> The Childrens Encyclopedia, страница 2 > The sad failure of lanqley and the superb success of wright

The sad failure of lanqley and the superb success of wright

They tried all sorts of gliding mechanism, and Orville once did a glide against an up-current of wind of just over ten minutes. But they were working towards an engine-driven aeroplane, and with their practical minds they saw that the engine most suited for the work was one of the internal combustion type, driven by petrol, and avoiding the worry and danger of carrying furnace, coal, and water up into the clouds. They went out into the wilds of North Carolina, lived in a hut, and there carried out trials with the tiny motor-engine they had built. Ihey were often hard pressed for money, but their father helped from his shallow purse, and Catherine, their sister, gave every penny she could save from her school earnings. At last they harnessed.

the planes to the puffing internal combustion engine. On December 17, 1903, one of them flew for 59 seconds!

That was a red-letter day in the history of human progress. Langley’s machine failed in 1903; the Wright plane flew in the same year.

Langley’s failure was heart-breaking; the success of the Wrights was superb, and in a day it brought them immortality. Nothing save our faithful remembrance can do justice to Langley; but nothing, on the other hand, can detract from the abiding glory of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Many of us remember the time when the Wright brothers came over to Europe and startled us all by flying in France. It is strange now to remember the time when they were tapping away in a shed in the middle of a field in France, preparing the machine which was to astonish all who saw it. All day long the peasants gathered about the mysterious wooden shed, and as the days went by and nothing happened the peasants began to jeer.