Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-11
HERRING ASKS MORE DELAY
Wants Thirty Days Extension to
Complete Shopwork.
WRIGHT SCARS 200 FEET HIGH
Betters His Own Record in Yester-
days Flight-Discusses POSSIBLE
tiles With Navy Officers.

After lettering his own and the world $
| best record. with a newer record king
| fight yesterday of hour : minutes and
- seconds, in high wind, Orvile Wright
| took it easy this morning and stayed in
| town instead of going out to Fort Myer.
| His mechanics were on hand waiting
| for him. AS he did not turn up they
| fixed everything In readiness for flight
| this afternoon. This ascension probably
| will be made at ) O'Clock.
| Wright wants to test the speed of the
! ma chine. He hopes to send it over about
five-mile course, simply to get the rate
of speed and see whether it is coming up
| to the government requirements.
| Herring Wants More Time.
| A NJ. Herring. the only other bidder
under contract to furnish an aeroplane
to the army. applied to Mai Squres,
acting chief signal officer, this morn
| ing for further extension of thirty
days on the time for the delivery of his
| machine.
| Herring was to have had his machine
at Fort Myer August Is. but was
granted an extension to September Il.
/ This would have brought him to Fort
Myer not later than Monday.
ne Sdiu III HIS teleSTdH1 lOudN t1dI Tie
machine is all finished and ready for
delivery. There is some shop work,
| however. which he wants to complete.
His request for extension of time was
| turned over to the Secretary of War
for decision 1t is possible the extern
sion will be granted. There might be
| some conflict of arrangements IN hav-
ing Herring and Wright both with
| machines at the fort at the same time.
| 1t is safe assumption that IL this
fS mt 1K-t1 ha he Inc
that Herring will receive.
What Happened Yesterday.
The great feature of the flight of the
Wright aeroplane yesterday. according TO
the experts who witnessed it. was the
control over the machine shown by the
operator in the teeth of the worst wind
an aeroplane ever faced during a long
flight To be sure some of the flights of
the Wrights at Kittyhawk were made
against a twenty-seven- mile breeze, but
these were mostly straight runs.
The flight last night was in narrow cir
cles and close enough to the ground at
times to get the benefit OF all the eddies
and cross currents set up wherever the
air strikes the earth.
Another feature of the flight was that
the machine reached an altitude of 200
feet, higher than an aeroplane has ever
flown before Washington has become so
| used in the past few days to the quiet
Mr.. Wright breaking records that this
fact was almost overlooked.
One of the army officers. in commenting
on the performance, said:
THE whole thing simply amounts to
this: The Wright aeroplane has system
Of control and is capable of being ma
nipulated to meet difficulties. 1t seems
to be the only machine that can be con-
trolled
The foreign machines are just big box
kites that in still air can be balanced like
a man on a tight rope. but they are In
a state of unstable equilibrium all the
time. This American machine can be
handled to meet difficulties as they arise.
So far as can see it Is the only machine
in the world that can depend on skill
and not chance for its equilibrium.
Problems Yet to Be Solved.
"Of course, the flying problem is not
yet worked out by long way. But there
seems nothing in reason that this ma
chine cannot do.
Standing on the ground and watching
it, one can hardly notice the detection of
the big planes that make the machine go
round on a curve. Yet this tiny defiec-
ton is the whole secret.
The plane is exerting great force on
the air when it turns corner. In fact.
the pressure on the machine as 1T swings
around 4OO-foot curve is as great as
though heavy man were standing on
the wing tip when the machine is at rest.
The fact of the machine going to
height of 200 feet yesterday was import
ant. 1t was higher than an aviator has
ever before trusted himself from the
ground in an aeroplane.
The artillery officers at Fort Myer say
that 800 feet is the highest that any field
guns now in use in the army can be
trained so that less than twice the height
of yesterdays flight would put an aero
plane out of the reach of anything except
rifle fire. 1t would be an almost unbeileV-
able feat in wing shooting for rifieman
TO hit an aeroplane going forty miles an
hour at that height.
AS to the ultimate speed of an aero
plane the 1O0-mi'es-an-h hour mark IS in
sight. The machine now in use at Fort
Myer is designed for a speed of forty
miles with two passengers but the Navy
Department. which wants to g" IN for an
aerial corps has been assured ihat it
would he perfectly feasible to build
fast machine TO make SeVenty-fiVe or one
hundred miles.
Emile Berliner. who is building hello
coptre saws he expects TO make between
scventy-tive and one hundred miles AN
hour.
\. NJ. Herring claims that he can make
eighty miles with his machine.
These statements. however. are predic-
tons The machine now at the fort has
made good up to thirty-tve OF forty miles.
Dined by Naval Officers.
4 dinner was rendered Wright last night
at the Army and Navy Club by several
naval officers. An informal discussion Of
the merits of the aeroplane for naval war
fare. the efficiency of propellers and SIM