The San Francisco call., 1909-01-31

my GodP he gasped, and dropped the phone
Intense excitement followed in the city and the tee
phone began jngling ceaselessly l made no attempt
to answer it l busily watching Wright, who
still in the air.
Suddenly quick succession of 'honks' came from
the rear and an automobile advance guard came
spinning through the parade ground bearing officials
from the department, newspaper representatives
and others. In brief time the crowd filled the
grounds. Every at fever heat with excite
ment. Wright, who had just descended, was the
coolest of them all. Why, 1 expected it, said he
simply"
few others expected it," notably those earnest
at the Aero club and some silent workers here
and there throughout the country who have been
active for years along the lines as the Wright
brothers and who deserve, most of them, quite as
much credit-men like Captain Thomas Scott Bald
win, Leo Stevens, Octave Chanute, A. M. Herring
Israel Ludlow and A. v. Wilson
Wilson's work is most interesting; so too is the
man himself.
gardener, but only engaged that trade as means
to another end He makes money enough each sum
to enable him to carry his experiments during
the winter and he has been doing this since 1885, r
quiet way and asking aid or odds of any one.
Previous to 1885 and since his boyhood days he
had been parachutist-if may that word
making about 400 jumps in all
"See," said he, indicating his nose, "how wide that
bridge sp The bridge of his nose, saw, was almost
twice the normal width. THAT comes from having
the nostrils opened many times with hot irons.
In jumping, the parachute doesn't open for from
800 to 500 feet. You're going pretty fast then anc
there's terrible roaring in your ears. You have tc
swallow hard to keep the air passages OPEN Some
times you can't and when you land you are breathing
only through your mouth. Then the physician get:
busy and burns hole through the upper nostrils.
You'll notice my fingers too-drawn in, see, a
the joints That from falling. have trcl
sof landing my hands and feet saves your
bones
There's great deal in knowing how to fall. The
birds learn that before they learn fly Ever notice
a young robin, just of the nest-how he goe:
Peepf when he first hits the ground? That peep
pain we'll SURPRISE and after that ht
learns how not to hurt himself. Then he learns tc
fly.
After all, to my way of thinking falling anc
flying are very closely allied Flight in fact, is the
control of falling-thats ALL but that's great deal
We just learning the first principles and putting
them into practice Wonderful things will be done
in the near future"
Parachuting taught Wilson many more first prin
ciples; opened his eyes, indeed, to the possibilities
aerial fight
One day, in dropping some handbills from his bal
loon, he noticed that few of them glided easily
Systematically, while the others Auttered aimlessly il
the air These few had been accidentally wet abou
an inch from the bottom. That circumstance taugh
him something about weight.
Again, he found that by running forward with
wide, light plane, inclined certain angle he coult
suddenly this plane and against the wind
That gave him another practicable principle.
At Bar Harbor he began studying birds and ali
currents, in crude way, perhaps but in prac
tica intimate way In fact there theory in thi
man at all. He simply studies nature and then goe
and does likewise.
He studied birds and dragon flies, which have fou
wings instead of two, and he got many nterestn,
results
He found that hawk when its legs tied to
gether has lifting power in its wings of 26 pound
(no wonder they fly away with large fowls) Blu
the same hawk when its neck and head were mad
rigid with splints bound by bicycle tape could on
fly in straight line and but short distance. Tha
taught him the necessity of osciIlatng motion il
fight, and the sensitive automatic adjustment ma
chine must have in order to meet all air condition
and be propelled at will in every direction
Its like riding bicycle uneven ground,
said he. "An experienced cyclst shifts his handle
bars subconsciously automatically or whatever yo
wish to call it. That's his instinct of equilibrium
applied by practice to form of locomotion. Well
it's the same way with flying. You must learn t
keep your equilibrium and have machine which wi
allow you to do easily when travelling throug
uneven air currents
Continuing his experiments with birds, Wilso
figured out their lifting power over square inch
wing surface. and then he pucked the feathers fror