Conqueror of the Air.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 9, 26 August 1908, Page 52

Conqueror of the Air.

A Talk with Mr. Wilbur Wright.

r Mr. Wilbur Wright, the famous American aeroplauist, who is now in France giving most successful exhibitions of his machine, is tall and. thin. A man with an enormous forehead, deep-set eyes, and the long, bony hands with square fingertips of the scientist. Much thought and many tightly-fitting caps have worn away all hair from the cranium, around the base of which, is a scanty fringe. The shape of the head is extraordinary. Strangely enough, there is something bird-like about the face. If you can imagine a sun and wind-browned eagle with kindly eyes, ful lips and a prominent, 'dimpled chin, you will get a picture of Mr tWilbur Wright, writes an interviewer in a Home paper. “ Will you tell me,” I asked him, Mr. Wright smiled. ‘‘Fly,” he said, “what you are going to do in France?” “Just fly, without troubling to wait for ft calm and 1 windless day.” We had been speaking of M. Delagrange’s flight in Rome, and Mr. Berg (Mr. Wright’s guide, philosopher, and friend)), who had been called up on the telephone, said 'that the man to whom he spoke alluded to it as a triumph. “It certainly is a triumph,” Mr. Wilbur Wright said, “ on that machine.” “ Then you ” “ Oh, I don't say a word against any Of the French aeroplanes. But they arc in another plane altogether from our own. Their aeroplanes are ingeniously constructed toys. Ours is a practical airship, a commercial asset, an airship that ean be used for practical purposes.” (And then the extraordinary man clasped his long, thin hands round his knees, and made the most surprising statement he liad made as yet, in the low, purring voice which is another of his peculiarities. » You know,” he said, leaning forward, iand looking steadfastly at the carpet, “you know we have not done much yet. •We are just beginning to see clear.” “ But," I said, “ do you not claim to 'fly twenty miles with two people on board in a high wind? ” . ! WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. “Oh, yes,” said Mr. Wright, “we can do that. We have flown twenty-four jnilcs, I think, at about forty miles an hour, and we can fly fifty, or possibly five hundred. Our machine carries two men easily enough. I think as far as Jthat goes that it would carry three. But we are only just beginning.” “What made you begin at all?” I asked. “Why. I have always been interested in everything,” said Mr. Wright, “and jthere did not seem to be any reason why iwc should not learn to fly if we thought, a little, worked hard, and kept out of the way of the reporters. We have been eight years at it now, and we had begun gliding and flying a long time before any one took any notice of us. That was the time when we put in the real work. Since then we have been making improvements. ®ut we had the principle all right nearly eight years ago.” Before my eyes Mr. Wilbur Wright turned himself into an aeroplane. He feat upright on his chair, and his two long arms shot out at right angles to his (thin body. “Hook at my haaids,” he feaid. As I watched him he turned the one hand one way, from the wrist, and the other simultaneously in the opposite direction. “Now do you see what the iwings do,” he said. “You have seen the little paper mills which children hold lip in the wind. They are fixed lightly to a stick by means of a pin, and when the wind catches them they whirr. Well, lour machine's tillable wings turn the (Whole aeroplane into a helicoid, just like the paper mill when it is still, and by so doing they ensure absolute stability in any wind.” J MARVELLOUSLY SIMPLE. t “It’s marvellous.” I said. “ Marvellously sunpie,” said Mr. Wright,, “and otherwise not marvellous at all, but just common horse sense. ‘.What was the good of an airship that ipould only sail in a dead calm?* we thought, and set about to get over the 'difficulty. There is really nothing wonderful at ail about it” '

In tlie improved machine the driver and his companion sit side by side on a seat as comfortable as that of a motorcar. “The whole thing is very like driving a car,” said Mr. Wright. “You look down on the air-way under you just as you look down on to the road from a motorcar, and really the only difference is that you look up a bit more often.” “What do you think about,” I asked. “Nothing but just the driving. As a matter of fact, I never even hear the machine now unless it stops,” said Mr. Wright. “I have got so used to it, and I have no more sensational impressions in the air than you feel in a taxicab. But if you care to come up with me I daresay you will have some few new sensations, as it will be your first time aloft. Will you go up?” “Like a bird,” I replied. “That’s exactly how you will go up,” said Mr. Wright.