The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-05-28
HERE'S THE FIRST ALRSF1ZP
THAT WILL ACTUALLY FLY

SPRINGFIELD, May 28.-Wright
brothers, the most successful air
navigators, have commenced con-
struction of an aeroplane to deliver
to the government Sept. %. 1t is
practically duplicate of the ma
chine smashed at Kill Devil hill, N.
c., when the operator pulled the
wrong lever and shot to the ground.
(This is the first of three articles
by Mr.. Gardner on the flying ma
chine of the Wright brothers, which
is not a balloon, and which is be-
lieved to have solved the problem
of aerial navigation.
BY gibson GARDNER.
KITTY HAWK, N. c., May 2S.-
The flying machine of the Wright
brothers, which | came here to see
flies; it is big enough to carry two
men; it is not a balloon, nor any
modified form of balloon; it is an
enormous modified box kite, pro-
PEELED by gasoline engines; it goes
up into the air, travels miles, and
alights without danger or difficulty.
1t is the real tnlng. 1t is heavier
than the air in which 1t fles. 1t
may be seen, touched, handled and
described. There is no mystery
about it, and no doubt about it.
Parts of it are already patented.
Soon it will be publicly exhibited
near Washington, D. c., for the ben
eft of officers of the United States
army.
On the day of my arrival at the
island of Manteo (look on your map
for Cape Hatteras, and then run the
point of your pencil north to the
mouth of Albermarle sound) I
learned from reliable witnesses that
the machine had flown eight miles.
That evening the machine was
wrecked in its final descent.
On the morning of the 18th
chartered a power boat, crossed the
sound and trudged over the burn
ing sands to the lonely and utterly
remote corner of the earth where
the brothers, Wilbur and Orville
Wright, are camped.
Nobody was home. But the door
of the big shed was open, and in
side, sure enough, were the pieces
some of them-of the machine.
Here was the gasoline motor.
machine which would give possibly
SO or 60 horsepower; here were the
propellers-light. two-bladed wood
en- propellers, like those of a steam
ship, but siv feet in diameter; here
were the cloth covered curved
planes, braced by hemlOck sticks
and wire; here was the device for
the speed; here were the
broken pipes leading from the en-
CINE. and broken sticks which had
been part of the machine. 1t was
evident that there had been con-
siderable smash.
A careful search of the horizon
disclosed a white speck far to the
north. 1t proved to be the Wrights
and their single helper, bringing in
the remainder of the wreckage.
How about the break?" l asked.
Orville smiled.
"Oh, that was nothing. We were
testing out a new device for work
ing the rudder, and were not quite
careful enough. Wilbur was driv-
ing. and the machine was very close
to the ground. He figured on giving
it an upward tilt, but, on account
of his lack of familiarity with the
new rudder, he tilted it down, and
she went into the sand. Until a man
has considerable practice he can't
ride a bicycle and read a newspaper
at the same time. That's about the
way it was in this case"
How long was the flight before
the bump"
Possibly six miles. The machine
for measuring the distance and time
did not get stopped at the end, so
we have no accurate record. We
were not trying 1t for distance"
Then you have made longer
fights?"
"Certainly. At one time in Day.