242 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1955 



plane could be tricky and even dangerous, especially in rough air. 

 Furthermore, the gasoline engines of the day were notoriously unre- 

 liable. As a result of what later came to be known as the stall, Wright 

 airplanes too often dived into the ground out of control. The press 

 blamed it on an "air pocket" or "hole in the air." 



European airplane builders were prompt to copy the Wrights' sys- 

 tem of control but soon discovered the dangers of instability. They 

 abandoned the Wrights' form of structure but retained their system of 

 controls on airplanes shaped more like successful gliders. 



The world was astonished in 1909 when Louis Bleriot flew across 

 the English Channel in his little monoplane. It had a long tail, tractor 

 propeller, and wheeled landing gear. It was, in fact, the prototype of 

 the airplanes of the next 20 years. 



After 1910, with the mounting tension of approaching war, aero- 

 nautical development in Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, 

 and Italy was intensively pushed. Scientists, engineers, and indus- 

 trialists were encouraged by their governments to devote their skills 

 and resources to the new art. European progress was rapid, and at 

 times spectacular. 



While development of the airplane in the United States was de- 

 pendent largely upon the efforts of a host of amateur inventors, there 

 was in Europe a quick recognition of the gains to be had from aero- 

 nautical laboratories staffed by competent engineers. 



The French were among the first to utilize scientific techniques in 

 aeronautics. The army's aeronautical laboratory at Chalais-Meudon 

 and Gustav Eiffel's private wind tunnel clarified some of the prin- 

 ciples of powered flight. As early as 1904 Riabouchinski had an 

 aeronautical laboratory in Koutchino, Russia, and the same year 

 Ludwig Prandtl began his classic aerodynamic research at Gottingen 

 University, Germany. After 1908, German aeronautical work as 

 rapidly expanded, first at Gottingen and later at the government es- 

 tablishment at Adlershof, near Berlin. Italy provided an aero- 

 dynamics laboratory for her Specialist Brigade of Engineers. 



Great Britain was relatively late in undertaking a national pro- 

 gram of aeronautical research. However, Great Britain could record 

 a full century of experiment. In the first half of the nineteenth 

 century. Sir George Cayley had made important contributions, and 

 Stringfellow and Henson had succeeded, as early as 1848, in flying 

 a steam-powered monoplane model a distance of 120 feet. In 1866 

 the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain was formed; it served to 

 stimulate research and experiment by individuals, and to provide a 

 forum for interchange of information. Wenham (the Society's first 

 president) and Phillips were the first to devise and use wind tunnels. 



After the public demonstration of practical human flight by Wilbur 



