Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-09-14
Wilbur Wright
on Auiatjon--

1t is hardly necessary to mention the
qualifications of the Wright brothers as
hcritlcs of aviation affairs. for they have
Mot only the honor of being the men who
made heavier-than-air flight possible. and
who themselves demonstrated the posi-.
bitity, but they have been constantly at
work since they first put aeroplanes ON
the market trying to improve present-day
machines to an extent that will make
their general use practicable. 1t will be
profitable. therefore,, to consider Wilbur
Wrghts views on the big flying contests
in Europe during the past season. Mr..
Wright has just returned to this country
after an absence of several months. He
said that while he went abroad to look
after the Wright patents he found time
to enjoy himself and make an occasional
flight. He went up a few times with Cap
tam Arlington at Berlin. just to see how
the Wright machines We're working.
Did you attend any of the big meets
over there?" he was asked.
No Meets don't interest me-" said Mr..
rig II am very little interested in
the purely sporting side of a~eronautics.
We are working ahead in q practical man
ner. without catering to the sensational.
believe in doing things, however, where
a flight can be made properly and without
any unnecessary risks. OF course. the
sporting side of it appeals to a great
many. but ! believe the sensational flights
hurt the art. They dc not work toward
maintaining a healthy interest in aero
%nautics. or help in a practical develop
ment of the machines"
MT. Wright was asked what he thought
or the recent international circuit avia-
4 tton race. which started and ended at
VNincennes. near Paris.
That was, in no sense, a test of what
the machines or the pilots could do" he
said. 1T was merely a reckless sporting
event. in which the men bet their lives
against a certain amount of money. It
was u gamble with death. Beaumont. the
winner. narrowly escaped being killed.
His motor stopped at one time when he
was in a position where he could not have
landed without counting almost sure death.
BY some freak his motor started when ne
was within a few feet of the ground and
saved him from being dashed to pieces.
He might have had a funeral instead of
the $4,000 prize"
Mr.. Wright said that the contestants in
the international circuit race had me-
chanics scattered all over England and the
other countries through which their course
lay, and consequently they could rebuild
a machine and change the motor over
night Il they wanted to. This condition
of things certainly afforded no test of the
durability of the engines or the power Of
the machine, and is the sort OF thing which
we discourage" said Mr.. Wright. Such
sensational events are exploited in the
papers to the detriment. of the art. What
the average man-not the daredevil or the
simpleton-can do with an aeroplane is the
problem we are concerned with.
The spirit of conmercialism is killing
aviation there. The only reason for the
long flights. which are being made at
present. is tine advertisement of some
newspaper or other commercial venture
and not the idea of further perfecting the
flying machine. In a great many cases
there is no profit in these meets, for the
manufacturers Of flying machines, and 1
. think that 1 am correct when I say that
there is not one of them in France who
is making any money. 1t costs too much
to build and fly machines in these races.
Even though the prize may be one
amounting to thousands Of dollars 1t all
goes to one man, and when there are 20
or 30 competitors in a race the expense of
all of them far overshadows the amount
of the prize. The French government
alone is keeping aviation alive. 1t has
bought more than 200 machines, and is
financing experiments which the manufac.
turers could not carry on themselves.