Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-06-26
The Thaws, Langley
And Aviation Linked
First William ThaW Backed
Professor Langley, Second
William ThaW Wins Fame in
the Air
BY VINCENT DRAYNE.

Everyone knows of the wonderful ex-
PLOTS of Lieutenant William Thaw,
young Pittsburg aviator, in the French
forces. A noted man is he and a noted
man was his grandfather the original
William Thaw, than whom Pittsburg has
brought forth no more sturdy business
man, no more broad-minded citizen, no
more open. handed philanthropist. These
two William Thaws would seem to be
opposite eXtremes-the one a builder
and the other an adventurer, though he
be one of the glorious Adventures. But
they are destined to go down in history,
Inscparably linked together as men who
have contributed to the advance of the
science of aviation in such measure and
in such manner that they could have
had no substitutes.
one might count on ones fingers the
men who know. or even suspect. that
William Thaw the elder had anything to
do with aviation. Yet, if Professor Sam
uel Pierpont Langley be called the
father of aViation'-as the whole world
now calls him-William ThaW must
some day come to be acclaimed as the
godfather of aviation. And he proved
a much more attentive and helpful god
father than that quiescent creature with
WHICH unOSl CLlllQF0n are endowed.
Coincidence, that much-abused word
must be applied to the course of events
which have brought both William Thaws
so prominently into the history of heav-
ier-than-air flying. For il was not a de-
sire TO emulate his grandsire in a con-
tributing interest in the science which is
pre-eminently the gift of the last decade
to human progress that impelled young
Bill Thaw to become an aviator. Bill
Thaw probably knows as little of that
part of the glorious history of his
grandfather as the ordinary man on the
street.
His father, Benjamin Thaw, knows
something more of it; he is one of the
few who have place on the afore-
mentioned fingers. None knows the
story better than Charles w. Scovel, one
of the leading insurance men of this
day, who was so fortunate as to have
been thrown into close contact with
Prof Langley at the period when the
latter was making experiments that
made Pittsburg the birthplace of the
aeroplane, and who knew too, of the
progressing interest of Mr. Thaw in
Langley and his work. And of It Mr..
ScoVel says:
mo William Thaw, no Langley; no
Langley, no aviation"
NIL oCONel Is a son OF LIZ. sylvester
F. Scovel, at that time one of Pitts
burg's leading clergymen, later presi-
dent of Wooster college, and fellow
trustee with Mr.. Thaw on the board of
the Western University of Pennsyl-
vania, now the University of Pittsburg.
Through his fathers friendship with
Mr.. Thaw and Prof. Langley, Mr. SEQ
vel had a part in the lives of these
two men during the time the mo-
mentous experiments were being made.
"Mr. Thaw became a trustee of the
university in 1861" said Mr. Scovel
yesterday. He was at all times, until
his death in August, 1889, it's heartiest
friend, and most generous donor. Mr..
Thaw was, believe the greatest phil
anthropist at that early day when phil
anthropy had not become fashionable
and was not a means to fame or motor
iety. He was one of the greatest men,
too, of that age, a man of so great a
mind that his money, vast as 1t was,
was the least part of him. He was
ever eager to aid the growth of the
university.
when Prof. Langley came to the
university in 1866 as professor of as
tconomy and director of the observa-
tory, he found a kindred being in Mr..
Tbaw. They became associates and
an interest in astronomy and solar
physics (Mr. Langley's speciality that
made them two men Of one interest.
Langley was then interested most
in his studies of the sun. These studies
Obliged him to enter upon an 1nVeStl-
CATION of the atmosphere, for we see
the sun only through the air and 1t
effects the earth only through the air.
Therefore 1t became vital, in the study
of solar physics, of which he was one
of the founders, that he know all about
the air, it's resistance at various heights
and it's variations.
That is how aviation was born.
"For. as his studies progressed 1T be-
came necessary for him to send up in
numeratlc balloons and kites. / remem-
Der ne used to lie on his back, on Cd
servatory Hill, and watch the bird fly-
ing, or the clouds drifting. Before he
knew IT, he had entered upon The whole
problem of flying. He had no desire to
be the father of aviation--had no
thought of IT, but was interested In the
matter solely as a scielSiuc problem
which was absolutely necessary to the
continuance o. the study in mat field to
which he had dediacted his life.
Then more and more extensive be-
came his experiments with kites and
other devices and his watching OF the
birds, until there came to him the hrst
faint conceptions of the principles on
which flight depended. Then he began
as a true scientist must to develop eX-
detrimental data from which to reduce
these principles to exact formulae.
HE built the old evolving table,
steam-driven which could be rotated at
a terrific rate, on the upright of which
was an arm that was whirled about. on
this arm were fixed blades with which
he could determine the speed at which
it was being whirled and the angle at
which it was breasting the air. 1t was
all equipped with a minute recording
device which showed just how much lit
could be obtained at a specified angle