Part II. 1897 to 1903 



By CHARLES M. MANLY 



Assistant in Charge of Experiment* 



CHAPTER I 

 INTRODUCTORY 



Although in 1896 Mr. Langley had made the firm resolution not to under- 

 take the construction of a large man-carrying machine, as he realized that his 

 multitudinous administrative duties left him practically no time available for 

 original research, yet, the longing to take the final great step of actually trans- 

 porting a human being through the air, which the successful flights of the mod- 

 els had now for the first tune in the history of the world actually proved to be 

 possible, soon became irresistible. 



Ten years of almost disheartening difficulties, a full appreciation of which 

 can hardly be gained from the preceding description, had already been spent in 

 demonstrating that mechanical flight was practicable, and Mr. Langley thor- 

 oughly realized that the construction of a large aerodrome would involve as 

 great, if not even greater difficulties. Nevertheless, his indomitable will, which 

 balked at no obstacle, however great it might seem, prevailed against the ad- 

 vice of his close friends and associates, and even that of his physician, who had 

 counselled him that a resumption of concentrated thought and vigorous en- 

 deavor would materially shorten his life, which had already passed three score 

 years. Only a few were privileged to come into close contact with him in his 

 daily work, and thereby catch the inspiration of his unwavering persistence, his 

 ceaseless perseverance, his plain inability to submit to defeat; but no one who 

 has read the record of his astronomical expedition to Mt. Whitney, or the story 

 of his development of the Bolometer, or the preceding chapters of this history 

 of his years of patient work in the development of the flying machine, can have 

 failed to obtain some appreciation of this most striking feature of his character. 

 Having once determined on the accomplishment of a definite object, no amount 

 of difficulty that might arise deterred him from pushing on until in some way 

 an.l by some means he had succeeded; and no one appreciated better than he 

 that if the thin edge of the right wedge can be inserted under an obstacle, that 

 obstacle can be removed, no matter how formidable it may seem. 



The undertaking of the construction of a large aerodrome was very largely 

 influenced by President McKinley, who had become impressed with the great 



123 



