We Were There at the First Airplane Flight by Felix Sutton

Author:Felix Sutton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2003-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

“I think I had better explain,” Wilbur said, 4’that up to now, most flying machine people have been going at it in just the opposite way. They’ve been trying to build a steam engine, or a gasoline engine, powerful enough to pull anything, even a flat piece of metal, straight up into the air. And that just simply can’t be done.”

Mr. Blair tapped his pipe stem against his front teeth.

“I’m afraid you’re way over this old storekeeper’s head.”

“Well” Wilbur said, “maybe I can make it simpler.” He thought for a minute about how to simplify the theory of flight for someone who had never even thought about it before.

“Have you ever seen these little flying toys— something like a round lollipop stick with a little wooden fan-blade on top shaped like a ship’s propeller?”

Mr. Blair nodded.

“You buy them in the candy store for a penny,” Jim said.

“That’s right, Jim. You hold the stick between the palms of your two hands, like this, and then as you spin it hard, you let go. The toy shoots up into the air maybe fifteen or twenty feet, and then falls back in a second or two after it’s lost its speed.”

Mr. Blair puffed on his pipe, and once more nodded.

“Now it’s that kind of toy,” Will continued, “that has been fooling most of the people who try to build flying machines. Can you imagine the size of the propeller, and the weight of the engine, and the amount of fuel it would take to keep a contraption like that up in the air—especially if it was big enough to carry a man?”

Mr. Blair shook his head sagely, still not quite clear in his mind as to what Wilbur was talking about.

Jimmy listened and drank in every word. He knew perfectly well what Wilbur meant.

“Now on the other hand” Will went on, “a kite will stay up as long as there’s an upward breeze, and as long as it’s controlled from the ground. A sea gull will stay up, even when there isn’t a breeze, and control its own movements in the air. So Orv and I have tackled this business of flying from the standpoint of the kite and the gull, instead of the big locomotive-size engine. And you saw yourself how Jimmy, last fall, was able to keep our glider in the air for nearly a minute, and under perfect control all the time.”

Mr. Blair began to pay closer attention. This was starting to make sense.

“When we left here a year ago,” Wilbur said, “we figured we had most of the kinks and wrinkles ironed out of our glider. So what we’ve done now is build a glider big enough to carry an engine and two propellers that will push it through the air.

Not straight up; that’s ridiculous. But forward through the air.”

“You figure shell work?” Mr. Blair asked.

“If everything goes the way we think it will, we’re pretty confident that it’s got a good chance.”

Will got to his feet.

“But we’ve got

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.