NO. 3 LANdLKY MEMOIR ON MECHANICAL PLIGHT 97 



could be impressed on it by its engines. The conclusion should have been thai 

 by this method nothing but a practically unsuitable height would suffice to start 

 the aerodrome in a calm, though it might perhaps be done in the face of a con- 

 siderable breeze. 



May 25. After a considerable interval of delay, due to the river being closed 

 by ice and other causes, Aerodrome No. 4 was again dropped from the starter 

 under nearly the same conditions as in the trial of January 9, and with a quite 

 similar result, the final conclusion being that this method must be abandoned. 

 It may be added that a vertical rudder was tried on this day. 



June 12. No. 4, with an improved blast, was tried at Quantico, Mr. Goode 

 being present. The day ended in failure from another cause, the improved 

 blast, which worked well in the shelter of the shop, but proved useless in the field, 

 being extinguished by the feeblest wind. At this time (in June and July) I de- 

 signed a horizontal railroad with launching springs and track, underneath which 

 ran a car which held the aerodrome firmly until the moment of automatic release. 

 This apparatus finally proved to be the successful solution of the launching 

 problem. The description given later, with the drawing in Plate 18, shows the 

 after-improvements, but no specific change from that in use from the first. 



About this time I also arranged for certain changes in the boilers and 

 burners, having decided that I would not go into the field without some ground 

 for confidence not only that the aerodrome could be launched successfully, but 

 that a steady flame could be maintained under the boilers. 



October 6. No. 4, as remodelled, having a flying weight of about 14.5 pounds, 

 a supporting surface of about 28 square feet, with a total engine power of about 

 0.5 H. P., and having lifted 40 per cent of its weight on the pendulum, was taken 

 clown the river for trial with the new railroad launching apparatus, and several 

 days were spent in erecting the launching apparatus on the house-boat, and in 

 launching " dummy " aerodromes from it for practice. 



Aerodrome No. 4 then being fitted under conditions which apparently in- 

 sured a good start (the center of pressure being nearly over the center of grav- 

 ity, the root angle of the wing being zero, the midrod nearly horizontal, the 

 engine working well, and with apparently ample sustaining surface) was finally 

 successfully launched, but the hopes which were reasonably entertained proved 

 to be unfounded. The result of this first actual trial of a " flying machine " in 

 free air was most disconcerting, for the aerodrome, which had in theory many 

 times the power required for horizontal flight, plunged into the water with its 

 engines working at full speed, after a course hardly longer than that performed 

 by the dummy. This result was at first inexplicable. 



No. 4, then, did not fly at all, from some at first inscrutable cause, and it was 

 decided to make a trial of No. 5, though it was hard to put the result of so much 



8 



