2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IO3 



list of differences which appears later in this paper. On the 28th of 

 May and the 2cl of June, 1914, attempts to fly were made. After 

 acquiring si)eed by running on hydroplane floats on the surface of 

 Lake Keuka the machine lifted into the air several different times. 

 The longest time off the water with the Langley motor was approxi- 

 mately five seconds. Dr. Zahm stated that "it was apparent that 

 owing to the great weight which had been given to the structure 

 by adding the floats it was necessary to increase the propeller thrust". 

 So no further attempts were made to fly with the Langley 52 HP 

 engine. 



It is to be regretted that the Institution published statements 

 repeatedly - to the eft'ect that these experiments of 1914 demonstrated 

 that Langley 's plane of 1903 without essential modification was the 

 first heavier-than-air machine capable of maintaining sustained human 

 flight. 



As first exhibited in the United States National Museum, January 

 15, 1918, the restored Langley plane of 1903 bore the following label : 



THE ORIGINAL, FULL-SIZE 

 LANGLEY FLYING MACHINE, 1903 



For this simple label others were later substituted containing the 

 claim that Langley 's machine "was the first man-carrying aeroplane 

 in the history of the world capable of sustained free flight." 



Though the matter of the label is not now an issue, it seems only 

 fair to the Institution to say that in September 1928, Secretary Abbot 

 finally caused the label of the Langley machine to be changed to read 

 simply as follows : 



LANGLEY AERODROME 



THE ORIGINAL SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY 

 FLYING MACHINE OF 1903, RESTORED. 



Deposited by 

 The Smithsonian Institution 



301,613 



This change has frequently been overlooked by writers on the 

 controversy. 



-Smithsonian Reports: 1914, pp. 9, 219, 221, 222; 1915, pp. 14, 121; 1917, 

 p. 4; 1918, pp. 3, 28, 114, 166. Report of U. S. National Museum, 1914, pp. 46 

 and 47. 



