lO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8l 



we read: " Owing to a defect in the launching- apparatus, 

 the two attempts to fly the large machine during Dr. Lang- 

 ley's life proved futile, but in June last, without modifica- 

 tion, successful flights were made at Hammondsport, N. Y." 

 Certainly this was not literally true, but Assistant Sec- 

 retary Rathbun, who wrote the statement given above, I am 

 certain believed this to be true. There were, however, many 

 differences. (I refer only to the first tests when the original 

 Langley-Manly engine was used.) Mr. Wright claims that 

 essential changes tending to improve the chances of success 

 were made on the basis of knowledge gained subsecjuent to 

 1903. 



Some of the differences were favorable, some unfavor- 

 able, to success. Just what effects, favorable or unfavor- 

 able, the sum total of these changes produced can never be 

 precisely known. In the opinion of some experts, the tests 

 demonstrated that Langley's machine of 1903 could have 

 flown, and in the opinion of others, these tests did not 

 demonstrate it. It must ever be a matter of opinion. 



In 19 18, the Langley plane, reconstructed as nearly as 

 possible as of 1903, using all available original parts, by 

 Mr. R. L. Reed, the foreman who had most to do with it in 

 Langley's time, was exhibited in the U. S. National Museum 

 with this label: 



THE ORIGINAL, FULL-SIZE. 

 LANGLEY FLYING MACHINE. 1903 



Later this label was amplified to read as follows: 



ORIGINAL LANGLEY 

 FLYING MACHINE. 1903 



THE FIRST MAN-CARRYING AEROPLANE IN THE HISTORY OF THE 

 WORLD CAPABLE OF SUSTAINED FREE FLIGHT. INVENTED, BUILT, AND 

 TESTED OVER THE POTOMAC RIVER BY SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY IN 

 1903. SUCCESSFULLY FLOWN AT HAMMONDSPORT, N. Y., JUNE 2, I9I4. 

 DIMENSIONS: 55 FEE,T LONG, 48 FEET WIDE; SUSTAINING WING SUR- 

 FACE, 1,040 SQUARE FEET. 



