Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-07
Attempted Flight at Wide
water a Failure.
WENT ONLY 100 YARDS
PROF. MANLEY ESCAPED WITH A
DUCKING.
Machine Never Seemed to Acquire Any
Momentum From Its Own
Motive Power.

built man-carrying aerodrome was trleo
today and found wanting. Prof. Charles
NJ. Manley, the aeronaut escaped unhurt.
Not so with the handsome and expensive
machine 1t is total wreck. The launch
Ing took place at 1915 o'clock this after
noon from the superstructure of the house
boat in the Potomac river, two miles from
this place.
Easily and rapidly the mechanical bird
moved along the seventy-foot track. The
speed was not great, apparently not more
than forty or fifty feet a second. 1t took
the air fairly we'll For fraction of sec
ond the aerodrome stood up In the face of
the five-mile wind then blowing. But when
that brief period had passed there had
passed also the time when the airship had
a chance for a successful flight. The next
instant the big and curious thing turned
gradually downward. The declination,
though not abrupt, was positive, and Prof.
Manley saw at a glance that but few move
ments of the second hand of the stop watch
he wore his left knee would be recorded
before both he and his scientific ship would
be fioundering about in the waters of the
Potomac. He did all that he could do under
the circumstances. In the latter stage of
the downward plunge when the inevitable
was before him, he shut OFF his motor,
which had been working admirably when
the start made.
Trying Time for Manley.
Each period of time was fraught with the
frtensest interest but perhaps to Prof.
Manley there was none more filled with un-
certain and unpleasant anticipation than
that in which the aerodrome plunged into
the river. But the suspense there was
brief The wisdom and care of the scien-
tific builders concerning the safety of the
navigator was evidenced at once by the
behavior of the aerodrome when 1t had
made Its transit from air to water. 1t dis
appeared beneath the waves. but only for
moment.
The five empty conical-shaped floats did
their function we'll moment more and
the bridges of the machine commenced to
appear above the water. This was reassur-
ing to the anxious spectators but their
grave fears for the safety of the navigator
were relieved when Prof. Manley's head
emerged from the water. That he was
uninjured was at once apparent. He was
not even momentarily stunned
After catching his breath and shaking tho
dripping water from his person Prof Man
ley made hasty survey of the desolation
by which he was surrounded.
All was wreck and ruin. Though the
human impulse to rejoice at escape with
life from such marvellous danger must
have been strong in the breast of Mr. Man
ley. vet there was much of sorrow keen
bitter disappointment portrayed on his face
as he viewed the destruction and inglorious
failure of the instrument upon whose con-
struction he had spent SO much of his time
and energies.
The aerodrome struck the water a hundred
yards from the houseboat. The traversing
of this distance would not In any sense he
termed a flight
Ihls initial momentum. the lightness of the
machine and the sustaining surface of the
wings furnished conditions for the transit
OF the BODY from the sixty foot elevation to
the water. Just a light piece of board is
made to skim small distances on the air
Within ten minutes the tugs were pulling
away at the debris. Prof. Manley sprang
INTO row boat and was conveyed to the
deck of the Bartholdi.
little later and he was inside the house
boat busily engaged in getting into some
dry clothes. When a message was sent to
him asking If there was any statement to
be made he replied that his chief concern
then was to get out of his wet garments
Shortly after l o'clock Mr.. Manley gave
out the following statement to the news
paper men present:
1t must be understood that the test to-
day was entirely an experiment and the
first of its kind ever made.
THE experiment was unsuccessful The
balancing upon which depend the success
OF the flight was based upon the tests of
tho models and proved to be incorrect but
chine itself could determine this. My con-
fdence in the future success of the work is
unchanged can give you no further in
formation. I shall make formal report to
Secretary Langley"
Having delivered himself of this an
nouncement the chief assistant retired to
the interior. He was absolutely uninjured
and appeared to be in fine form. The work
of removing the wreck to the interior of
the houseboat was pushed rapidly, and at
O'Clock II was inside.
No more complete disaster could be i'm
agined than that which was presented by
the aerodrome as 1t was lifted on the der
ricks from the water. The big. broad
wings which had extended twelve feet by
twenty-five were then hanging limp and
bunglesome by the side of the frame. the
propellers were smashed to rags ard splin-
ters. the rudder was a wreck. the wire
framework was in tangled mass Also
the main body OF the aerodrome was badly
damaged, but not beyond repair.
Ihe motor when tested by Prof Manley
on the superstructure worked we'll The
revolutions reached 200 n minute and the
work was uninterrupted.
1t was at noon exactly that all was
cleared for action. Prof Manley conducted
himself with great composure and showed
admirable nerve all through the trying
ordeal.
He was clad in his usual aeronautical suit
OF white duck trousers and cork-lined
Jacket. Professor Langley the inventor
though not a witness OF the failure, was
soon after notified of 1T in Washington
Strengthening Craft.
OF all the strange-looking creatures that
have scared through the empyrean since
the days of the wide-winged pterodactyl
Prof Langley's big sixty-foot aerodrome is
undoubtedly the strangest. There is moth
ing in the mechanical realm, nothing
among all the feathered creatures which
traverse the air to which this gigantic
Be- steel bird may be likened with any degree
of fitness. 1t is absolutely IN a class by
itself. 1t does not closely resemble any
thing 70 which the ordinary mind is used.
II does not suggest anything by way of
comparison except the weird and fanciful,
but 1t does Iook like product of dream
land. One might fancy, in viewing the
aerial voyager for the first time that 1t
was fabulous creation of the days of the
Arabian Nights which has in some manner
taken on material form to be handed down
to modern times.
Startlingly suggestive Of the supernatural
in repose. IT becomes a hundred times more
Continued on Eighth Pase)