Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Prepare for your exams
Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points to download
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Community
Ask the community for help and clear up your study doubts
Discover the best universities in your country according to Docsity users
Free resources
Download our free guides on studying techniques, anxiety management strategies, and thesis advice from Docsity tutors
The chapters provide a chronological approach to aviation history covering ... Force, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, ...
Typology: Lecture notes
1 / 320
This page cannot be seen from the preview
Don't miss anything!
National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior National Historic Landmarks Program
A National Historic Landmarks Theme Study
Cover: A Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” Bomber flies over Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, in the late 1930s. Photograph courtesy of 88 th^ Air Base Wing History Office, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Foreword 1
From the Wright brothers to the present-day pioneers, no national community has contributed more to aerodynamics and to resulting flight technology than the United States.
–James Hansen 1
On December 17, 2003, thousands gathered at the Wright Brothers National Memorial near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to witness the reenactment of a milestone in American aviation heritage. On that day, pilots in a reproduction wood-and-muslin 1903 Wright Flyer biplane taxied down a sloped ramp to re-enact the world’s first powered flight by the Wright brothers 100 years earlier, a flight that would spawn the Air Age and change the world. One can see the original Wright Flyer, an icon of flight, within arm’s length at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. “Through the original artifact it is possible, to a degree,” writes early aviation curator Peter L. Jakab, “to transcend time and identify with the Wright achievement in a very direct way.... The Flyer is a visible, tangible symbol of the monumental inventive effort that has immortalized the Wright name.” 2
In recognition of this heritage, the National Park Service and the U.S. Air Force funded this theme study to identify other tangible symbols that exemplify the past century’s aeronautical achievements. As aerospace historian John Hansen states, “The inextricable link between the technical development of flight and the military’s participation in that quest has been a persistent theme throughout the twentieth century.”^3 To this end, the U.S. Air Force provides the introduction to this study and describes the important contribution Dayton, Ohio, has played in the history of aviation. From Huffman Prairie Flying Field where the Wright brothers flew, to Wright Field—a world class center of aviation technology and education, and today part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base—Dayton has become synonymous with flight.
This study has two primary components. A national historic context judges the relative significance of people, places, and events that may be nationally significant in aviation history. The chapters provide a chronological approach to aviation history covering aviation’s pioneering years, civil aviation, military aviation, and aeronautical technology. Serving as the foundation, and at times the narrative for the historic context, is a comprehensive library of essays completed by the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission which was established by Congress in November 1998 through the “Centennial of Flight Commemoration Act” (Public Law 105-389). Aviation- related areas are not covered in the context include World War II in the Pacific, man in space, and rocketry. The first two topics are covered in separate theme studies and rocketry is considered a separate topic from the manned aviation flight covered in this essay.
The study’s second primary component, the property section, assesses properties according to the NHL criteria and exceptions, and discusses the high degree of integrity required for National Historic Landmarks as described in the National Register Bulletin How to Prepare National Historic Landmark Nominations. Identified properties fall within three categories: those already
(^1) James R. Hansen, ed., with D. Brian Taylor, Jeremy Kinney, and J. Lawrence Lee, The Wind and Beyond: A
Documentary Journey Into the History of Aerodynamics in America (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Office, Office of External Relations, 2003), vol. 1, xxv. (^2) Peter L. Jakab, Visions of a Flying Machine: The Wright Brothers and the Process of Invention (Washington, DC:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990), xiii. (^3) Hansen, Wind and Beyond , xlvi.
Foreword 2
recognized as nationally significant, those recommended for further study, and those removed from further study.
Although a subject as vast as aviation history cannot be thoroughly exhausted in one theme study, this study provides the framework for identifying and evaluating many of the most remarkable achievements associated with this topic. As Tom D. Crouch, curator of Aeronautics of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum states, “[T]he identification, preservation, and interpretation of historic sites, documents, and objects relating to the history of flight should be of concern to all of us who seek to better understand the foundations of the world in which we live.”^4
(^4) Tom D. Crouch, “Flight in America, 1784-1919,” Cultural Resource Management , no. 2 (2000): 8.
Introduction 4
dreamed of powered flight and to the field where they perfected the world’s first practical airplane and had the first permanent flight school. Beyond that, it is the location of sites such as Wright Field where, from 1927 to 1945, the U.S. Army Air Corps and the U. S. Army Air Forces—the precursors to today’s United States Air Force—vaulted to a position of preeminence in air power. Virtually everything that went into making that Air Force was substantially shaped by, and passed through, Wright Field. Within those decades the name "Wright Field" became synonymous with the development of American military aviation. Technologies researched, developed, tested and acquired by Wright Field personnel included air-cooled radial engines, superchargers and turbosuperchargers, controllable-pitch and full-feathering propellers, high- octane fuels, pressurized cabins, blind-flying instrumentation, free-fall parachutes, helicopters, autogiros, gliders and virtually every Army aircraft type used in World War II. Initial modifications to a B-29 aircraft used in the test program for the Manhattan Project were performed at Wright Field.
From 1927 through 1939, Wright Field served as a world class center of aviation technology and education. The work performed there transformed the nation’s air forces from a fleet of open cockpit, canvas-winged biplanes to an armada of high-altitude, single-wing, multi-engine war machines. The Field’s School of Engineering professionalized aeronautical engineering, technology, logistics, and military aviation and sent forth a corps of highly trained officers to carry on the work. The 1940-1945 Army Air Forces era found Wright Field immersed in equipping the air forces for World War II. Research and development progressed quickly as Wright Field became the bustling center for the aviation component of the war effort. Its research, test, logistics, and administrative facilities underwent quick and dramatic expansion to meet the demands of a global war. The Field’s scientists, engineers, and technicians rapidly advanced the development and expansion of the nation’s military aviation program. Their cutting edge discoveries and inventions built the fleet that conquered the air, enabling the defeat of the Axis powers. The concepts and technical innovations explored and taught at Wright Field established the foundation, direction, energy, and ingenuity that became the U. S. Air Force. Numerous buildings and other facilities dating from the interwar and World War II eras remain in use today.
Adjacent to Wright Field, and part of it from 1927-1931, stood Patterson Field. Encompassing the site of the Wright brothers' experiments and flying school, Patterson's heritage of military aviation began in 1917 with the establishment of Wilbur Wright Field and the Fairfield Air Depot. These installations served to train military aviators, mechanics, and armorers and to perform flight testing and logistical functions during World War I and beyond. In 1924, the site hosted the International Air Races sponsored by the National Aeronautic Association, one of many activities aimed at promoting "air-mindedness" in the American public. In 1934, Patterson Field prepared the aircraft for the historic 8,290-mile "Alaska Flight" and supported this major demonstration of air power. The Field was the site of the world's first entirely automatic landing in 1937.
Together, Wright Field and Patterson Field have significant associations with major figures in the history of American aviation. General Henry H. Arnold, commander of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and the only "five-star" general in the history of the Air Force, learned to fly at Huffman Prairie Flying Field, instructed by the Wright brothers. As a
Introduction 5
major, Arnold commanded the Fairfield Air Depot (later part of Patterson Field) from 1929 to 1931, before going on to lead the 1934 "Alaska Flight." Other aviators trained to fly at Huffman Prairie Flying Field included Canadian ace A. Roy Brown, credited with the aerial victory that ended the career of the "Red Baron," Manfred von Richtohofen. James H. ("Jimmy") Doolittle, known primarily for his leadership of the "Doolittle Raid" against Japan in 1942, served as a test pilot at Wright Field's predecessor installation, McCook Field, in Dayton. Likewise, Brigadier General Charles E. ("Chuck") Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, first served as a test pilot at Wright Field. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which combined Wright and Patterson Fields into a single institution in 1948, also houses facilities significant to the history of the Cold War, including facilities directly related to the development of stealth technology.
The Dayton region is also home to the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum, the WACO Museum and airfield, which chronicles WACO’s dominance of civilian general aviation aircraft production between the two world wars, and to sites related to a little-known but critical aspect of the Manhattan Project. There are other significant civil aviation sites in the Dayton region, and several national aviation sites, including the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, and the National Aviation Hall of Fame. The rich aviation heritage of the region led Congress to designate an eight-county portion of southwest Ohio as the National Aviation Heritage Area in 2004.
However, on a national scale, many of the sites associated with the story of American aviation are not protected for future generations. With the advent of the 100th^ anniversary of powered flight in 2003, members of Congress and the aviation community proposed that the National Park Service prepare a National Historic Landmark Theme Study on the history of American aviation, to ensure that there is increased knowledge about this great American story, and that from this knowledge the American people can determine how to best preserve and protect this important part of our nation’s heritage.
MR. JOHN D. WEBER Command Historian Air Force Materiel Command United States Air Force
In 1783, two Frenchmen, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent le Vieux d'Arlandes, made the first manned flight in an untethered balloon. Their flight sparked widespread interest across Europe and, in following years, flights were staged across the continent. Although Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and others informed the American public about these aeronautical advances in Europe, ballooning was slow to develop in the United States. Ten years after the first ascent in Europe, Frenchman François Blanchard made the first untethered balloon flight in the United States. Ascending from the yard of the Washington Prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 9, 1793, Blanchard carried the first piece of airmail, a “passport” presented by President George Washington, directing all U.S. citizens to “establish and advance an art [ballooning], in order to make it useful to mankind in general.”^2
Blanchard’s feat was emulated by countless others and within twenty-five years of his ascent, the first generation of American aeronauts had begun to attract thousands of spectators. Madame Johnson, a little-known figure whose background is elusive, was the first woman to fly in the United States. Her first ascent was made at New York’s Castle Garden [NR, 1966] on October 24, 1825. By 1828, most of Johnson’s ascents were from Niblo’s Garden in Manhattan, New York. Like Johnson, Charles Ferson Durant, the most significant and inspiring of the first generation of American aeronauts, made his first ascent from Castle Garden, some five years later on September 9, 1830. Following Durant’s flight, ballooning became a regular form of entertainment at fairs and celebrations throughout the 1850s as itinerant balloonists, novices, and experts, traveled the nation from Maine to California, thrilling audiences. Honored as “Professor This” or “Madame That,” these footloose aerial showmen were a breed apart.^3 By 1860, ballooning’s first heyday in America was drawing to a close.^4
Balloon Reconnaissance in the Civil War
With the advent of the Civil War, the focus of American ballooning shifted. Several factors led to the introduction of military ballooning in the United States. As “[t]he struggle was so titanic and the stakes so high—nothing less than survival as a nation—…both the federal government and the rebellious Confederate States of America eagerly accepted any innovation that might provide an advantage in battle.” 5
(^1) Portions of this section were excerpted or paraphrased from U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, “Balloons in
the American Civil War,” http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Ligher_than_air/Civil_War_balloons/LTA5.htm (accessed February 17, 2004). (^2) Aviation historian Tom Crouch calls the Washington Prison the Walnut Street Prison. Tom D. Crouch, The Eagle
Aloft: Two Centuries of the Balloon in America (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983), 106. For a full discussion of Blanchard’s American tour, see Crouch, 103-17. William H. Longyard, Who’s Who in Aviation History: 500 Biographies (Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1994), 25-26. (^3) Crouch, Eagle Aloft, 201-02. (^4) Ibid., 157; F. Stansbury Haydon, Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War originally published as
Aeronautics in the Union and Confederate Armies, with a Survey of Military Aeronautics prior to 1861 , vol. 1 (Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1941; repr., Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press , 2000), 33, 38. (^5) Alfred F. Hurley and William C. Heimdahl, “The Roots of U.S. Military Aviation,” in Winged Shield, Winged
Sword: A History of the United States Air Force , vol. 1, ed. by Bernard C. Nalty (Washington, DC: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1977), 3-4.
The most experienced balloonists, including Northerners Thaddeus Lowe and John La Mountain, remained loyal to the United States.^6 Both Lowe and La Mountain became closely associated with the federal government’s ballooning program. Lowe’s association began when one of his financial supporters, Murat Halstead, editor of the Cincinnati Daily Commercial, wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, suggesting that the United States establish a balloon corps. Secretary Chase arranged a meeting between Lowe and President Abraham Lincoln and, on June 18, 1861, with the aid of the secretary of the Smithsonian, Lowe demonstrated both balloon reconnaissance and the transmittal of telegrams from the balloon to the commanders below. Using street gas from one of the gas mains at the Columbian Armory (currently the site of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum), Lowe made tethered ascensions in the Enterprise from the armory, the grounds of the Smithsonian, and the South Lawn of the White House. On that day he also made the first airborne telegraphic communication:^7
Balloon Enterprise, June 1[8], 1861 To the President of the United States: Sir; This point of observation commands an area nearly 50 miles in diameter. The city, with its girdles of encampments, presents a superb scene. I have pleasure in sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station, and in acknowledging indebtedness for your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the military service of the country.^8
Lowe’s demonstrations convinced Lincoln of the merits of this new technology. Later that summer, Lincoln established the Balloon Corps, a civilian organization under the authority of the Union’s Bureau of Topographical Engineers, and granted Lowe, its commander, permission to requisition equipment and personnel.^9 Lowe received funds to build a balloon on August 2, 1861, and chose Fort Corcoran as his base of operations.^10 The first U.S. balloon designed for military use, the Union, was ready for action on August 28. Because Lowe had to inflate the balloon with gas from municipal lines in Washington, D.C. (he had not yet received funds for a portable gas generator), the balloon could not move far. Lowe made daily ascensions and reported his observations to his commanding officers. He became increasingly adept at assessing whether clouds of dust were made by troops, horses, or wagons. He could even extrapolate the number of men marching.^11 On September 24, 1861, Lowe ascended more than 1,000 feet near Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. There, he began telegraphing intelligence on Confederate troops located at Falls Church, Virginia, more than three miles away. Aerial reconnaissance of the enemy’s position allowed Union guns to fire accurately at the Confederate troops—a first in the history of warfare.
(^6) Ibid., 4. (^7) Davis S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds., “Balloons,” in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political,
Social, and Military History, vol.1 (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2000), 164. (^8) Quoted in Crouch, Eagle Aloft , 346, from United States War Department, The War of Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies , vol. 3 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1899), 254. (^9) Heidler and Heidler, “Balloons,” 164; Crouch, Eagle Aloft, 345-46. (^10) Fort Corcoran stood in what is present day Arlington, Virginia. During the time of the American Civil War the
area was known as Alexandria County. Arlington Historical Society, “Military-Use Structures,” http:// www.arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org/learn/sites_properties/military_use.asp (accessed October 25, 2004). (^11) Jake Brouwer, “Observations from Above,” http://www.aaaim.com/echo/v3n2/
v3n2ObservationsFromAbove.htm (accessed October 27, 2004).
Because La Mountain lacked the backing of the Union Army, he found it difficult to obtain equipment. Although he managed to obtain another balloon, the Saratoga , it was lost on November 16, 1861. When La Mountain attempted to acquire some of Lowe’s equipment, Lowe refused to cooperate. As each man found his own supporters, the rivalry between the two escalated. General McClellan finally dismissed La Mountain from further service to the military on February 19, 1862. Nonetheless, La Mountain had conducted the first aerial reconnaissance of the Civil War and the first intelligence gathering by free balloon flight, a significant contribution to naval warfare and technology.
Lowe continued to provide tactical reports to the Union troops. On May 31, 1862, during the Battle of Fair Oaks in Virginia, Lowe transmitted information on enemy troop positions that proved crucial to the Union victory. The presence of Union balloons forced the Confederates to conceal their forces by blacking out their camps after dark, creating dummy encampments and gun emplacements, and dispersing troops—all of which cost valuable time and personnel.^19 Lowe’s reconnaissance activities also provided valuable information during the siege of Yorktown, Virginia. In late April 1863, he transmitted hourly reports on Confederate movements at Fredericksburg.
The Confederate Army also formed a smaller version of the Balloon Corps. In the spring of 1862, Capt. John Randolph Bryan offered to oversee the building and deployment of an observation balloon. Unlike the hydrogen-filled Union balloons, this observation balloon was a Montgolfière—filled with hot air—because the Confederacy did not have the equipment for generating hydrogen in the field. Bryan launched the balloon on April 13, 1862, over Yorktown. Although the balloon rotated on its single tether, Bryan managed to sketch a map of Union positions. His next ascent found Bryan in free flight after the tether was cut to untangle a ground crew member. Thinking he was the enemy, Confederate troops fired at the balloon but Bryan managed to escape and land safely.
A second Confederate balloon soon followed. Although rumored to have been made from silk dresses donated by the ladies of the Confederacy, this “silk dress balloon” was constructed from multicolored dress silk, not actual dresses. In the spring of 1862, Capt. Langdon Cheeves, known as the “father of the Confederate Air Force,” assembled the balloon in Savannah’s Chatham Armory. The balloon was filled with gas in Richmond, Virginia, tethered to a locomotive, and carried to the field. On July 4, 1862, when the battle area moved further from the railroad, the balloon was attached to a tugboat named the Teaser and carried down the James River where it ran aground and was captured.^20
(^19) Crouch, Eagle Aloft, 356. (^20) Ibid., 394. Another “silk dress balloon” was constructed and went into service at Richmond in the fall of 1862. It
provided aerial observations from its post until the summer of 1863 when it escaped in a high wind and was
Thaddeus Lowe transmits observations on enemy troop positions at the Battle of Fair Oaks (Virginia) from the balloon the Intrepid. Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division [LC-DIG-cwpb-01560]
Despite early evidence of the value of military observation balloons, the Union Army’s commanding generals probably did not use balloon observations advantageously. Vague reports of Robert E. Lee’s movements issued from the hydrogen balloon Intrepid during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign apparently served only to panic General McClellan. Rather than attack the sparsely defended Confederate capital, McClellan withdrew his vastly superior forces and positioned them seven miles from Richmond, Virginia. His failure to act ensured the continuation of the war. After McClellan was relieved of his command on November 5, 1862, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside took over and reorganized the Army of the Potomac. Following two years of service to the Army of the Potomac, factors such as political infighting, frequent changes in leadership, and lack of support from Washington ultimately led to the Balloon Corps’ demise.^21
captured by Union troops. U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, “Balloons in the American Civil War.” (^21) Crouch, Eagle Aloft, 411, 413; Heidler and Heidler, “Balloons,” 167.
In 1887, Langley became assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He now turned his efforts to developing an airplane, directing aerodynamic work at both the observatory and the Smithsonian. At the Smithsonian, Langley obtained valuable research support not readily available to him during his years at the observatory. Between 1887 and 1903, the carpentry and machine shops in the Smithsonian South Shed became a research and development facility for the creation of a flying machine. Langley’s experiments in wind studies at both the Smithsonian and the observatory fueled his enthusiasm for flight. However, as Tom Crouch states, “[b]oth experiments in aerodynamics and the wind studies were preliminaries that had little effect on Langley’s conception of the successful flying machine.”^4
Langley’s Aerodromes
In 1887, Langley designed dozens of rubber-band-powered models that were built by colleagues at the observatory, and later by Smithsonian staff. Learning little from the rubber-powered models, Langley decided to build larger steam-powered models he called aerodromes. Beginning in 1891, he began experimenting with many combinations of wings, fuselages, propellers, and tail assemblies using the large whirling arm at the Smithsonian. Crouch describes this shift as a major turning point in Langley’s aeronautical career whereby he was “treading new ground.”^5 Langley’s research results and conclusions were published by the Smithsonian Institution in Experiments in Aerodynamics ; they were the “first substantive American contribution to aerodynamics.” 6
In 1892, Langley built a larger aerodrome featuring tandem 14-foot-wide wings and a lightweight steam engine. To test his aerodromes, Langley decided to catapult them over a large body of water. He tested potential launchers at the Washington National Zoo and selected a catapult featuring “a long arm with a track on which the aerodrome would sit.” In November 1892, Langley purchased a 12-by-32-foot houseboat and built a shack on the deck, 16 feet above water level, to launch the aerodrome. Two rooms on the houseboat served as “light shop facilities” for aircraft assembly, storage, and repair. For a launch site, Langley chose Chopawamsic Island, about 30 miles south of Washington near Quantico, Virginia. Here the majority of the river was shallow enough to retrieve the aerodrome following the flight.^7 In 1893, he used the houseboat to launch his latest aerodrome. But the aerodromes were too delicate and lacked the power to sustain themselves.
Langley’s first success came on May 6, 1896, when a catapult launched Langley Aerodrome No. 5 from the houseboat. On that afternoon, No. 5 flew in a curved course for about 3,300 feet and flew a second time for about 2,300 feet. Telephone inventor and Langley supporter Alexander Graham Bell witnessed the flights. Describing the second trial, Bell wrote, “It ascended again in the face of the wind, afterwards moving steadily and continually in large curves accompanied with a rising motion and a lateral advance. Its motion was, in fact, so steady, that I think a glass of water on its surface would have remained unspilled.”^8 That day Bell encouraged Langley to
(^4) Crouch, Dream of Wings, 53, 56, 59; quote, 129. (^5) Ibid., 57, 59. Langley called the craft “aerodromes” based on the Greek word aerodromoi meaning “air runners.”
He had created a word, however, meaning a place where aircraft could operate, such as an airfield. Richard P. Hallion, Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age from Antiquity through the First World War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 146. (^6) Quote in Hansen, Wind and Beyond, 89. (^7) Crouch, Dream of Wings, 138; quote, 139. (^8) Rumerman, “Efforts at Powered Flight”; Crouch, Dream of Wings, 130, 151-52; quote, Hansen, Wind and Beyond,
make the flight results known in popular and technical publications throughout the United States and Europe. In a letter to Langley, Bell wrote:
It seems to me that what I have been privileged to see today marks such a great progress on everything ever before done in this way that the news of it should be made public, and I am happy to give my own testimony on the results of two trials, which I witnessed today by your invitation hoping that you will kindly consent to making it known.^9
Bell’s letter describing the event was circulated to various journals and “[t]he resulting impact on both public and professional attitudes was enormous.”^10 Overall, these flights “marked the end of an epoch in the history of flight.” For the first time a large unpiloted, engine-driven, heavier-than-air flying model with a self-contained power plant had flown.^11
Six months later, on November 28, 1896, Langley Aerodrome No. 6 , powered by a one- horsepower steam engine, flew over 1,000 feet farther than No. 5. It had no method of steering and the wings were tilted upward so that the craft was dynamically stable and could right itself if disturbed by a sideways breeze. Government officials at the scene were impressed and, in 1898, the U.S. War Department appropriated $50,000 toward a manned aerodrome for the Spanish- American War, allowing Langley to continue with his work. 12
In 1901, Langley progressed to a gasoline-powered miniature version of his model known as the Langley Quarter Scale Aerodrome. It was powered by a 1.5-horsepower internal combustion engine designed and built by inventor Stephen M. Balzer. On June 18, 1901, the model flew two flights with the longest being 350 feet. Balzer increased the engine capacity to just over three- horsepower resulting in an August 8, 1903, flight of 1,000 feet. Based on this aerodrome model, Langley proceeded to a full-size airplane. Completed in 1903 and weighing 750 pounds with the pilot on board, Langley Aerodrome A spanned nearly 50 feet, and was over 52 feet long. The craft’s 52.4-horsepower five-cylinder air-cooled engine was built by Balzer, and later converted to a water-cooled radial by engineer Charles Manly, Langley’s assistant. The first of its kind, “[t]here can be no doubt that the Manly-Balzer engine was the most advanced lightweight internal combustion engine in the world, but its utility as a power plant for the great aerodrome remained to be demonstrated.”^13
Langley decided, again, to fly over water for safety reasons. Because the first houseboat was no longer usable, he spent close to half his funds on a bigger houseboat and catapult that he kept at the Washington Navy Yard. On October 7, 1903, the launch catapulted the aerodrome with Manly piloting. In just 70 feet, Manly had to attain 60 miles-per-hour flying speed. The results
146, from Bell’s letter in McClure’s Magazine 9 (June 1897): 659, published as “The Aerodromes in Flight,” Aeronautical Annual (1897): 140-41. (^9) Crouch, Dream of Wings, 153. (^10) Ibid., 154. (^11) Quote, Ibid., 152; Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “Langley Aerodrome No. 5,”
http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/langley5.htm (accessed November 10, 2004). (^12) Rumerman, “Efforts at Powered Flight.” The craft flew 4,790 feet. Smithsonian National Air and Space
Museum, “Langley Aerodrome No. 6,” http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/langley6.htm (accessed November 10, 2004). (^13) Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “Langley Quarter Scale Aerodrome,” http://www.nasm.si.edu/
research/aero/aircraft/langley.htm (accessed November 10, 2004); Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “Langley Aerodrome A,” http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/langleyA.htm (accessed November 10, 2004); quote, Crouch, Dream of Wings, 279.
