208 THE LANGLEY AERODROME. 



the varying needs of each moment, something that even an intelligent 

 steersman on board could hardly supply, but to find what this was a 

 trial had to be made. The first difliculty seemed to be to make the 

 initial flight in such conditions that the machine would not wreck 

 itself at the outset in its descent, and the first question was where to 

 attempt to make the flight. 



It became clear, without much thought, that since the machine was 

 at fiist unprovided with any means to save it from breakage on strik- 

 ing against the ground, it would be well in the initial stage of the 

 experiment not to have it light on the ground at all, but on the water. 

 As it was probable that while skill in launching was being gained, and 

 until after practice had made perfect, failures would occur, and as it 

 was not desired to make any public exhibition of these, a great many 

 places were examined along the shores of the Potomac and on its high 

 bluffs which were condemned partly for their publicity, but partly for 

 another reason. In the course of my experiments I had found out, 

 among the infinite things pertaining to this problem, that the machine 

 must begin to fly in the face of the wind and just in the opposite 

 way to a ship, which begins its vo3^age with the wind behind it. 



If the reader has ever noticed a soaring bird get upon the wing he 

 will see that it does so with the breeze against it, and thus whenever 

 the aerodrome is cast into the air it must face a wind which may hap- 

 pen to blow from the north, south, east, or west, and we had better 

 not make the launching station a place like the bank of a riv^er, where 

 it can go only one way. It was necessary, then, to send it from some- 

 thing which could be turned in any direction, and taking this need in 

 connection with the desirability that at first the airship should light in 

 the water, there came at last the idea (which seems obvious enough 

 when it is stated) of getting some kind of a barge or boat and build- 

 ing a small structure upon it which could house the aerodrome when 

 not in use, and from whose flat roof it could be launched in any direc- 

 tion. Means for this were limited, but a little "scow" was procured, 

 and on it was built a primitive sort of a house, one story high, and on 

 the house a platform about 10 feet higher, so that the top of the plat- 

 form was about 20 feet from the water, and this was to be the place of 

 the launch (PI. II). This boat it was found necessary to take down the 

 river as much as 30 miles from Washington, where I then was — since 

 no suitable place could be found nearer^toan island having a stretch of 

 quiet water between it and the main shore; and here the first experi- 

 ments in attempted flight developed difiiculties of a new kind — diffi- 

 culties which were partly anticipated, but which nobody would probably 

 have conjectured would be of their actually formidable character, which 

 was such as for a long time to prevent any trial being made at all. 

 They arose partly out of the fact that even such a flying machine as a 

 soaring bird has to get up an artificial speed before it is on the wing. 



