Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

FLYING MACHINES OF TO-DAY. 17 The First Great Human Flights. per hour. They also had the satisfaction of completing an aerial circuit for the first time. Encouraged by their success, the Wrights built, in 1905, the now famous “White Flier” the “Rocket” of aviation. This machine had a deck area of 625 square feet, and mounted a 24 horse-power 250-lb. gasolene engine, which drove two large wooden pro- pellers, 6 feet in diameter, in opposite direc- tions, by means of chain gearing. The weight of the machine “ mounted ”—that is, with pilot “ up ”—totalled 925 lbs. During the months of September and October the “ White Flier ” made some remarkable journeys, all the more remarkable from the fact that three years elapsed before they were beaten by those of any other ma- chine. The following is the record :— Date. Distance. Time. September 26, 1905....11£ miles....18 min. 9 sec. „ 29,1905 ....12 „ ......19 „ 55 „ October 3, 1905....15j „ ......25 „ 5 „ „ 4,1905......21 „ ......33 „ 17 „ „ 5, 1905......24j ......38 „ 3 „ Owing to the privacy with which the flights were conducted and to the silence of the local press, the performances were generally dis- credited in France, where Captain Ferber, Gabriel Voisin, and M. Ernest Archdeacon had for some years been following up the gliding experiments of Lilienthal and Octave Chanute. Sufficient independent testimony was forthcoming, however, to establish as a matter beyond doubt that the Wright aero- plane had flown with a passenger for a con- siderable distance, had executed flights in any direction desired, and had come safely to ground at high and low speeds ; that, in short, there was no reason to disbelieve the statements recorded by the Wrights. During 1906 public curiosity compelled the brothers to content themselves with improv- ing the smaller details of a machine which they considered to have a commercial value. In 1907 they mad© several flights, and opened (1.408) Record- breaking in France. negotiations with several Governments for the sale of their invention, and in the following year brought their Flier to France. After some preliminary tun- ing-up flights, Wilbur Wright stayed in the air for 19 minutes 48| seconds on September 5, 1908. On the 21st, he broke all his own records handsomely with a flight lasting 1 hour 31 minutes 25| seconds, and caused a tremendous increase of popular interest in aviation. Two months later he travelled 62 miles in 1 hour 54 minutes 53^ seconds ; and on the last day of the year won the Michelin Trophy with a flight which lasted 2 hours 20 minutes 231 seconds, and covered a dis- tance of 77| miles. (This was the officially measured distance. The actual distance trav- elled was considerably greater.) These really astonishing feats, which re- mained unbeaten for seven months,* resulted in orders for Wright aeroplanes being placed by several Governments and many private individuals, and at the present moment more machines of this type exist than of any other. A description of its main features will there- fore be of interest. The decks are about 40 feet long and 6| feet deep from front to rear, giving a total bearing surface of about 530 square feet (in some of the most recent ma- , . . The Machine, chines the surface has been reduced considerably). The framework of each deck consists of two parallel main cross members—one running along the front edge, the other about 4 feet 3 inches in the rear— and connected at the ends. These support arched ribs, 15 inches apart, slightly curved, and composed of upper and lower slats sepa- rated by blocks and approaching nearer to one another towards the back edge. They pass * On August 7, 1909, M. Sommer flew for 2 hours 27 minutes 15 seconds on a Farman biplane, to be in turn beaten by Henry Farman (on a Farman biplane) on August 27, with a flight lasting 3 hours 4 minutes 56| seconds (180 kilometres = 112 miles). VOL. III.