The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-09
PIONEER OF FRENCH AVIATION IS KILLED Captain Ferber Loses Life
 When Machine Falls KNEW THE WRIGHTS Consulted With Ohio Brothers Ere quently and at Length Acknowl- edged Himself Vanquished in
 Fight to Conquer the Air
KNEW THE WEIGHTS

Paris December 16.-(Correspondence of the Associated Press.)-Captain Ferber of the French army, who was killed some time ago by the fall of his aeroplane, is accepted as the pioneer of French military aviation and the French military experts Of today look upon Ferber much as in America Professor Langley and the Wrights are considered as the pioneers of flight. There is a strange chapter relat- ing to Terber and the Wrights, which will some day go into the history of avia tion when the story is told of how with in the last decade men first rose in the air after vainly trying to do so for thou sands of years. The facts of the story are given by one who participated in them:
 Some 10 or P years ago Walter We'll man of Chicago conceived the idea of flying to the North Pole by means of a dirigible balloon. This was boc-re Pearys firal trip and the North Pole was the goal of venture and scientific achieve ment Wellman had seen French dirigibles nlake lcng flights, ard he sought the opn- ion of the pioneers of flight as to the feasibility of his plan, and later had lis drigible built here. Captain Ferber was one of those whose opinion was sought
 EXPERIMENT THEN
 Captain Terber was then chief of the French aeronautic service with head quarters at military park near Paris. Here he had erected tall steel mast, from which hung a cable attached to miniature aeroplaEe. No one had been able to make an aeropiane rise in the air but Captain Ferber was experiment. ing constantly with this anchored aero plane, which swung round in wide cir cle from it's pivot at the top or the steel mast.
 When Ferbers opinion was asked on the North Pole project he obligingly gave it. writing a careful summary of the dan gers and possibilities, but on the whole approving the plan as within the range O. possibility. Having given this opinion he asked something in return, and few days later a letter was received rom him reading substantially like this:
 q have been much interested in the American project of reaching the 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 Wnght have actually risen in the air without the aid of a balloon and in a heavier than-air machine. They are said to live at Dayton, o. Could you put me in rela- ton with them, preferably through some one who writes French|
 Little was then known of the young men referred to, and in order to meet Captain Ferber's request inquiry was made ot the Alliance Franchise, the organization Tn America which has a number of branches throughout the country. The secretary promptly responded with the name and Captain Ferber at once wrote to Dayton in French asking for details of the re- ported performances of the Wrlghts, and to be put in direct communication 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 Captain Ferber and the Wrights were in very close relation over the prog ress each was making.
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