124 EXPERIMENTS WITH THE LANGLEY AERODROME. 



This time the rear of the machine, in some way still unexplained, 

 was caught by a portion of the lannching car, which caused the rear 

 sustaining surfaces to break, leaving the rear entirely without sup- 

 port, and it came down almost vertically into the water. Dark- 

 ness had come before the engineer, who had been in extreme dan<i:er, 

 could aid in the recovery of the aerodrome, the boat and machine 

 had drifted apart, and one of the tugs, in its zeal to render assist- 

 ance, had fastened a rope to the frame of the uuichine in the reverse 

 position from what it should have been attached and had broken the 

 frame entirely in two. While the injury which had thus been caused 

 seemed almost irreparable to one not acquainted with the work, yet 

 it was found upon close examination that only a small amount of 

 labor would be necessary in order to repair the frame, the engine 

 itself being entirely uninjured. Had this accident occurrcvl at an 

 earlier period, when there were funds available for continu.ing tlie 

 experiments, it would not have been so serious, for many accidents 

 in shop tests had occurred which, while unknown to the general pub- 

 lic, had yet caused greater damage and required more tune for repair 

 than in the present case. But the funds for continuing the woi-k were 

 exhausted, and it being found impossible to immediately secure 

 others for continuing it, it was found necessary to discontinue the 

 experiments for the present, though I decided to use, from a private 

 fund, the small amount of money necessary to repair the frame so that 

 it itself, together with its engine, which was entirely uninjured, might 

 be available for further use if it should later prove possible, and 

 (hat they themselves might be in proper condition to attest to what 

 they really represent as an engineering achievemeut. 



Entirely erroneous impressions liave been given by the account 

 of these experiments in the public press, from which they have been 

 judged, even by experts; the impression being that the machine 

 could not sustain itself in flight. It seems proper, then, to emphasize 

 and to reiterate, wnth a view to what has just been said, that the 

 machine has never had a chance to fly at all, but that the failure 

 occurred on its launching ways; and the question of its ability to fly 

 is consequently, as yet, an untried one. 



There have, then, been no failures as far as the actual test of the 

 flying capacity of the machine is concerned, for it has never been 

 free in the air at all. The failure of the financial means for continu- 

 ing these expensive experiments has left the question of their result 

 where it stood before they Avere undertaken, except that it has been 

 demonstrated that engines can be built, as they have been, of little 

 ovei- one-half the weight that was assigned as the possible minimum 

 by the best builders of France and Germany; that the frauie can be 

 made strong enough to carry these engines, ami that, so far as any 

 possible prevision can extend, another flight Avould be successful if 



