for fastening the sprockets on the propeller shaft. More bad weather, snow, the breakage of the propeller shafts, all kinds of difficulties consumed weeks and months. But the Wrights met all difficulties with their usual indomitable courage, and finally they were ready.

The first flights with a powered airplane were made on December 17, 1903. Only five persons besides the Wrights were present. These were Messrs. John T. Daniels, W. S. Dough and A. D. Etherbridge of the Kill Devil Life Saving Station; Mr. W. C. Brinkley, of Manteo, and Mr. John Ward, of Naghead. Although a general invitation had been extended to the people living within five or six miles, not many were willing to face the rigors of a cold December wind in order to see, as they no doubt thought, another flying machine not fly.

During the night of December 16th, a strong cold wind blew from the north. Puddles of water were covered with ice. The wind had a velocity of 22 to 27 miles an hour, but this was an advantage since by facing the flyer into the strong wind, there would be no trouble in launching from the level ground about the camp, on which the monorail track was laid. The biting cold wind made work difficult, and the party had to warm up frequently in their living room, where

they had a good fire in an improvised stove made of a large carbide can.

Wilbur, having used his turn in an unsuccessful attempt on December 14th, the first trial now belonged to Orville. After running the motor a few minutes to heat it up, he released the wire that held the machine to the track, and the machine started forward into the wind about 10:30 on the morning of December 17th. Wilbur ran at the side of the machine, holding the wing to balance it on the track. The machine facing a 27-mile wind started very slowly. Wilbur was able to stay with it till it lifted from the track after a forty foot run. The course of the flight up and down was exceedingly erratic, partly due to the irregularity of the air, and partly to lack of experience in handling this machine. The control of the front elevator was difficult on account of its being balanced too near its center. This gave it a tendency to turn itself when started, so that it turned too far up and then too far down. As a result the machine would rise suddenly to about ten feet, and then as suddenly dart for the ground. A sudden dart when a little over a hundred feet from the end of the track, or a little over 120 feet from the point at which it rose in the air, ended the flight. The short distance covered was due to the strong head wind, and the flight only lasted 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless

the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed, and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it had started.

Wilbur flew at twenty minutes after eleven, covering more ground but staying a second less in the air. The third flight lasted fifteen seconds and the distance over the ground was a little over 200 feet.

Wilbur started the fourth and last flight at just 12 o'clock. The first few hundred feet were up and down as before, but by the time three hundred feet had been covered, the machine was under much better control. The course for the next four or five hundred feet had but little undulation. However, when out about eight hundred feet the machine began pitching again, and in one of its starts downward struck the ground. The distance was found to be 852 feet, the time of the flight 59 seconds.

While the party was standing about discussing this last flight, a sudden strong gust of wind struck the machine and began to turn it over. Everybody made a rush for it. Wilbur, who was at one end, seized it in front, Mr. Daniels and Orville tried to stop it by holding to the rear uprights. All their efforts were vain. The machine rolled over and over. Daniels, who had retained his grip, was carried along with it

and was thrown head over heels inside the machine. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured. The ribs in the surface of the machine were broken, the motor injured and the chain guides badly bent, so that all possibility of further flights with it were at an end.

The above account is scant and undramatic, but no newspaper correspondents were present, and the Wrights, masters of a clear, incisive style, were not given to picturesque newspaper descriptions.

Although hard hit by this accident, the brothers found financial resources enough to build a heavier and stronger machine, and continued their experiments near their home town. Stage by stage the Wrights changed and revised and developed their craft. They found they had not entirely solved the problem of equilibrium, particularly in circular flight. Finally on October 5, 1905, at Hoffman Field, Dayton, they made a circular flight of twenty-four miles. The newspapers have always made much of the secrecy and mystery attaching to this work. Yet these Dayton flights were made on a ground open on every side, and bordered on two sides by much travelled thoroughfares, with electric cars passing every hour, and seen by all the people living in the neighborhood for miles around. It was only later that the Wrights adopted secrecy for weighty business reasons. It was rather that the newspapermen had seen bad trials on several days,

1

unsuccessful trials on other days, lost confidence in the airplane, and almost all interest-the excuse of secrecy cloaked their indifference later on. As a matter of fact, the story of the wonderful flight at Hoffman Field was received with incredulity and the first description was published in a paper devoted to bee culture. Suspicion grew until people were calling the inventors crazy, liars and even worse things.

Like all great pioneers, the Wrights were not finding much popular encouragement. But satisfied that they had achieved success, they were undaunted and continued new design and construction. They also now had to consider the financial side of their work. Their experiments had been conducted entirely at their own expense. In the beginning they had no thought of recovering what they were expending, which was not great and was limited to what they could afford in recreation. Besides, they were too engrossed in their fascinating work to devote much time to thoughts of money making. But now that they had put their discovery of the airplane on a solid basis, and had come to devote the major part of their time to their flying machines, they abandoned all other business and devoted all their energies to the construction of a practical machine and to business negotiations.

Hitherto the Wrights had called to the world to