New-York tribune., 1906-11-20
TOSDUMONT ANTICIPATED.


A fresh reason for determining the amount
Of glory due to Santos -Dumont for his recent
flights with an aeropane is afforded by an
article in the latest number of Nature to
reach this country. In that periodical 1t is as
serted that on October % 1.-The first flying ma
"chine, constructed on the heavier than air
principle. successfully raised itself and It's
driver from the ground several feet. and trans
ported itself by means of its own power over
"a distance of eighty yards While that state
ment is probably correct, the merit of the per
| formance can be rightly estimated only by a
comparison with what Wilbur and Orville
Wright of Dayton, Ohio, have been able 10
accomplish.
/ SantoS-Dumont has been at work on the aero
plane only about a year. Most of his aero
nautic experiments were conducted with an en-
tirely different class of airship, the self-pro-
PEELED balloon On the other hand. the Wright
brothers have been identified with the aero
plane for at least four or five years and perhaps
longer. In letter to the Aero Club of Amer
lea last winter they told the results attained by
them UP TO the close of 1905. So startling
were their claims that in France and Ger
; many their story received with much skep-
! tcism. With a creditabIe desire to vlndicate
the honor OF the country, The Scientific
American addressed a circular letter of in
|S'O~A'SNii
the Wrights. had witnessed their aerial voy-
ages. Twelve responses were received one Of
them coming from Mr.. Octave Chanute the
author of a we'll known work on aeronautic
| experiments and man whose veracity no we'll
| Informed foreigner or American would vent
| ure to question. The testimony of each of these
/ witnesses was in substantial agreement with
| that of the others Though now and then
| doubt would be expressed to the exact date
of fight, the distance covered or some other
| detail, the general tenor of the letters seemed
10 put the truthfulness Of the Wrghts' state
ment quite beyond dispute
1t is worthy Of note in the interests of 1us-
/ tice, that the Brazilian has made better pro-
! vision for launching an aeroplane than the
Wrghts did last year. His machine, when on
the ground, is supported by wheels. When the
! WTiGhts were ready TO start, theirs was ar
ranged crosswlse on q pair of rails. To over
come the friction between these and the lower
part Of the frame it was necessary to RELY on
external aid Their aeroplane would not lift
itself clear of the rails until it had been pushed
forward twenty-fiv or thirty feet bv hand.
whereas the one which has Just created a sell
sation IN Europe will advance without assist
ance Is soon as the propellers begin to re-
volve and will rise shortly afterward unhelped
Strictly speaking. then, Nature" is quite right
when it says that Santos-Dumont's machine IS
the first TO raise itself by means of its own
power. In every other respect-except possibly
speed-the Wright machine has demonstrated
its equality with his. 1t shows perfect sta bill
ity in a light wind, its rudders work to per
fectiOn, so that ii can easily describe a circle
and when it comes to earth it Injuries neither
the machine nor the engineer. What is more.
there Is now abundant evidence that between
June and November, 1905, it traversed distances
varying from fifteen TO twenty-eight miles sew
eral times. To win the Archdeacon prize this
autumn the Santos -Dumont aeroplane travelled
only a little more than one kilometre or consiCl-
erably less than q single mile On the whole.
who has the best record? Were not all the
essentials Of successful flight observed in Ohio
| fully year before they We're in France?