Weekly journal-miner., 1915-11-24
FERBER PIONEER OF
 AVIATION IN FRANCE

of the Associated Press)-Capt Fer
 Der of the French army, who wa. killed some time ago by the fail o
 his aeroplane, is accepted as the pic neer of French military aviation, ant the French military experts of today look upon Ferber much as in America Prof. Langley and the Wrights arc considered as the pioneers oi flight There is a strange chapter relating to Ferber and Wrights, which will some day go into the his tory of aviation when the story is told of how within the last decade men first rose in the air after vainly trying to do so for thousands of years. The facts of the story are given by one who participated in them:
 Some ten or twelve years ago, Walter Wellman of Chicago conceiv- cd the idea of flying to the North Pole by means of dirigible balloon. This was before Peary's final trip, and the North Pole was the goal of a venture and scientific achievement. Wellman had seen French dirigibles make long flights, and he sought the opinion of the pioneers of flight as to the feasibility of his plan, and later mad his dirigible built here. Captain Ferber was one of those whose opin- ion was sought.
 Capt. Ferber was then chief of the French aeronautic service with head quarters at a military park near Par is Here he had erected a tall steel mast from which hung a cable at tached to a miniature aeroplane. No one had been able to make an aero plane rise in the air, but Capt. Ferbcr was experimenting constantly with this anchored aeroplane which swung round in a wide circle from its pivot 1T the top of the steel mast.
 When Ferber's opinion was ask21 on the North Pole project he oblig- ingly gave it, writing careful sum- mary of the dangers and possibilities, but on the whole approving the plaI as within the range of possibility. Having given this opinion he ask l something in return, and few days later letter was received from nim reading substantially like this:
 I have been much interested in the American project of reaching tlle North Pole by dirigible. But there is something which interests me even more than that and I would be glad if you could give me some help on it. Vague reports reach me that two young men named Wright have ac.u- ally risen in the air without the aid Of balloon and in hcavier-than-air machine. They are said to live at Day ton, o. Could you put me in relation with them, preferably through some one who writes French
 Little was then known of the young men referred to, and in order to meet Capt Ferber's request inquiry was made of the Alliance Franchise, the organization in America which has q number of branches throughout the country. The secretary promptly res bonded with the name and Capt Fer Der at once wrote to Dayton in French asking for details of the re- ported performances of the Wrights, and to be put in direct communi- cation with them. The pioneers who were seeking the same end on both sides of the ocean were thus brought together, and from that time forward, Capt. Ferber and the Wrights were in very close relation over the pro gress each was making.
 It remained for Ferber to acknow1- edge himself vanquished by the Am ericans, and he was one of the first in Europe to give generous and com pletc credit to all the claims first made by the Wrights as to their pri- vate flights, before their work was publicly made known to the world. Later as head of the Military Avia- ton service of France he was instru- mental in bringing them to Europe, where their first demonstration were made in French acro-fields,. leading to universal acknowledgment that they had in fact conquered the air. This took form in a national tribute, a huge silver statue of the ''Victory oi the Air showing the winged Victory supported by an aeroplane instead of her traditional wings. Capt. Ferber dis mounted his mast and anchored aero plane, and thereafter used the Ameri- can device, until French inventors began their development of mono planes and other devices.
 Inc French aviation experts still retain in their archives a letter which they callcd document historique" It is signed by Wilbur and Orvill- Wripht dated at Dayton. Deccmb er