PROFESSOR LANGLEY'S AERODROME.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1656, 25 November 1903, Page 13 (Supplement)

PROFESSOR LANGLEY'S AERODROME.

Professor Langley’s 12in aerodrome, which was recently tested, is by some held to be a success, and by others a failure. The model flew a distance of 600 yards and then sank in 22 feet of water. When it was finally recovered, all that was left was a tangled wreck of twisted wires. The time consumed in flight was not more than 45 seconds.

The course described was a semicircle. According to accounts which have been published, the motor of the machine and the rudders failed to work properly. The altitude of the machine at the time of the fall was not greater than 50 leet. The airship is stated to have been driven by an 8 horse-power hydrocarbon engine connected up with two two-bladed propellers located one on each side of the machine at about its middle point. One four-bladed winu vane rudder was mounted behind the engine; then came the rudder proper. On each side the

airship was supported by a pair of white silk wings, feet long by 2 feet inwidth. The propellors were located on the side between the wings and turned towards each other. The wings, rudders, engine, and other running gear were fastened to a central cylindrical tube of aluminium 18 inches in length and about 4 inches in diameter, and tapering at both ends. The test of the small model will, it is said, be followed at an early date by a trial of the 60foot aerodrome, which is owned by the Government, the cost of which was. 70,000 doilai-s.