Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-09-11
SWIFT PROGRESS in FLYING
Wright Brothers Are Considered De-
velopers Of the AirpIane, but Always
Gave Full Credit to Langley, Cha
mute and Other Pioneers.
BY EDWARD B. CLARK.

united States. The telegram read as
follows:
The congratulations of the air serv
Ice are extended to you on the tenth
anniversary of the delivery of the
nfst alrplane to the government OF
the United States, first in the world ia
acquire a dynamic aircraft. The air
service appreciates to the full the
eVer-increasing debt owed by mankind
TO the Wright brothers, whose fore.
sight, interchangeable research and prac-
tical application have aided world
progress through the invention of a
new means of communication"
1t was about O. decade ago that the
United States government, with one
OF the Wright brothers on the scene.
made its preliminary test of airplanes
IN this city before adopting them for
the service of the United States.
10 the Wright brothers General
Menoher has given the credit for the
development Of the airplane to the
standards of practical use. The
Wrfghts themselves. however, ALWAYS
gave credit to the pioneers in the field
Work OF the Pioneers.
In the Smithsonian Institution in
this city is tablet to the memory of
Samuel Piefpont Langley, who COM
pleted the first Observation-Disclosures ma
chine which actually flew. Not long
ago scientists came to Washington
from all over the country to pay trib-
ute to the memory of this scientist,
Langley, who through the years with
stood the jibes and the jeers of men
who called him crank and worse be.
cause he was convinced that one day
men would fly. Langley kept at his
work, and today he is acknowledged
as having been the first man to make
heayier-than-air machine actually
fly.
twenty years ago and more there
lived In Chicago an engineer named
Octave Chanute, a man of French ex-
traction, who also firmly believed that
one day man would fly and would not
need lighter-than-air apparatus to en-
able him to do so. It was Octave Cha
mute who developed the plane idea. 1t
Is known that the Wright brothers. as
youths. were pupils of Chanute, and
that they witnessed some of his expeh,
iments.
So long ago as 1897. was taken by
Octave Chanute into the attic of his
house In Superior street, Chicago.
There he had samples of every kind
or kite known to men and boys of the
world. He was studying the biplane
Kites of China and the monoplane kites
CT other countries.
In addition to these toys, if they
may be so called. he had mounted spec
EIens of several of the long-flighted
species of birds of the world, the gull,
the albatrUss and the man-of-war bird.
He was studying their structure, their
wing spread and relating these things
as well as he could to their ability to
Sustain themselves in the air for long
periods without visible motions of the
wings.
Octave chanute's Experiments.
Later on I went to the sand dunes
Of northern Indiana, on the shores Of
Lake Michigan, to witness some of the
early flying attempts of men under the
direction Of Octave Chanute. The ex-
perimenter and his assistants fitted
themselves by means of harness into
great-reaching winglike planes similar
to those which an airplane uses today.
Then they would start down an incline
md launch themselves into the air
from the hillside against the wind. In
this way, and without any motive
power 1t was possible to determine the
sustaining strength of the wings and
many other things which 1t was neces.
sary to determine before the problem
,ame Of attaching motor power AT
hat time the present type gasoline en-
zines had not been invented, and prop
,r motive power was one of the chief
Octave Chanute was pioneer in re-
'earch; Langley was pioneer in pre-
iminary accomplishment, and the
Wright brothers were the accom-
,lIshers. The entire development of
he airplane has occupied only about
score of years. In Europe Lilienthal
md others were experimenting, their
work in measure following the lines
4 those OF Chanute, who was In CORE
pondence with his European col.
eagues in the experimental field,
ItSis something for a man to know |
hat he witnessed the first attempts
4 Octave ChanCte to make progress
through the air with planes as wings, /
nd twenty years later to see the per
ected combat planes OF the,army 70
ato the fight over the German lines. |
was a long cry from the sand dunes |
4 Indiana to the bluffs Of Hatton-
'hatel. There was skepticlsm on the
End dunes and full belief at Hatton.
,Latel, with twenty years Intervening |
etween the twain.