The Forrest City times., 1906-07-27
HUMAN FLIGHT POSSIBLE.
Progress Made in Flying-Ship Con- struction Prophetic of Early and
 Complete Solution of Problem.
BY HENRY HELEN CLAYTON. lt fnn IIne nm nhseI.Nntnf.N

8A tue Due AiliA 'fDF'ti Nt.AVt
 But little more than loo years ago the first successful trip of man into the blue sky was made by Montgolfier in France, and our own Benjamin Franklin, who witnessed this first flight. or one immediately succeeding it. said Tt is an infant to-day, but it may become a giant
 How soon the brain of men became busy with this thought is shown by a letter 10 Franklin on May 24. 17Si. from Francis Hopkinson, in which he suggested that the balloon be made not spherical. but oblong or spindle shaped and driven by wheel at the stern.
 The first elongated balloon was built by Rufus Porter (of the United States) about 1883. Successive im- proyements along this line were made by the French engineer Gaffard, by Tissandier. by Renard and krebs, and finally by Santos Dument, and by Le- baudie who have brought the speed to 12 or Ii miles an hour. But even at these speeds the balloon is but tha plaything of the wind, which at a height of 800 to LOGO feet has an av- craze speed of 15 or more miles an hour, so that the air could only be navigated by this means in quiet weather.
 Calculation showed that 1t would not be possible to increase the speed greatly without bursting the fimsy materials of which the balloons are built, and 1t is not possible to make these stronger without losing tho needed lifting power Hence, thought. ful men had ceased to look forward with any great hope to success along this line.
 On the other hand an army of eager workers was endeavoring to solve the problem of initiating the bird and driving themselves through the air on lifting planes or wings. Volumes have been written 10 describe the many attempts along this line. Hun- dreds of eXperimenters since the days of Daedalus have attempted flight and failed. but hope springs eternal and men rise on stepping stones of their dead selves 10 higher things"
 Finally amid universal failure signs of success began to appear Lilien- thai showed that it was possible to glide down hill on Outstretched wings or planes for many hundreds of feet and land safely. Langley succeeded In flying model carrying a steam engine for about a mile in free flight. Hiram Maxim built large flying machine. driven by wonderfully light engine of 300-horse power. which actually rose into the air for brief interval lifting a weight of 1000 pounds, but was speedily wrecked Langley built man-lifting machine which was caught at the moment of launching and wrecked. A wave of skepticicm and ridicule swept through the country and many thought that man-fiight was an impossible dream.
 But already quietly at work were two young manufacturers, the Wright brothers of Ohio. who, following in the footsteps of Lilienthal of Ger. many and Chanute and Herring of our own country, were learning to glide down hill in a properly constructed machine, to balance in the air and to land safely. Ingenious improvements were devised and introduced and the machine was ready for the trial of a motor Profting by the accumulated experience of those who had previous. ly tried and by the very light motors which have been developed for auto- mobiles and boats, an engine for driving their machine was built and successful but brief preliminary flight was made in December. 1903.
 Brief though it was, the possibility of human flight had been demonstrat. ed. and they set about perfecting the machine. By the autumn of 1905 the machine was so far perfected that there began over the prairies near Dayton, O. a remarkable series of flights. On September 26 one of the Nrights made a flight of a little over II miles. On September 90 this was increased 10 12 1-5 miles. on October to l. l-5 miles and on the 5th to 2fl4 miles during which flights the operator remained in the air 3S min utes. The flights were made in cir. cles or figure eights returning to the starting point, and were at a speed of about 3S miles an hour.
 After centuries of effort, successful flight is at last accomplished. After hundreds of failures. the loss Of many lives and of many thousands of dol. lars one of the greatest achievements in history, the conquest of the air has ansrlfci n,1al,. t.o......