which, lifts and sustains the aeroplane
+aloft. The plane may take a variety of forms; it may
+be curved or its parts may meet in an angle; it may be
+uniform and unbroken in shape or divided into parts.
+The two wings of a bird would constitute a monoplane,
+when they are in a horizontal position for soaring, or
+when the tips are uplifted and they form an angle like
+a broad V, called a dihedral angle. If the aeroplane has
+two such planes, one back of the other, it is still called
+a monoplane, or, more definitely, a tandem monoplane;
+but if one of the planes is above the other it is called a
+biplane. A similar arrangement of three planes, one
+above the other, could be called a triplane and one of
+several planes a multiplane.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="essentials-of-the-aeroplane">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id12">Essentials of the Aeroplane</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst"><em class="italics">The planes</em>, as already described are, of course, a necessary
+part of the aeroplane.</p>
+<p class="pnext"><em class="italics">The propeller</em> supplies motive power to the aeroplane.
+This moves in a circle much like the blades of the electric
+fan or the propeller of a motor boat or modern stern ship.
+By driving the air backward it propels the aeroplane forward.
+While the blades of the propeller are of considerable
+length they are usually inconspicuous in photographs,
+and as one who has never seen an aeroplane
+looks at a photograph he naturally asks, “What moves it
+through the air?” The propeller is driven by the engine.</p>
+<p class="pnext"><em class="italics">The engine</em> is usually of the gasoline type which develops
+high power with light weight, frequently one
+horse power for every three pounds of weight and in
+rare instances as high as one horse power for every
+pound of weight. These powerful little engines are
+marvels of mechanism and they have had much to do
+in the rapid modern progress of aeronautics.</p>
+<p class="pnext"><em class="italics">The rudder</em>, as its name indicates, guides the aeroplane
+in its flight. It consists in the main of small horizontal
+and vertical planes under the control of the pilot.
+These may be in the front of the machine, but they are
+usually placed in the rear. By skillful manipulation of
+these the aeroplane can be guided upward, downward,
+to right or left at will. It is also guided and controlled
+as we shall see, by the “warping” or “curving” of the
+wings or planes.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="the-wright-brothers-and-their-problem">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id13">The Wright Brothers and Their Problem</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The dawn of the twentieth century was to immortalize
+new names in the annals of aviation. In the city of
+Dayton, Ohio, two brothers in a modest way were conducting
+a bicycle repair shop. From youth they had
+been inseparable in their aims and work. They were
+the sons of Bishop Milton Wright of the United Brethren
+Church. They had each a high school education but had
+not attended college. In 1878, when they were boys of
+seven and eleven years respectively, their father brought
+them one evening a little flying toy, a small helicopter,
+the motive power of which was furnished by a rubber
+band wound around the shafts of two propellers so as to
+drive them, when “wound up” and released, in opposite
+directions. The toy was made of light material to resemble
+a bird. When the father released it in the presence
+of the wondering boys, to their astonishment it
+flew upward in the room, rose to the ceiling and after
+fluttering there for a little while fell to the floor. They
+did not concern themselves much about the name of the
+toy, but properly called it what to their minds it most
+closely resembled--“the bat.” They afterward made
+other toys like it and discovered that as they were increased
+in size they flew less successfully. They early
+developed a fondness for kite flying and in this were
+regarded as experts. When they grew to manhood,
+however, they abandoned these boyish sports and devoted
+themselves industriously to their machine and repair
+shop. “The bat” and the kite became memories,
+but the memories of youth have power to shape the
+thoughts of manhood, and this early observation and experience
+with aerial toys gave to Wilbur and Orville
+Wright an interest in the attempts at aviation that were
+chronicled in the press from time to time through the
+decade immediately preceding this new century.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the year 1896 Orville, the younger of the two brothers,
+was convalescing from a serious attack of typhoid
+fever. Wilbur, who had been carefully attending him,
+was one day reading aloud an account of the death of
+Otto Lilienthal, the German aviator, who was killed
+while experimenting with his glider. The details of
+the tragic accident, together with an account of what
+he had accomplished by years of investigation and experiment,
+interested the brothers, who resolved as soon
+as possible to apply themselves to the construction of a
+glider in which flights could be made with comparative
+safety. The enthusiasm of Orville over the project ran
+so high that it almost caused a return of the fever. As
+soon as he had fully recovered, the two brothers returned
+to their bicycle shop and applied themselves with
+increasing zeal to the study of aeronautics, and after a
+time began the construction of a glider.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Wright brothers were peculiarly well equipped
+for the work upon which they had entered. They were
+men of unflagging industry, abstemious habits, few
+words and the happy faculty of keeping their own counsel.
+Wilbur was unusually reticent. It is said of him
+that he spoke only when he had something to say and
+then in a manner singularly brief and direct. “He had
+an unlimited capacity for hard work, nerves of steel and
+the kind of daring that makes the aviator face death
+with pleasure every minute of the time he is in the
+air.” Orville, while much like his brother, is more
+talkative and approachable. Both were modest and unassuming
+when they began their work and continued so
+when the world applauded their achievements.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the study of the problem upon the solution of which
+they ventured, they had of course the advantage of all
+that had thus far been achieved by those who had preceded
+them in this field of investigation and experiment.
+Professor Langley had already perfected his first monoplane
+to such an extent that short flights were successfully
+made with a light steam-propelled model. He was
+continuing his experiments and the Wright brothers
+read with avidity the results of his work. Every scrap
+of information that they could gather from others who
+had essayed the solution of the problem was now collected
+and made the subject of critical study. At first
+taking up aeronautics merely as a sport, they soon afterward
+with zest began its more serious pursuit. “We
+reluctantly entered upon the scientific side of it.” they
+said, “but we soon found the work so fascinating that
+we were drawn into it deeper and deeper.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">In their efforts to construct a practical flying machine
+they adopted the plan of Lilienthal and Chanute. They
+sought to construct a machine which they could control
+and in which they could make glides with safety. This
+they built in the form of a biplane glider and with it
+they experimented industriously for years. The
+successful construction of the machine required a high degree
+of skill. The length and width of the planes, their
+distance apart, the materials to be used, the shape, size
+and position of the rudder and numerous other details
+were to be worked out only by patient study and frequent
+tests. They were now in the field of original experiment
+and soon found that they had to reject as useless
+many theories that had been carefully elaborated by
+scholarly writers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The brothers soon learned that a long narrow plane in
+a position nearly horizontal, moved in a direction at
+right angles to one of its lateral edges and inclined or
+“tipped” slightly upward would develop greater lifting
+power than a square or circular plane. This discovery
+was not indeed original with them, but their experiments
+confirmed the conclusions of their predecessors.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The surface shape of the plane is an important consideration.
+It has been found that a slight upward arch
+from beneath, making the under surface concave, gives
+the best results. The concavity should reach its maximum
+about one-third of the distance from the front or
+entering edge to the rear edge of the plane and should
+be the same whether one or more planes are used. In
+flight the forward or entering edges of the planes are
+tipped slightly upward to give the machine lifting power
+for the same reason that the top of a kite is given an
+angle of elevation so that the air will lift it as it is
+drawn forward by the string.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="balancing-the-machine">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id14">Balancing the Machine</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The balancing of a machine in mid-air is one of the
+most difficult problems in aviation. In the balloon this
+is easily accomplished because the principal weight, the
+basket with the passenger, is below the gas-filled sphere
+or compartment, and the balloon tends to right itself
+after any disturbance by the wind, much like a plummet
+when swayed out of its position.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Professor Langley, Lilienthal and others had sought
+to take advantage of this tendency in the construction
+of their machines by placing or arching the wings above
+the pilot or heavier portion of the mechanism. After
+a slight disturbance in mid-air the machine would then
+tend to right or balance itself and assume its former position.
+The practical difficulty of this arrangement,
+however, arose from the fact that when once set to
+swaying the gliders thus constructed continued to sway
+like the pendulum of a clock. The Wright brothers
+set themselves the task of finding some other method of
+preventing the biplane from dipping downward or upward
+at either side with the shifting of air currents.
+The first device to give steadiness of motion was a small
+movable horizontal plane, supported parallel with and
+in front of the two main planes, and by means of a
+lever, under control of the pilot.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="at-kitty-hawk">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id15">At Kitty Hawk</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Having after much study completed their glider, the
+Wright brothers sought a suitable place for their first
+tests. By correspondence with the United States
+Weather Bureau they learned that at Kitty Hawk, North
+Carolina, the winds are stronger and more constant than
+at any other point in the United States. This treeless
+waste of sand dunes along the solitary shore near the
+village afforded the privacy where they might carry on
+their work unmolested. Here in October, 1900, they
+spent their vacation testing their biplane glider. They
+sought to fly it in the face of the wind like a kite. This
+they succeeded in doing but it would not support the
+weight of a man. They then experimented with it,
+using light ropes from below to work the levers and
+guide it through the air. It was sufficiently responsive
+to encourage them and they went back home to make at
+their leisure a number of improvements.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The year following they returned to the same place
+with a larger machine considerably improved, but it
+still failed to lift the operator. Octave Chanute, of
+Chicago, with whom they had been in correspondence,
+came to witness their tests and examine their glider.
+They now decided to abandon much of the “scientific
+data” which they had collected from the writings of
+others and proceeded in the light of their own experience.
+They coasted down the air from the tops of sand
+dunes and tested with satisfaction their devices for
+guiding their air craft. In 1902, with additional improvements,
+they made almost one thousand gliding
+flights, some of which carried them a little over six hundred
+feet, more than twice the distance attained the
+previous year. All this time their object had been to
+control the machine while in air. Only after this was
+accomplished did they propose to add motive power to
+keep it above the earth. They wisely reasoned that it
+would be useless to apply this power to a machine that
+could not be directed and controlled.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="the-first-flight">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id16">The First Flight</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The Wrights had now reached a point where they felt
+that they were ready to apply motive power, rise like a
+bird from the earth and direct their course through the
+air. A new machine was built with two planes, each
+six feet six inches wide and measuring forty feet from
+tip to tip. The planes were arranged one directly above
+the other with an intervening space of six feet. An
+elevating rudder of two horizontal planes ten feet in
+front of the machine, and a rudder of two vertical planes
+about six feet long and one foot apart in the rear of the
+machine were under control by levers close to the hands
+of the pilot, who, prostrate on the lower large plane,
+directed the course up or down, to the right or left at
+will. But the most remarkable features of all were the
+gasoline engine that was to give motive power and the
+propellers by which that power was to move the machine
+in its flight through the air. The mechanism,
+the result of patient study and arduous labor, had been
+perfected in the little shop at Dayton and had been
+brought to the barren sand coast of North Carolina for
+its first practical test. The engine, which developed
+sixteen horse power, was connected by chains with the
+two propellers, each eight feet in diameter at the rear
+of the biplane. The total weight was 750 pounds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To give the machine a “start” it was driven rapidly
+along an iron rail by a cable attached to a weight of one
+ton suspended at the top of a derrick. When everything
+was at last in readiness, the engine was started,
+the propellers were set in rapid motion, the weight at
+the top of the derrick was released, the biplane was
+driven rapidly forward, and lo! bearing a man, it
+skimmed over the sand dunes! It continued only eleven
+seconds but landed without injury to pilot or machine.
+A small beginning indeed, but it proved the practicability
+of man flight and ushered in the era of aviation.
+A few days earlier in the same month on the
+banks of the Potomac a crowd of witnesses saw with
+keen disappointment the failure of Professor Langley’s
+flying machine, and as they turned away said mentally
+and not a few of them audibly, “Impracticable!” “It
+can’t be done.” On the sand near Kitty Hawk, in the
+presence only of the inventors and five others, life
+savers and fishermen from Kill Devil Hill Station near
+by, fortune rewarded two brothers unknown to the
+world and they achieved what had long been regarded
+as impracticable and impossible. Professor Langley
+worked long and patiently on his models and was very
+properly given $50,000 by the government to aid in an
+enterprise that was to give man dominion of the air.
+The Wright brothers with the same faith and unflagging
+zeal worked secretly in their little shop at Dayton without
+financial assistance and out of their small earnings
+conducted experiments on the Carolina coast, doing
+their own cooking to lighten expenses, and solved the
+problem that had thwarted the inventive genius of the
+world. No crowds, appreciating the significance of the
+event were present to applaud, nor did the brothers
+exult over the achievement. It was indeed only what
+they had confidently expected.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the day of their initial success two other nights
+of slightly longer duration were made. The fourth
+flight continued fifty-nine seconds, almost a minute, and
+extended over a distance of 853 feet. The machine was
+then carried back to camp. In an unguarded moment
+it was caught by a gust of wind, rolled violently over
+the ground and was partially wrecked. But what mattered
+the loss? For the first time in the history of the
+world a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its
+own power into the air in free flight, had sailed forward
+on a level course without reduction of speed and had
+landed without being wrecked.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="machine-balanced-by-warping-of-planes">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id17">Machine Balanced by Warping of Planes</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The Wrights found one of the greatest difficulties to
+be overcome was the balancing of their machine. This
+was only measurably and unsatisfactorily accomplished
+by the horizontal rudder. They began to study the
+flight of soaring birds for a solution of the difficulty.
+They found that the hawk, the eagle and the gull maintained
+a horizontal position by a slight, almost imperceptible
+upward or downward bending of the extreme
+tips of their wings. They then began experiments with
+slightly flexible planes that could be bent or warped at
+will by the pilot. This was one of their most important
+and original contributions to the problem of aviation,
+and it gave the pilot in a marked degree control of his
+machine. The scientific arching of the planes to give
+them the maximum lifting effect was also the result of
+their investigations.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They now removed the field of experiment to Hoffman
+Prairie near Dayton where at first they met with indifferent
+success. They invited friends and reporters
+from their home city to witness a flight, but the machine
+acted badly in the presence of company. While the
+spectators were not favorably impressed the inventors
+were in no wise discouraged. Their perseverance was
+later rewarded in 1904 by a flight of three miles in five
+minutes and twenty-seven seconds. The year following
+a flight of 24.20 miles was made in thirty-eight minutes,
+thirteen seconds, at heights of seventy-five to one
+hundred feet. These attracted small attention. The
+inventors fully satisfied with their success and working
+industriously to perfect their machine were also safeguarding
+the results of their labors by carefully patenting
+every device that helped them to the goal of practical
+aviation. While Europe was applauding the achievements
+of the intrepid and wealthy Brazilian, Santos-Dumont,
+who made public flights near Paris, the world
+was practically unaware of the greater achievements of
+the Wright brothers a year earlier. Newspaper accounts
+of their flights were received with a degree of incredulity,
+but the indifference of the public was favorable to
+the modest brothers who with tireless energy and slender
+means triumphed over difficulty after difficulty as
+they moved toward the larger success that they ardently
+desired and the fame that they sought not.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="newspaper-reports-verified">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id18">Newspaper Reports Verified</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">In 1907 the United States Government asked for bids
+for a flying machine that would carry two men, remain
+in the air an hour and make a cross-country flight of
+forty miles an hour. The Wright brothers entered into
+a contract to build such a machine. This fact and
+rumors of their success that reached the large cities
+from time to time led a party of newspaper reporters to
+organize themselves into a spying party to trace the
+Wrights to their secret retreat and verify the claims
+made in their behalf or publish the deception to the
+public. After a long and tedious journey from Norfolk
+they finally sighted the rude hut of these birdmen.
+They then secreted themselves until they were rewarded
+with evidence that the reports were true and promptly
+announced to the world that these quiet men had actually
+solved the problem of aerial flight.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="trial-flights-at-fort-meyer">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id19">Trial Flights at Fort Meyer</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">In 1908 Orville Wright began trial flights at Fort
+Meyer preliminary to the tests required by the government
+contracts. A record flight was made in June.
+The morning was still and beautiful; the leaves hung
+motionless on the great plane trees of Washington as
+Orville Wright and August Post, Secretary of the Aero
+Club of America left the city about six o’clock and proceeded
+by way of Georgetown to Fort Meyer where trial
+flights were to be made with the biplane. It was taken
+from its shed and placed on the starting rail. The
+weights were lifted into position, the engine started,
+the propellers set in rapid motion and all was in readiness
+for starting. Only a few persons were in sight,
+including a squad of soldiers who were cleaning the guns
+of a field battery. Mr. Wright took his place on the
+machine. At a signal the weights were released, it
+was drawn forward, and rising gracefully at the end of
+the rail gradually ascended in a circuitous course upward.
+Mr. Post kept time and marked circuits on the
+back of an envelope. Round and round went the machine,
+rising higher and higher. After a little the spectators
+realized that a record flight was in progress.
+Ten--twenty minutes passed. Higher and higher circled
+the aeroplane. Now it has been aloft on wing for
+half an hour! The spectators stand rigid and look upward.
+Mr. Taylor, chief mechanic, in almost breathless
+interest exclaims, “Don’t make a motion. If you do
+he’ll come down.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the city, word had reached the newspaper reporters
+that Mr. Wright had gone out for a flight. “Does he
+intend to fly today?” came the question over the telephone.
+“Yes, he is in the air now and has been flying
+for more than half an hour,” was the answer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then came the rush for fuller details and the results
+of the record-making trial were flashed over the country
+and cabled under the seas to distant lands. Senators,
+congressmen, departmental officials and representatives
+of every walk of life in the national capital were a little
+later on their way to witness another exhibition of the
+wonderful flying machine. Mr. Wright in the afternoon
+made another world’s record, remaining in the air
+an hour and seven minutes. In the evening with Lieutenant
+Lahm at his side he performed without accident
+the greatest two-man flight ever made. These achievements
+awed and thrilled the great throng of spectators
+who greeted the triumphant conclusion of each with
+tumultuous cheers. The problem of the centuries had
+been solved. The “impossible” had been accomplished!
+The dream of the visionaries had become a reality!</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="fatal-accident">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id20">Fatal Accident</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">On the 17th of September occurred a sad accident that
+brought to a close for the year the preliminary tests
+that had been carried on thus far with marked success.
+When Orville Wright and Lieutenant Selfridge were
+flying at a height of about seventy-five feet, one of the
+propellers struck a stray wire which coiled around and
+broke the blade. This precipitated the machine earthward
+and fatally injured Lieutenant Selfridge who died
+three hours afterward. Orville narrowly escaped the
+same fate with a number of broken bones. Aviation at
+this time was attended with great dangers and the daring
+spirits who ventured aloft on the wings of the wind
+were in constant peril of their lives.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="wilbur-wright-wins-fame-in-france">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id21">Wilbur Wright Wins Fame in France</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Meanwhile Wilbur Wright who had gone to France
+was making a series of record flights. Early in the
+month of August near Le Mans he flew fifty-two miles
+and was in the air one hour and thirty-one minutes. A
+few days later he broke the previous record for altitude,
+attaining an elevation of 380 feet. On the 31st day of
+December he won 20,000 francs for the longest flight of
+the year. His modest bearing, simple habits and wonderful
+achievements called forth great praise from the
+impressionable French. When he took up his quarters
+at Le Mans he arranged to prepare his own meals as he
+had previously done on the coast of North Carolina, but
+the French would not hear to this and furnished him a
+cook. In speaking of this incident afterward Wilbur
+Wright said in a jocular way: “Not knowing enough
+French to dismiss him or find out who sent him, I permitted
+him to remain.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">In January, 1909, Orville Wright, who had recovered
+from his injuries, joined his brother at Pau, France.
+Here they gave many exhibition flights that were witnessed
+by the great scientists and the nobility of
+Europe. Here their feats were witnessed by the King
+of England and the King of Spain who personally extended
+hearty congratulations. Wilbur took his machine
+to Rome where King Emanuel attended his exhibition
+flights. Later the two brothers were the guests,
+in London, of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain
+and received its gold medal. Their bearing and achievements
+abroad gave them world-wide fame.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="wright-brothers-honored">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id22">Wright Brothers Honored</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Arriving in Washington June 10th, they received a
+medal at the hands of President Taft from the Aero
+Club of America. Continuing their journey homeward,
+they were met at Xenia, Ohio, by a delegation from
+Dayton. They at once began to inquire about their fellow
+townsmen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Look here, Wilbur,” said one of the committee,
+“you’ll see all those folks at the station in a few
+moments.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Why, who is at the station?” asked Wright.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Oh, twenty-five or thirty of the boys” was the reply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As they entered their home city they saw the streets
+thronged with people.</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I see the twenty-five or thirty,” remarked Mr.
+Wright, “but I thought you folks knew better than
+this.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">Later they were honored in their home city with a
+two-day celebration, at the climax of which medals were
+presented to them from Congress, from the State of
+Ohio and from the city of Dayton. Their fame was
+world-wide and at last their own city had “discovered”
+them and welcomed them with enthusiastic pride.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="united-states-government-requirements-successfully-met">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id23">United States Government Requirements Successfully Met</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Soon afterward they returned to Fort Meyer to continue
+their work preparatory to the final tests. They
+had entered into a contract with the United States Government
+which was to pay $25,000 for a machine which
+would carry two men one hour in a circuitous course and
+perform a cross-country flight of ten miles at the rate
+of forty miles an hour. On the day of the final tests the
+people of Washington came forth in greater crowds than
+ever before. Officialdom, including representatives of
+foreign embassies, army officers, newspaper correspondents
+and civilians, were present to witness the crucial
+test. Among the spectators was Miss Katherine Wright,
+the scholarly sister of the two brothers, who had followed
+with deep and sympathetic interest every step in
+the progress of her brothers up to this hour.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At a signal, Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Lahm
+again at his side started on his time-test flight. Upward
+in spiral course they rose. At length the hour
+limit was passed and a mighty cheer from the multitude
+announced the result. Still the machine with its two
+passengers remained aloft. Nine minutes more passed.
+The world’s record made by Wilbur Wright was broken.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Wilbur, who was present, announced the result by waving
+a handkerchief and calling aloud, “Give him a cheer,
+boys.” Soon after this the machine gently descended,
+having been in the air an hour, twelve minutes and
+forty seconds, the longest two passenger flight that had
+been made to that date.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Orville Wright was soon overwhelmed with congratulations.
+Coming forward President Taft said:</p>
+<p class="pnext">“I am glad to congratulate you on your achievement.
+You came down as gracefully and as much like a bird
+as you went up. I hope your passenger behaved himself
+and did not talk to the motorman. It was a wonderful
+performance. I would not have missed it.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">The President then shook hands with Wilbur, saying,
+“Your brother has broken your record.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">“Yes,” replied Wilbur, with a smile, “but it’s all in
+the family.”</p>
+<p class="pnext">On August 30 came the speed trial over a course from
+Ft. Meyer to Alexandria five miles distant. This at that
+time was considered the most difficult test of all. The
+course was over a broken and uneven country, valleys,
+ravines, hills, forests and open fields alternating. Lieutenant
+Benjamin D. Foulois was chosen to accompany
+Orville Wright on this perilous trip. The machine arose
+and circled between the two flags that marked the starting
+line, and amid cheers of the spectators started on
+its flight toward the two captive balloons that marked
+the limit of the course. Smaller and smaller it grew in
+the distance as it was swayed slightly out of its path by
+the wind. It at length turned the goal on the hill at
+Alexandria. On the return it was borne downward
+until it disappeared. Would it rise again or would it
+be swept down by a treacherous current and wrecked
+in the valley? After a moment’s suspense it again appeared
+in clearer outline over the treetops. Nearer and
+nearer it came until in the midst of waving handkerchiefs
+and thunderous cheers, it softly alighted near its
+starting place. The daring aviator was heartily congratulated
+again by the President and other eminent
+men who thronged about him. His sister told him that
+the glad news had already been telegraphed to his aged
+father in Dayton. The machine had successfully met
+all requirements and had made in the cross-country flight
+42.6 miles an hour, entitling the brothers in addition to
+the $25,000 to a bonus of $5,000, making in all $30,000.
+Wonderful as was this record at the time, succeeding
+flights with improved machines now make it seem
+trivial and commonplace.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Later in the year 1909 Orville Wright went back to
+Europe where he achieved distinction in a number of
+nights while Wilbur remained at home to participate in
+the Hudson-Fulton celebration and thrill his countrymen
+by encircling in a flight the statue of liberty and
+returning to his starting point on Governor’s Island.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It is not necessary to follow further the aeronautic
+achievements of the Wright brothers. While they were
+the first to construct a successful aeroplane, inventors
+in America and abroad quickly followed them and machines
+of various forms and construction but based on
+the same principle were soon making record flights in
+many lands. The simultaneous development of the
+aeroplane in the United States and Europe is explained
+by the fact that the progress of the experiments of the
+Wright Brothers was promptly reported and eagerly
+noted on the other side of the Atlantic. Octave Chanute
+immediately after his visit to Kitty Hawk made a trip
+abroad and gave a detailed account of what the Wright
+brothers had accomplished. This account with drawings
+was published and European inventors had this
+information on which to work. In 1909 Louis Bleriot,
+a French aviator, who had sprung into prominence the
+preceding year, crossed the English Channel in his beautiful
+birdlike monoplane. In 1910 George Chauz, flying
+upward 7,000 feet, crossed the Alps amid the treacherous
+and frozen winds of the snow-capped peaks only
+to meet a tragic death as he neared the goal in sunny
+Italy. Equally daring and dangerous was the trip of
+the brilliant American aviator Glenn Curtis in his biplane
+from Albany to New York City, followed a few
+days later by the notable achievement of Charles K.
+Hamilton who in a machine of the same make flew from
+New York City to Philadelphia at the average speed of
+fifty and one-half miles an hour. Aviation meets and
+record breaking flights in this country and Europe now
+followed in such rapid succession that the long list
+would only weary the reader. In this rapid and spectacular
+progress that gave man dominion over the air
+and the power to surpass the eagle’s flight it is interesting
+to note how well the Wrights kept in the forefront
+of the era that they ushered in. Frequent changes
+have greatly improved the efficiency of their machine.
+In 1910 it made the greatest altitude flight, reaching a
+height of 11,476 feet. In 1911 C. P. Rodgers, in successive
+stages, flew in one of their biplanes from New
+York City to Long Branch, California, a distance of
+4,029 miles, the longest flight ever made.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="recent-improvements">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id24">Recent Improvements</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Improvements are still in rapid progress. The hydroaeroplane
+has been invented. This is a slightly modified
+aeroplane with equipment that will keep it afloat
+on the water from which it may rise and fly at the will
+of the pilot. Aviators have developed high skill in the
+control of their machines in mid-air. They have at
+high speed described intricate figures, sustained themselves
+in inverted positions and performed the dangerous
+and thrilling feat of “looping the loop” in their
+swift downward flight. They have ascended high in
+air, reaching an altitude of over 20,000 feet, and increased
+their speed rate to 126 miles an hour. Swifter
+than flight of bird and outspeeding the winged tempest,
+man has cleft the highways of the air. A long line of
+fatal accidents has marked his progress, but with reckless
+and audacious courage he has kept his course until he
+has added the “upper deep” to the realm of his dominion.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="future-of-the-aeroplane">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id25">Future of the Aeroplane</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Future achievements in this new field are of course
+matters of speculation. Man has flown across the Alps,
+the Rocky Mountains, the English Channel, the Straits
+of Florida and the Mediterranean Sea. Even now there
+is reported a contemplated airship for the crossing of
+the Atlantic.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Thus far the chief use of the aeroplane has been for
+sport and armament. The leading nations of the world
+have equipped their armies with flying machines from
+which it will be possible at a safe height to spy out the
+position of the enemy, carry messages across besieging
+lines and drop destructive explosives in the midst of
+hostile fortifications. What effect this will have on the
+future of war can only be conjectured. Some have predicted
+that when further perfected it will bring to an
+end this era of vast armaments and defenses by making
+them useless. If it does this, it may indeed be hailed
+as the beneficent invention of this new century, for it
+will have realized the vision of the poet Tennyson who
+crowned with his immortal verse the century that is
+gone:</p>
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">“For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,</div>
+<div class="line">Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">“Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,</div>
+<div class="line">Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales;</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">“Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew</div>
+<div class="line">From the nations’ airy navies grappling in the central blue;</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">“Far along the world-wide whisper of the south wind rushing warm,</div>
+<div class="line">With the standards of the peoples plunging through the thunder-storm;</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">“Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furled</div>
+<div class="line">In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.”</div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 5em">
+</div>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 38758 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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