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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0938.PDF
April 1959 , ; . ., ; but this claim was not made until 1906, nine years after the event, when Ader heard about Santos-Dumont's tests. 1901 (October). W. Kress (Austrian). His promising tandem- wing floatplane hit an obstruction during its first attempt at take- off from Lake Tullnerbach, and was wrecked. 1901-02. Gustave Whitehead (American). The claim that Whitehead started flying in 1901, and made a seven-mile flight over Long Island Sound in 1902, has been thoroughly investigated by the American authorities, and found to be a myth. It started with an apocryphal story in the Bridgeport Herald of August 18, 1901, and then flourished like the green bay-tree. 1903 (August-November). Karl Jatho (German). On August 18, 1903, at the Vahrenwa'der H6he, Jatho rose for 59ft (18 m); by September 23 he had risen for about 98ft (30 m) (Fig. 2); and in November he made many take-offs, and rose for distances of up s. _s ana t. horatio Phillips' unsuccessful powered design of 1904 and, ow, his powered man-carrying machine of 1907, which took off and was airborne for about 500ft to 197ft (60 m). It is not known if the take-off surface was level. .German historians do not claim that he made proper flights, but ;only that he was the first in Germany to leave the ground in a I powered aeroplane under its own power. §1903. Preston A. Watson (British). His brother, the late J. Y. Watson, claimed in 1953 that Preston made a powered flight in 1903, before the Wrights. He was confronted with the results of much research, and finally admitted in a letter to me: "I make: no claim that the machine that Preston used in 1903 . . . was a powered machine." He made a similar recantation in Aeronautics (December, 1955). 469 1903 (October-December). S. P. Langley (American). His tan- dem-wing Aerodrome, with C. M. Manly as pilot, was catapult- launched twice from a houseboat on the Potomac River (October 7 and December 8). On both occasions it fouled the launching gear and crashed. The deplorable story of its secret alteration by Curtiss, and his testing of it in 1914, needs no repetition. 1903 (December 17). Wilbur and Orville Wright (American). Their first Flyer rose four times under its own power and the pilot's proper control, from the level, within the space of 1J hours on this date. The first time, Orville rose for 12 sec and covered about 120ft (470-600ft through the air); the fourth time, Wilbur flew for 59 sec, travelling for 852ft over the ground (half a mile through the air). If only the first take-off had been made, history would not have acclaimed it. As they were unique among the first pioneers in flying into a wind, it is only right and proper to assess them on distance travelled through the air. By December 1904 they had made flights of over 5 minutes and done circuits. By October 1905 (with their No. 3 Flyer) they had achieved a fully practical manoeuvrable aeroplane, and could stay up for over half an hour. No other aviator flew for over 59 sec until November 1907; or for half an hour until October 1908, when the Wrights were making flights of lj hours, which in December rose to over 2| hours, despite their being grounded from October 1905 to May 1908. 1905 (May). F. Ferber (French). His No. 6, the first man-carry- ing petrol-powered aeroplane to be airborne in Europe, and the first tractor biplane in history to be airborne, could not fly hori- zontally; but at Chalais-Meudon in May 1905 it made a creditable shallow "power glide." 1906 (March and August). T. Vuia (Hungarian). On March 6, 1906, Vuia was airborne for 39ft (12 m) in his tractor monoplane at Mqntesson, France. At Issy on August 19 he covered 79ft (24 m). Neither this nor the subsequent Vuia monoplane was successful, but it was the first man-carrying monoplane of basically modern configuration. 1906 (September 12). . C. H. Ellehammer (Danish). After testing a monoplane tethered to a post in 1904, Ellehammer added a small extra wing above, and with an 18 h.p. motor left the ground in a free "hop" for about 138ft (42 m) on September 12, 1906, on the island of Lindholm, Denmark. This was said to be the best of a number of "flights." As Santos-Dumont was officially observed, his "hops" have been accepted as the first powered flights in Europe (see below). There was little to choose between the Ellehammer and Santos machines when it came to practicality: neither was in the least practical. 1906 (September-November). A. Santos-Dumont (Brazilian). In his canard biplane "14-bis" (50 h.p. Antoinette) at Bagatelle, near Paris, the Brazilian aviator rose for 23ft (7 m) on September 13, 1906; 197ft (60 m) on October 23; and 271ft (82.60 m), and 722ft (220 m) in 21 sec, both on November 12, 1906. On the last two nights octagonal ailerons were fitted in the outer box-kite wing cells. This machine flew only once more, in 1907, when it rose for 164 ft (50 m). The performance of October 23, and the second on November 12, were officially observed and (owing to the slow development of European aviation) were acclaimed and awarded prizes, as the first powered flights in Europe; yet (after all the abortive efforts made to fly since Chanute's visit in 1903) the criteria were pathetically low, and almost any airborne distance seemed a miracle. 1907. Horatio F. Phillips (British). One of the most distin- guished pioneers in aviation history, famed for his aerofoil re- search in the 1880s, and his large multi-plane "venetian-blind" model tested successfully in 1893, Phillips appears now to be the first in Britain—and the first Briton in Britain—to take off in a powered aeroplane, under its own power, and make a powered hop- flight of about 500ft, this in 1907. A description and photographs (Figs. 3 and 4) of his two man-carrying aeroplanes, those of 1904 —which was a failure—and of 1907, were the subject of a paper read to the Aeronautical Society by Col. J. D. Fullerton in May 1908 (see the Aeronautical Journal, July 1908), together with a statement by Phillips that in 1907 he became airborne half-way across a 1,200ft field, and came to a stop 30ft from the far side. The machine had its venetian-blind wings mounted in four tan- dem "sustainer frames"; it weighed 650 lb with pilot, and was powered by a 22 h.p. motor driving a 7ft tractor airscrew. In view of Phillips' previous achievements and his reputation, and the fact that he never claimed to have made proper flights, it is diffi- cult—if not impossible—not to accept his 500ft "hop" in 1907 as a fact: incidentally, Octave Chanute accepted it in an article pub- lished in 1908, and he was no fool. 1907 (March-April). G. and C. Voisin (French). These two flew in turn on their biplane built for Delagrange. It first rose on March 16 for 33ft (10 m); then made some five more take-offs, the best of which were on March 30 (197ft; 60 m) and April 8 (164ft; 50 m). Modified, it was later (November 3, 1907) airborne for 1,640ft (500 m). . ..,.,,., .•*•-. [continued overleaf
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