Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-05
A|RMEN TO HAVE DAY
Prof. LangIey's Exploit to Be
COMMUNICATED Monday.
AERO CLUB TO CELEBRATE
First Flight in Heavier Than-Air
Machine Celebrated.
MEETING AT CHEVY CHASE
Schedule Includes Addresses by
Willis Moore, Gen. Robert Shaw
oliver and Others.
MEETING AT CHEVY CHASE

| The sixteenth anniversary of the first
flight of a heavier than-air flying machine
will be celebrated at the Chevy Chase
| Club next Monday afternoon. Monday is
| Langley day." and the services will be
| conducted by the Washington Aero Club.
1t was sixteen years ago, on that date.
| that flight was made by one of Prof.
| Langley's heavier-than-air models at
| Whitewater, Va, a point on the river
| about thirty miles below Washington.
| Prof Langley had been quietly working
on the problem of mechanical flight for
| ten years before that. 1t was a field that
! had seldom been invaded by a serious
minded scientist, though there had been
many able experimenters for years pre-
vously, including men like Wenham, Sir
| George Galley and Stringfellow and later
Lillienthal, Phillips and Hargrave, who
were contemporaries. The principles of
aeroplane flight were understood and be-
lieved in by comparatively few scien-
| fists. The thing that had stood in the
| way of actual flight was a sufficiently
light and powerful motor.
Prof. Langley by long experiment and
careful scientific investigation added
much to the knowledge of the air and
finally built himself very light and
powerful steam engine that weighed
about seven pounds "all on and develop
ed one and three-quarters horsepower.
with this after long and discouraging ex-
pertinent he finally effected a fight
May 6. 1896.
Machine in Flight Photographed.
It was a flight Of about half a mile.
This distance was increased up to almost
a mile and the problem was regarded as
| scientifically Solved. There was photo
graph taken of the machine in the flight
by Prof Alexander Graham Bell of
Washington, the first photograph ever
made Of heavier-than-air flying
machine.
In the autumn of the same year Prof
Langley arranged a special flight for the
benefit Of The Evening Star, and there
was a descriptive story of the perform
| ance written by Frank G. Carpenter.
This was edited and approved by Prof;
| widely. The facts Of the initial flight
of the model were communicated to the
| French Academy and this stimulated
aerial research in France, where inter-
| est in the problem never died out
The most remarkable feature was the
| way in which the achievement passed
| almost unnoticed in this country. For
ten years no further public notice was
taken of this epoch-makinS event and
so far as the people at large were con-
cerned it might almost as we'll never
| have been of record Prof. Langley was
satisfied with the achievement and at the
| time he wrote an account containing this
| statement: Il have concluded the por-
| ton Of the work that seemed to be
| specially mine, namely, demonstrating
| the possibility of mechanical flight. For
the practical and commercial develop
ment of the idea the world in all proba-
bility will have to look to others. But
| the world indeed will be supine if it
| does not realize that a new possibility
i loe. fn nd haf ha l.
versal highway overhead is about to be
| opened"