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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0260.PDF
MAY 8, 1909. THE WRIGHTS—A PERSONAL IMPRESSION. By "THE FLY." LIKE most of life's real pleasures, this last which Fate sent me came suddenly and unexpectedly; anticipation and realisation were merged in one, so brief was the period of their separation. Less than a week ago Wilbur Wright was, how shall I say, a potent influence, perhaps, but little more than a name, in the sense that he was so far removed from my particular little sphere of action which I call life that the mind instinctively classified him among the great Unknown Personalities. Then came the announcement of the Aero Club banquet—the Wrights were on their way to England, and would be at the Ritz on Tuesday. In England : of course, one had always known that they would come over some day, but that it should be this very week seemed to bring them out of the clouds with a drop of unanticipated swiftness. To see them face to face, and change illusive mental forms for concrete men, perchance to tear away the veil for good by conversation, those were the hopes which threw a lustre on the intervening days. And then the night arrived; all aerodom assembled to do honour to its guests, dis- tinguished men of all ranks attended to give welcome to the world-renowned brothers. At last they came, all three .' For the moment I had forgotten Miss Katherine, yet she is one of them, and her woman's part is noble and well played. Her's has been the anxiety of suspense, their's to win success, but her's again to charm off evil fortune's frown. Right well have these three clung to- gether in their uphill fight, and watchful now are the brothers of their sister's share in honours due to them. Short of stature, quick in movement, Miss Katherine Wright gave an impression of personified activity, as brush- ing past with a murmured " I think I see someone I know over there," she darted away with true American directness to greet her friends. Honneur aux dames, but it was Wilbur I was waiting to see, and as he walked quietly into the room, followed by his brother Orville, I was not disappointed. Before me was the man of the century, and what I saw stirred every mental faculty to penetrate behind the surface of his physical shell. Like their sister, the brothers are neither tall nor broad, but they are well-proportioned men, and Wilbur especially has a remarkable and altogether distinctive face, set off by a high-domed forehead and type of nose which somehow instantly reminded me of " Sherlock Holmes," as that character is portrayed in the illustra- tions of the Strand Magazine. His close-shut lips relax with most extraordinary mobility to join the normally downcast eyes in smiling. The whole attitude of the man is one of absolute composure, and indicates the complete subjection to the will of that mercurial energy his sister Katherine displays. And Orville is content Wilbur Wright—a study. to watch while Wilbur thinks, even if there is not much that misses his enquiring eye. Frequently throughout the dinner, the Wrights were in animated conversation with their neighbours. At one time Wilbur began a graphic description of a decorated model of his latest patent to Prince Francis of Teck. His speech in reply to the toast of the evening was a pure ray of his character, thoughtful, unassuming, generous. An "irony of fate" he called it, that flight had come to be achieved at a time when England's aviation history,, after having been successively brought to a high ebb by Cayley, Stringfellow and Maxim, was once more in an intermediate period of wane. Both men. expressed the warmth of their feelings for the Mother Country, and there is no doubt that what they said they felt. Afterwards, fortune favoured me with an introduction which led to a few minutes'' conversation with both. It was an oppor- tunity which, with a characteristic English lack of small talk, I was nearly spoiling,, when, in desperation, I determined to talk " shop." Having been puzzled over the difficulties of designing a small machine, I had been wondering all the evening what views Wilbur Wright himself might hold of the possibilities in that direction, and the oppor- tunity to find out was too good to lose. It is difficult to say with what question the enquiry started, but my subsequent impression was that of standing in front of a living oracle capable and willing to answer every ques- tion asked. The problem in. my mind was concerned with the utility of trying, to build an essentially small flyer, strictly limited to carrying the pilot, and the drift of the conversation opinion by an analysis of 'Flight" Copyright Photo. was intended to arrive at an the Wright flyer itself. I asked Mr. Wright what power he thought he really utilised in horizontal flight when alone on his machine, and to this he replied that it was probably about 16 h.p., although it depended so much on the skill with which the flyer was handled, because any departure from the correct velocity was attended with inefficiency. This- leaves, Mr. Wright said, about 30 per cent, of the engine- power available for elevation, a manoeuvre which he stated- he was ordinarily able to carry out at a speed of about 5 or 6 feet per second. Compounded with a flight velocity of 50 or 60 ft. per sec. this means that the Wright flyer would ascend to higher regions via an aerial slope of about 1 in 10. Asked what was the slope equivalent to his horizontal, flight—a machine in horizontal flight is virtually going uphill, but the aerial gradient is flattened down by its passage—Mr. Wright said it would probably be about 1 in 6, which is, it may be mentioned, a less favourable value 262
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