Журнал Flight

Flight, July 5, 1913.

THE PIONEERS.

   THIS is the tenth anniversary of the conquest of the air by the aeroplane, and it is appropriate that our special number should be made to commemorate the work of the pioneers, as well as other incidental facts, such as, for example, that FLIGHT itself is already in its fifth year of publication.
   It was on December 17th, 1903, that the Wrights first achieved power-driven flight with their aeroplane (the first account of which in any English newspaper appeared in FLIGHT'S parent journal - the AUTO.), and prior to that day no man could claim properly to have flown at all. The most important work preceding this accomplishment of the Wrights was, unquestionably, the gliding experiments practised by themselves and by others, commencing with Lilienthal.
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   It was while reading the simple notice of Lilienthal's fatal accident that Wilbur Wright received his inspiration to study this branch of practical science, and from the first he obtained the whole-hearted co-operation of his brother, Orville. The story of their work has been told too often to need repeating. Lilienthal died in 1896, and thereupon the Wrights commenced their studies. They built their first glider in 1900; it was a biplane, constructed on the trussed-bridge principle introduced by Chanute, but it differed from the Chanute machine in several important respects. Among other things, it embodied the famous wing-warping control, and the pilot, being thereby relieved of the necessity for balancing the aeroplane by gymnastic exercise, was able to lie prone on the lower plane, and so reduce the resistance of his body to a minimum.
   For three years the Wright brothers' experiments continued, sometimes in the open and sometimes in the laboratory. The longest glide that they made at any time measured 622 1/2 ft., and lasted 26 secs. The amount of time that they actually put in at this work was extraordinary: in a good season they were able to make between 700 and 1,000 flights, and once they made more than 375 flights in less than a week.
   When at last they had brought their gliding experiments to such a pitch of perfection that they could not very well hope to gain much more experience along these lines, they decided to take the next and most important step of all, which was to build an engine-driven machine that would make them independent of the winds and of the contour of the ground.
   Their chief difficulty was to find an engine. Although automobiles were already in fashion, and the high speed petrol engine had thus become the obvious type of prime mover to use, they were unable to find any motor suitable for their purpose on the market. Very characteristically, therefore, they set to work to design and construct one in their own workshops, and with this engine they equipped their new and larger aeroplane.
   So carefully and so systematically had they worked throughout that the culminating success of their endeavours came almost as a matter of course. On December 23rd, 1903, they succeeded in making four free flights, rising from level ground against the wind. In the following year many more successful flights were accomplished, and by the end of 1905 they had flown journeys exceeding 30 miles in length and lasting over half an hour in duration. By this time also they had so far improved the control of their machine that they felt justified in introducing it to the public. For the time being, therefore, they ceased their experiments in order that they might devote their time to laying the foundations of a commercial enterprise.
   Very few people either appreciated or really realised what the Wright brothers had done, for they invited no publicity and most of their achievements were, in fact, unseen. It was, therefore, in France during the year 1907 that the new art first publicly attracted the notice of the man in the street.
   Henry Farman and Leon Delagrange were the central figures of this period in the history of aviation, and it is curious, but none the less a fact, that no one at that time gave much thought or credit to the Voisin brothers who had designed and constructed the machines that these pilots were using.
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   Wilbur Wright came to France in the autumn of 1908, and it was then that his accomplishments were first recognised by the world at large. Of his flying on that occasion the French press could not find words of too great praise, and as one of the foremost of the French experimenters then remarked, compared with the ability of Wilbur Wright the pilots in France simply did not exist.
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