Except for the handful of spectators who were present, the world treated the first powered flight coldly. Only a few days before the first flight of the Wright Brothers the highly publicized Langley _Aerodrome_ had crashed into the Potomac for the second time. People just would not believe that the Wrights actually had flown. The newspapers refused even to print the story. Had not most newspaper editors just proved conclusively from Langley’s disaster that the heavier-than-air flying machine could never work? Most scientists agreed with the newspaper editors, and the Wright Brothers were ignored by both press and public. Immediately after their initial flight, the Wrights offered their invention to the government. The criticism aroused by the government’s investment of $50,000 in the disastrous Langley experiment was too fresh in the minds of the authorities, and no encouragement was given to the brothers’ offer. The Wrights returned to Dayton, where they housed their machine in a closed barn on the flat land a few miles east of the city. They admitted that they had flown, but they were among the first to state that they had only uncovered the barest physical facts associated with flight. The brothers continued to make flights over the flat lands. They made 105 flights during the year 1904 and gained a considerable amount of experience and skill. They mastered the art of flying in a complete circle and landing the plane in the same field from which it had taken off. [Illustration: THE CURVED WING FORCES MOVING AIR AWAY FROM ITS UPPER SURFACE.] [Illustration: THIS CREATES LIGHT AIR ABOVE THE WING. THE AIR FLOWING UNDER THE WING IS NOT DISTURBED. AS A RESULT IT IS HEAVIER THAN THE AIR ABOVE THE WING. THE HEAVIER AIR PUSHES THE WING UPWARD, CREATING _LIFT_.] [Illustration: ELEVATORS ARE SMALL WINGS. WHEN THEY ARE SET TO CREATE _LIFT_, (E) ABOVE, THEY LIFT THE NOSE OF THE PLANE. THIS RAISES THE LEADING EDGE OF THE WINGS OF THE PLANE. THE WINGS ARE DESIGNED FOR LEVEL FLIGHT. WHEN THE LEADING EDGE RISES, THE WING HAS A GREATER LIFT. THIS MAKES THE PLANE CLIMB. WHEN THE LEADING EDGE IS LOWERED THE WING LOSES _LIFT_ AND THE PLANE DESCENDS. WHEN THE WING IS WARPED IT LOSES SOME OF ITS _LIFT_ AREA (A). THE LOSS OF _LIFT_ CAUSES THE WING TO DROP. THIS MAKES THE PLANE TO TURN TOWARD THE LOW SIDE. THE RUDDERS ARE MOVABLE SURFACES THAT REACT TO MOVING AIR. WHEN THEY ARE SWUNG INTO THE AIRSTREAM OF THE MOVING PLANE, THE AIR STRIKING THEIR SURFACES TURNS THE PLANE TO THE RIGHT OR LEFT.] Early in the winter of 1905 the Wrights began work on a new machine, incorporating many improvements resulting from their flying experience. They continued to work quietly, and the only news of them that reached the world came from the reports of farmers who lived near the flat-land flying field. Confirmed reports showed that the Wrights had now covered a distance of twenty-four miles in thirty-eight minutes. [Illustration] THE FIRST AIRPLANE