It was finally ascertained that the defect could be remedied by
trussing down the ribs of the whole machine so as to reduce the depth of
curvature. When this had been done gliding was resumed, and after a few
trials glides of 366 and 389 feet were made with prompt response on the
part of the machine, even to small movements of the rudder. The rest of
the story of the gliding experiments of 1901 cannot be better told than
in Wilbur Wright's own words, as uttered by him in the lecture from
which the foregoing excerpts have been made.
'The machine, with its new curvature, never failed to respond promptly
to even small movements of the rudder. The operator could cause it to
almost skim the ground, following the undulations of its surface, or he
could cause it to sail out almost on a level with the starting point,
and, passing high above the foot of the hill, gradually settle down to
the ground. The wind on this day was blowing eleven to fourteen miles
per hour. The next day, the conditions being favourable, the machine
was again taken out for trial. This time the velocity of the wind was
eighteen to twenty-two miles per hour. At first we felt some doubt as to
the safety of attempting free flight in so strong a wind, with a machine
of over 300 square feet and a practice of less than five minutes spent
in actual flight. But after several preliminary experiments we decided
to try a glide. The control of the machine seemed so good that we then
felt no apprehension in sailing boldly forth. And thereafter we made
glide after glide, sometimes following the ground closely and sometimes
sailing high in the air. Mr Chanute had his camera with him and took
pictures of some of these glides, several of which are among those
shown.
'We made glides on subsequent days, whenever the conditions were
favourable. The highest wind thus experimented in was a little over
twelve metres per second--nearly twenty-seven miles per hour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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