Aerial Locomotion 



capital. The ridicule of the newspapers, 

 however, effectually prevented Professor 

 Langley from securing further financial 

 aid, and, indeed, broke his heart. There 

 can be little doubt that the unjust treat- 

 ment to which he was exposed con- 

 tributed materially to the production of 

 the illness that caused his death. 



He lived long enough, however, to 

 know of the complete fruition of his 

 hopes by others, and only two days before 

 his death he had the gratification of re- 

 ceiving a communication from the newly 

 formed Aero Club of America recogniz- 

 ing and appreciating his efforts to pro- 

 mote mechanical flight. This communi- 

 cation read as follows : 



RESOIvUTIONS OI' THE AERO CLUB OF 

 AMERICA, ADOPTED JANUARY 20, I906 



"Whereas our esteemed colleague, Dr S. P. 

 Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, met with an accident in launching his 

 aerodrome, thereby missing a decisive test of 

 the capabilities of this man-carrying machine, 

 built after his models which flew successfully 

 many times; and 



"Whereas, in that difficult experiment, he 

 was entitled to fair judgment and distinguished 

 consideration because of his important achieve- 

 ments in investigating the laws of dynamic 

 flight, and in the construction of a variety of 

 successful flying models : Therefore be it 



"Resolved, That the Aero Club of America, 

 holding in high estimation the contributions of 

 Dr Langley to the science of aerial locomotion, 

 hereby expresses to him its sincerest apprecia- 

 tion of his labors as a pioneer in this important 

 and complex science ; and be it further 



"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions 

 be sent to the Board of Regents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, and to Doctor Langley." 



Professor Langley was on his death- 

 bed when these resolutions were brought 

 to his attention, and when asked what 

 should be done with the communication 

 his pathetic answer was, "Publish it." 

 To all who know his extreme aversion to 

 publicity in any form this reply indicates 

 how keenly he felt the misrepresenta- 

 tions of the press. 



THE FIRST PRACTICAE FLYING MACHINE 



Both in the case of Lilienthal and 

 Langley their efforts have not been in 



vain. Others have continued their re- 

 searches, and today the world is in pos- 

 session of the first practical flying-ina- 

 chine, the creation of the brothers Or- 

 ville and Wilbur Wright, of Dayton, 

 Ohio. Indeed, we have news from 

 France that a second has just appeared, 

 constructed by the same Santos Dumont 

 to whom the world already owes the 

 first practical dirigible balloon. 



The Wright brothers began by repeat- 

 ing the gliding experiments of Lilien- 

 thal, with improved apparatus of the 

 Hargrave type as modified by Chanute. 

 After having made niany successful 

 glides through the air without a inotor, 

 they followed in the footsteps of Lang- 

 ley and propelled their machine by 

 means of twin screws operated by engine 

 power. They were successful in launch- 

 ing their apparatus into the air, and it 

 flew, carrying one of them with it. 

 Their machine has flown not once sim- 

 ply, but many times, and in the presence 

 of witnesses ; so that there can be no 

 doubt that the first successful flying- 

 machine has at last appeared. Specially 

 successful flights were made on the 3d 

 and 4th of October, 1905, which were 

 referred to by the Wright brothers in a 

 letter to the editor of U Aerophile pub- 

 lished in that journal January, igo6. 

 They have also made a communication 

 upon the subject to the Aero Club of 

 America, and have received the formal 

 congratulations of that organization 

 upon their success. 



Each of the Wright brothers in turn 

 has made numerous flights over their 

 testing field near Dayton, Ohio, some- 

 times at an elevation of about 80 feet ; 

 at other times skimming over the field 

 at a height of about ten feet from the 

 ground. They have been able to circle 

 over the field of operation, and even to 

 describe in the air the figure eight, thus 

 demonstrating their perfect control over 

 their apparatus, both in the vertical and 

 horizontal directions. They have suc- 

 ceeded in remaining continuously in thv. 

 air for more than half an hour — thirty- 

 eight minutes, in fact — and only came 



