Transportation Water and Air 



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included efforts to copy the wing beat of birds, as well as their 

 gliding. Little success was ever reached by imitating wing motion, 

 although many studies of flying birds, photographic and otherwise, 

 were made for years. Far more success followed experiments in 

 gliding. 



After long experimenting, Samuel Langley, then director of 

 the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, worked out a model 

 for a plane, with two wings and a propeller, that flew success- 

 fully in a wide circle and landed 

 safely. 



The Wright brothers of 

 Ohio, who had been experi- 

 menting in the same field, 

 studied the results of the Lang- 

 ley experiment. They made 

 special experiments with gliders 

 to determine the effect of wind 

 upon them, and then constructed 

 larger gliders with considerable 

 wing spread. They continued 

 their experiments with these 

 until they reached a point where 

 they had a glider that would 

 remain in the air for quite a 

 time and support a person who 

 controlled it. They finally built an airplane equipped with an 

 engine and two propellers in which the first practical flight of an 

 airplane under power was made. That was in 1908. Thereafter, 

 improvements came rapidly, and during the World War period, 

 and since, the airplane has become a wonderful machine, capable 

 of sustaining flights of many hours, of reaching enormous heights, 

 and of attaining terrific speeds. Already an altitude record of 

 about eight and one-half miles has been established, and a speed 

 record of over 400 miles per hour. 



The practical commercial and public service use of airplanes 

 is assured. Many airplanes fly on regular schedules, both in this 

 country and abroad, carrying numbers of passengers. The United 



Popular Science Monthly. 



THE FIRST PRACTICAL AIRPLANE 



Orville Wright's famous flight in 1908 



