NO. •'! I..\m;i.k\ iMKMOTR ON MECHANICAL PLIGHT 26:1 



wings and rudder to it, bul in every instance, before the wings could be actually 

 applied and a flight made, the wind became so strong as to absolutely prohibil 

 a test. On two occasions when the wings were actuallj attached, heavy rain 

 storms suddenly came up and drenched the machine before the wings could be 

 removed, and on several occasions il was uecessarj to leave the entire metal 

 frame and engine of the aerodrome mounted on top of the boat all night, be 

 cause the heavy sea which was running made it impossible to utilize the large 

 raft in returning the frame to the interior of the boat. 



Finally, however, after it seemed almost useless to hope for calm weather, 

 what appeared to he a most propitious day arrived on October 7. The wind 

 winch had been quite high in the early morning gradually quieted until at 10 

 a.m. it was blowing only about twelve miles per hour and the indications were 

 that it would quiet down still more. Every energy was concentrated in yetting 

 the aerodrome ready at the earliest possible moment, as previous experience 

 had shown too clearly that the conditions might be completely revoked in less 

 than an hour. As the tide and wind caused the boat to swing up the river from 

 its buoy, and thus ma.de the launching track point down the river, the steam 

 tug-boat was sent down the river for a distance of a mile or more so that, 

 should the aerodrome come down into the water without being able to make a 

 return trip to the house-boat, the tug-boat would be able to reach it quickly 

 and render assistance to both the writer and the machine should they need it. 

 At 12.20 p. m. everything was in readiness and what appeared to be the decisive 

 moment had arrived, when the writer, after starting up the engine and grad- 

 ually raising its speed to the maximum, and after talcing the last survey of the 

 whole machine to insure that everything was as it should be, finally gave the 

 orders to release it. 



Although the writer did not have the privilege of seeing it glide down the 

 track, as his attention was too thoroughly engaged in insuring that he was in 

 the proper position for reaching immediately any of the control apparatus, 

 either of the aerodrome or of the engine, yet those who did witness the actual 

 passage of the machine down the track have said that the sight was mosl im- 

 pressive and majestic. No sign of jar was apparent when the machine was 

 first released, but with lightning-like rapidity it gathered its speed as it rushed 

 down the sixty feet of track, the end of which it reached in three seconds, at 

 which time it had attained a speed of something over thirty-two feel per sec 

 ond. Just as the machine reached the end of the track the writer felt a sud- 

 den shock, immediately followed by an indescribable sensation of being free in 

 the air, which had hardly been realized before the important fact was intui- 

 tively felt that the machine was plunging downward at a very sharp angle, and 

 he instinctively grasped the wheel which controls the Penaud tail and threw 

 it to its uppermost extent in an attempt to depress the rear of the machine and 



