The San Francisco call., 1909-01-31

The Wright Brothers Aeropl
IN England today II the weather Is right and you
wish to go balIooning you simply telephone to
] your club:
~Duiwich balloon eiuh are you there5"
"xes, sir"
~Weil, please have Number Six ready at 3 o'clock
prOmptly."
VERY wen sir Anything else, eirF-
~Oh, yea Wen have tea, of course, In the balloon;
hzve the thermal bottles filed"
And So promptly az 5, you very coolly leave this
sorid earth with It's fogs and noises and dirt and
Gseord, and for a space you live and breathe IN
another wcrid. most wonderful world, interesting
azhilzrztng, and Inspartng-danf 3, toof Yes and
not half 90 dangerous as sutodh and many other
Gporta
We have no euch balloon clubs IN America; but it
en- scarcely be said that behind Europe In the
matter Of aerial navigation To prove this to your
oWn Satisfaction go up 20 the New York aero club
some night and listen. You will leave there quite
convinced that you q very ordinary sort of earth
plodder and century more less behind the times.
sQusrely built, we'll dressed businessman-he is
g very successful broker downtown-srrives and
srzvely calls the clubs attention to the fact that
New York viii need station and garage for the
use Of the international airShip line In fact says
be giancng earnestly over his eyeglasses, the need
pressing and he advises that steps toward that end
be taken this night
Your sense of hu1noF is speedily awakened and you
enicker aloud Whereupon several other Substantial
looking businessmen, and professional of
note and some athletic looking men with the lean,
faces of close students quickly and glare
you; and you quickly subside, that Il not
joke at all Then you begin to think
It is high time you did Another man Is talking
now giving appreciation of the country
lead in things aeronautic and concluding with an
half
1t trite to be of much value that in very
few years aerial fight viii be very common and
ordinary method of travel
Strange words sounding in your ears now
aviator" "aeronef" aero curves" "heioopters and
orthopters," "nonoplanes and biplanes"; other
winged expressions buzz about you and your mind
grows hazy. But you have been lifted altogether out
Of your first depth of ignorant insignfcance and be-
fore the meeting is you quite ready to step
from the window of this seventh story and fly grace
fully home.
II is not long ago that flying mschinists were gen.
orally regarded lunacs; indeed il Is less than six
months ago that the Aero club of New York thought
II good idea TO publish a bulletin of the Wright
brothers flights, signing thereto the of wit
nesses TO prove the skeptical public that these
things actually occurred. Then came Orvle Wrights
wonderful records at Washington, followed by his
brothers achievements in France-came SO quickly
so unexpectedly that the public is still gaspng though
admitting that the flying machine is practicable
achievement
I have the story of Orville Wrights first fight al
Washington from an eyewitness and 1 saw, also
the only official record of 1.-THE back of long
envelope upon which are pencil marks in groups oi
FIVE, such you would in a card game, and
underneath the signature 90. K-O. Wright"
You see" said the eyewitness, people generally
the newspapers, even the department. had SC
little faith in Wrights that so much as ar
official recorder was not deemed necessary.
There just handful of observers present
in fact, when Wright ascended-his machnist few
soldiers from Fort Myer and myself
@I took this envelope from my pocket and began
TO tabulate the revolutions made 1t was calm
clear day and Wright was flying gracefully, easily
without hitch
"A half hour went swiftly by-then quarter
then 10 minutes
i realized that event of worldwide Importance
taking place above me, and felt the peculiar
elation-a Of importance, too-incident to the
beholder in such circumstances.
The machinist was mmovable gazing upward
with open mouth The soldiers too stood like
statues. They knew.
Suddenly man could stand the strain nc
longer Whoop-peeP he yelled.
Shut up said the machinist, turning on him
savagely And then there silence all of us look
ing up and turning heads like automatons as th.
Reronaut swept around in his circles.
The phone rang and 1 stepped back to answer
It. still watching the flight.
"A reporter was at the other end of the wire
What's going on? he asked in an uninterested way
Wright is going onr yelled triumphantly