New-York tribune., 1906-04-14
PROGRESS " AERONAUTICS.

In airships of the kind that Santos Dumont
has built and used there will be further i'm
provements in time, no doubt, but none or mucE
consequence have been recently reported. For
the present the development of the drigible bal
loon seems to be at a standstil. The most sig
nificant advances of late have been in the de
sign and operation of the aerOplane which, for
reasons that need not be discussed. had fallen
into almost complete neglect So far the
public can now judge. the Wright brothers, of
Dayton Ohio, have accomplished more with
this type of machine than any of their rivals or
predecessors. Doubtless in response to a formal
request these men sent to the Aero Club few
weeks ago q statement regarding their expert
ments in 1904 and 1908. The revelations thus
made were surprising enough to attract wide
attention and also to provide more or less
skepticism
With commendable enterprise, The Scientific
American undertook not long ago to secure,
if it were possible, Independent corroboration Of
the Wright brothers story. First the aero
nauts were asked to furnish a list of few per-
sons who had observed their flights. Then a
set of questions was sent to nineteen of these
witnesses ten of whom replied. Abundant testi-
mony to the substantial accuracy of the Wright
brothers claims was obtained for the cate
chsm related TO the dates and length of the
flights the paths pursued, the force of the wind
the absence of any connection between the fly
ing machine and mechanism on the earth, the
operation of effecting start and the certainty
that one OF the aerOnauts personally went with
the machine. In the current issue one of the
answers is printed in full. 1t comes from
Octave Chanute an American engineer of high
standing. who pioneer In this class of eX-
pertinent. Like Lienthal and the Wright
brothers. Mr.. Chanute has made almost count
less ventures in gliding down an aerial tOboggan
slide, his headway being gained by the force
of gravitatiou- His word alone ought to dispe
ali possible doubt about the Wrights' achieve
mentS. There is reason now to believe that the
Dayton inventors the first who have per-
sOnally accompanied an aeroplane propelled by
a gasolene engine and screw.
The longest of fifty voyages which the
Wrights enumerate covered a distance of TWEEN
ty-five and half miles in thirty-eght minutes
and 1t represents II mean speed of about forty
miles an hour. Most of these flights were made
over a rectangular course measuring about
three-quarters of a mile on side Several cir
cults usually made. and the longest trip
ended Just before the thirtieth lap was COR
pleted. 1t is evident therefore, that whatever
aid was afforded at instant by the wind
was offset at another by its resistance The
Lebaudy brothers, who have experimental with
the gas bag type of airship. are credited with
staying alOft for three or four hours. but there
is no evidence that they have matched the speed
which the Wrights attained last October From
these few performances, of course it is not feas-
ible to reach trustworthy conclusion regarding
the relative merits of the two classes of ma
now promised will be awaited with deep in