LANGLEY THE "LANGLEY" IN FLIGHT THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE THE LAUNCHING OF THE "LANGLEY" The aero of the automobile, including the truck and the tractor, and of the FOR three inventions that have telephone, also of prime importance transformed modern warfare, the in warfare, the use has been most aeroplane, the submarine and the extensive in America. automobile, this country is in large plane and the submarine, at present measure responsible. Like other in- of use chiefly in warfare, have natventions, they have had a long urally had their principal developcourse of evolution contributed ment among the nations at war. through centuries by many lands, But what has been accomplished but the critical advances appear to here with the automobile and the have been made here. In the case telephone will be accomplished with the aeroplane and the submarine, since they have become a necessity to us. The production of aeroplanes on a large scale and the scientific research which created the aeroplane have been linked together by giving the name "Langley" to the first Handley-Page bombing machine built in America. This huge machine was launched on July 6 from the yards of the Standard Aircraft Corporation at Elizabeth, New Jersey. According to Flying, speeches were made by President Mingle, of the company, Assistant Secretary of War Crowell, Mr. John D. Ryan, director of aircraft production, and General William L. Kenly, director of military aeronautics, Sir Henry Fowler, representing the British government, for whom the machine was built, and Mr. Langley, nephew of Samuel Pierpont Langley, who said: "My uncle, Professor Langley, was not more than fifteen or sixteen years old, while lying under a tree in the field, he gazed up and saw a hawk flying, and he said, 'If a hawk can fly, men can.' Twenty years later he took up that problem and put his whole efforts to investigate the action of plane surfaces, and he said, 'what were the vital facts that we must know,' and it was this first investigation of the air action upon plane surfaces that brought him to the attention of scientists, and they said, 'go ahead.' Since that time the world has been very kind in acknowledging his researches; for the application of his principles by the men of America and every other nation has now produced actual flying machines according to the calculations that he set down." The Handley Page, with a wing spread of 100 feet and driven by twin Liberty motors of 400 horsepower each, has a range of 600 flying miles with an average speed of 90 miles per hour. The aeroplane AERODROME IN FLIGHT, 1906 |