Evening star., 1925-05-08
Langley's Mark Lauded.
Credit for Discovery of Princi-
pies of Flying Given Him.

To the Editor Of The Star;
The newspaper controversy con-
corning originators of flying ma
chimes. so far as / have followed it,
fails to mention what seems to me
is the most important point in dis
pute: Who discovered ard expressed
with mathematical accuracy the
rules and specifications governing
flight of heavier than air machines?
Was IT Langley or some other in
vestigator? After years of research
In a new and unknown field this
tireless. investigator, Langley, pro-
claimed that his objective had been
attained, that the formula to be
followed by constructors and me
| chanics had been established and it
only remained for them to proceed
in their department, accept the for
mula for their work of construction
and commercial heavier than air
| machines would be operating in 10
years. However, he was so far in
advance with his work that after
having discovered and furnished TO
the world the original and requisite
data for the guidance of construc-
| tors, mechanics and all others in the
| field of mechanics, for good measure
he conducted lot of supplementary
experiments. But the principles in
volved and the specifications mathe-
| matically expressed. which must be
| followed in construction, were already
! history when the public learned that
| he was engaged in building a flying
| machine. He was an impatient man.
| Only few mechanical Geniuses
could follow the specifications work
of construction Jagged, and while
waiting for the. manufacturing world
! TO adopt his formula, for mechanics
! to be trained who We're aVaila bic
/ and others to be born and trained, he
! simply prolonged his experiments, in
| cidentally building series Of mod
| els and parts, all of which was un
! necessary for the attainment of his
/ original object, for that had been at
| tanned, but useful in the world of
mechanics which never had built
| heavier than air machines.
! The path was opened the way was
| shown to those who cared TO follow
1 but still they made slow progress
! and there We're very few to take up
| the work where Langley stopped.
| Langley's interest was purely scien
| tiflc. To grapple with the problems
| in this new field and solve them so
| that the engineer. the mechanician
| and all others in the field of applied
mechanics would have rules. data
| etc, TO guide them in construction
that was his object. But he went
| further. because the constructors
| were slow, or too conservative And
| so his later efforts were brought
! into comparison with the work of
commercial concerns. which was an
! Injustice TO Langley.
| The very qualities which carried
| this man out of the affairs of a
! common everyday existence into the
! then unknown field of air naviga-
! ton made him exceptional. He was
no handshaker, had no press agent.
J didn't care a rap for the financial
or other rewards that success com
| mands, and in the pursuit of any OBJ
3ect was unsparing of help, exact
Ing in all his relations with other
men and had no time for relaxation
or the expression of sentiment. With
al, he was human-and a great in
tellectual And now when I read
about claims for originating ANYTHING
pertaining to flying machines. ! have
only TO turn back some pages in the
nook OF memory, when ii was nv
privilege to serve this man in a most
humble capacity, when none were
present but the great Langley. one
technical assistant and two unskiIIed
helpers. | believe the records which
he Kept over a period of years and
the published results are vouchers
that Will convince any doubter thar
to him alone is due the honor of dis
covery and application of the govern
ing principles that are now followed
In construction OF air ships. Langley
| Is dead. but his work lives. I PASSED
many days near him. when we We're
alone, and left his service with re-
sret.
GEO. l.. SNIDER.