The Washington times., 1908-09-04
Aeroplane Inventor Elated
by Success of Test at Fort
Myer Yesterday.
GUIDES BIG MACHINE
JUST LIKE A BIRD
Dayton Mans Filler Stays in Air
One Minute and Eleven Sec
onds-Jarred at Descent.

GOT TO WOfk early today 10 repair eIio /
slightly damaged skid. injured in the
fight of last evening, so that the new
aeroplane may be in readiness to cleave |
the sky once more late this afternoon.
Mr. Wright has not decided just when |
he VIII fly again. but II weather con
dItiOns are good and the repair work
is not interrupted. It Is possible that he
Nin try il again today, not only be
CAUSE it is expected, but because. as /
he said after his little tumble. practice |
is Necessary in the proper handling OF
tEls aeroplane.
Five hundred persons, mos Of them. |
no doubt clothed with the black gar
ment Of unbelief. jOurneyed out to Fort
AIyer yesterday to see Wright fly. At
6 O'clock, there were 500 persons about
the parade ground. who acted much as
800 college students will act when their
particular football team is winning a
great game, Wright. IN the eyes OF those
who saw the flight. is vindicated for lis
long years OF silence. his retiring man
ner, the many days the crowd has been
disappointed. and for most everything
else
Woman Is Enthused.
As one woman. who has been IN daily
attendance at Fort Alyer, put il, only
she said it with eyes glowing. with face
flushed and with some emotion in her
voice that type does not express ITS
lust too glorious, Mr Wright. I don
know how to thank you enough"
The flights OF the Baldwin dlrlglDle,
or the ordinary spherical balloon, are
always OF interest even 10 the some
what jaded newspaper man and the
even these obsal VerS bubbled over when
Wright steered this heayier-than-air
machine about the parade ground foF
one minute and eleven seconds.
All the preparation for tie night had
been completed at $50 o'clOck, and the
crowd driven back about 100 feet from
the aerOplaue had taken seats opon the
ground. watching the little man IL the
gray cap who sighted and trimmed and
pulled the levers of the great white
thing
The only interruption in that work
came Wuen the sunset gun doomed out
over the reservation, the post band
struck up the ''StaT-Spangled Banner.
and while even WrighTs busy mechanics
We're stiIled, every officer pres ent turned
toward the flag and stood al attention
until that music ceased
All Stand Attention
AT a few minutes before o'clock.
however. even the last and always for
gotten-untl that time-detaH had been
attended TO- and Wright took his seat
I'm front OF the car. the meehanics-
stepped 10 one side and the crowd he'd
its breath.
AS the weight dropped in the tower
behind the aerOplane started down its
little one-Iau track looking FOR all the
world for the moment. with its operator
sitting there SO comfortably, ike a
boy with a monster sled, sliding down
snow-cOVered hill.
There is one stretch of almost level
track and then quite a bit of down
grade When the EerOplane tilted over
the top of the hill and struck the down
grade, its speed increased rapidly, and
at the end the little man on the seat
pulled his levers. the forward planes
were set against the wind that the ma
chine itself was creating, and Orville
Wright found himself flying for the
first time III his new machine.
Apparently he seemed 10 have trouble,
not, perhaps. With-Ihe steering gear. for
he made at least four turns success
fully without hitch, but with the ap-
paTatus which controls the upward and
downward u1ovement-the forward
planes OF the machine
Like Bird Over Water
If you have ever seen a bird fit over
the surface OF a pond OF river. striking
the water at one place and then rising
into the air a few feet further and re-
peat the performance, you have some
way OF judging the flight of Orviue
Wright yesterday.
The cniei difference between the flight
OF Wright and that - the bird, is that
the former never touched the ground
from the time he left until he hit again
a moment too soon or a little too he I'd.
hut he did fly in little Gp-and-doWn
waves, now forty feet above the ground,
then fifteen feet. In fact, his flight
seemed to be g series of slidings made
by the machine down score or more
OF air hills that no one could see, but
which this wonderful machine could
The fight lasted Just one minute and
eleven seconds and ended with abrupt
ness, because when landing, Wright
struck the ground with ore skid or
runner instead of hitting t with the
Two, which lie under the main plane,
Just for this purpose
Circles Parade Grounds
lie circlei the parade ground once,
starting from the northwest corner,
and the cheers that greeted him when
he hit that corner after going around
were greater in volume and more hys-
terical than were those the crowd emit
ted when he first rose into the air.
After that last turn, the aeroplane,
buzzlng. buzZing, and dipping up and
down like a large white bee looking
for a little honey, Wright seemed to
get a little more nervous When he
came near the northeast corner, where
the balloon tent rears up Snto the sky
ne StdItCu 10 Adilus tIEClLul4 ne pUlfEQ
the wrong lever, and then, when the
whole machine was about TO crash into
the shed which viii soon house it, he
jerked another wooden bar. the aero
plane dived for the ground, and the
crowd started on the long sprint TO what
looked much like an accident
Before any one got there, however,
Wright was out, walking about look
ing the damage over, and when the
newspaper men came up with him. he
had lost much of his former worried
air and was calm and confident
Must Learn to Handle It
I've got to learn to control the ma
chine better. I am sorry Il happened
No, / intended 70 come down. but
didn't know / was going so fast. How
fast was 1 going? About forty miles.
I should Judge,
Mr. Wright said that he was not a
bit discouraged by the accident; rather
ne seemed encouraged, and said ne had
no doubt that ne Will be able to fulfil
The conditions Of the War Department
AS he stood there. near his machine
that many a spectator thought wrecked.
M off