Evening star., 1928-12-16

bleak, wind-swept slopes of Kill
Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk
Il ". c., tomorrow, an imposing
throng of frock-coated and bril-
liantly uniformed men OF many nations
The assemblage will be sharply in con-
trast with its rustic, homespun sur
roundings. and only an event OF world
wide historical Importance could &C.
casion the presence of so distinguished
a gathering so many thousands OF
miles from the homes of most OF those
comprising 1t.
The occasion is momentous, for, buff
feted probably by the same gusty winds
that prevailed on the corresponding DAY
of 1903. these internationally important
figures in the now major science OF
aeronautics WILL on Monday, December
II, formally commemorate the twenty
fifth anniversary of a mans first depar-
ture from the ground in a power-driVen
heavier-than-air flying machine.
The American Government is ottlclal-
" participating by having authorized
the erection at the site of the achieve
ment of a monument, the cornerstone
of which will be laid that day. Upon
the exact spot where the flrst nlgnC
was started, the National Aeronautlc
Association will place an imperiSh-
able tablet appropriately recording the
epochal event.
The contrast between the impending
gala scene on Kill Devil Hills and the
one of IS years ago, when less t1an
half a dozen residents of the neighoor-
hood were willing to face the cuttng
winds in acceptance Of a general inVl-
tation issued by Orville and the late
Wilbur Wright to witness the climax o.
the f1ving experiments they had been
conducting there since october, 1900,
fioac not end there however,
Not less striking, however naturally
it has come about, is the position oc-
cupied by aeronautics (aviatlon was IS
VET an unborn term) then and now IN
the. thoughts of the world. And an
excursion into the yellowing files OF the
early part of the century is enlignten-
ing.
IRON times immemorial man had
4 dreamed of emulating the flight OF
birds. Balloons even though mace
CAPABLE of travelling in the direction
dictated by daring aeronauts, did not
fully crafty humankind's aspiring ap-
petite for means OF transportation
through the air. Scientific history Is
literally dotted with LEGENDARY ano
tn invent a flying machine, running
heck as far as 1900. when Leonardo oa
Vinci that many-sided italian genius,
made a study of aircraft from the en-
cineer's viewpoint and is reputed TO
have made models that lifted them
selves into the air mechanically WIN
out employing light gases, -,
In l840 George Peacock OF brlSUoi'
EnglaNCa demonstrated the nnst man
lifting Kites, and at the same Cn.s'
urobably quite unconsciouSly, proved
the principle that air moving against
inclined plane surfaces would provide
sI,fTcient lifting force to sustain the
weight of a man. Stringfellow q Hen.
son also in England, built the mooel
If a machine that resembled some OF
MIR earlier monoplaneS, but when lack
of financial assistance discouraged
them from continuing their enortS'
there was long period Of inact1Wty.
Finally, however, Lilentnai, IN GeL ...
many; Pitcher, in England Le DIS
Y in France. and Chanute and Montgom-
erv in America, made progress IN ex-
nerimentation with gliders to obtain
knowledge of wing forms and TO oe-
terroine the effect of wind currents on
flne wings and control surfaces. ABOUT
This time the Wrights also began gnoer
erneriments that we're to lead to the
accomnlishment of fight, wnlcn
brought them universal recognltlon as
inventors of the first successiuI ar
plane. $3.50
times tragic research was III prosLeoS
T;IienthaI and Pitcher, for instance,
sacrificed their lives In support OF
their conviction that way couid pe
found for man to hy), the attitude OF
the world at large was not universally
encouraging, ExperimenterS IN aero
nautics were more often than not
oenerically classed as members OF the
rare claiming to have discovered the
PRINCIPLE of perpetual motion. InlS
GENERAL feeling could not but be en-
hanced by the lamentable failure OF
one of the most promising experiments
when the machine constructed py Dr;
Samuel P. Langley tncontlnentiy len
into the waters OF the Potomac HVeI
December 8, 1908, upon the first at
fenpt to put it into the air.
with such an aura Of suspicion
aboard. it is perhaps not strange that
the events of December II. 1908, which
Is now acclaimed as the day upon
which man actually began his conquest
of the air, caused hardly a ripple in
the thoughts of mankind. In the mod
ern manner of news dissemination, the
primitive Wright plane probably would
scarcely leave a foot OF space between
III ana The EIOuilu BC1OlC q AoNAA 0AoA-
ence of perhaps millions would be
startled by a breathleSs announcement
that The machine is Actually hying!"
while extras of newspapers would
quickly carry the tidings through the
noisy streets
But in 1903, the news that the almost
unknown young Dayton, Ohio, brothers
had really begun the mastery of the
air was slow in trickling out. Evening
papers of December II told readers that
President Roosevelt at the White House
had as his luncheon guests Secretary
Root, Senator Lodge, w. Murray Crane
and George B. Cortelyou and that
there could hardly be gathered to-
gether five men about whose meeting
there could be greater significance at
this time of political talk and schen-
ing; that the President signed the
Cuban reciprocity bill at 1888 that
afternoon; and that Colombia had pro-
tested the presence Of American war
ships in Colombian waters, while the
Tumbling approach Of the RusSo-Jap-
anese war might be detected in cables
from Toxic which asserted that a
meeting Of the elder statesmen With
Marquis Ito and the cabinet had re-
suited in "a determination to present
a strong front to Russia"
DUT the news did seep out, If some
~ what unobtrusively, for in incon-
spicuous positions on inside pages a
couple of days later painstaking read
ers might have found stories OF which
the following. copied verbatim from
near the bottom of a column on page
3 of a metropolitan newspaper, was
typical:
MACHINE THAT FLIES.
STwo Ohio Men Have Contrivance
That Navigates the Air.
NORFOLK. Va, December ia
successful trial of flying machine was
made Yesterday near Kitty Hawk, N. c.,