Several years before this the Voisin brothers had been taken by the general fever for aviation and in 1907 they finished a practical biplane in which Henri Farman, a former auto racer, and Leon Delagrange, an artist, astonished the world. This early machine is described by one authority as something like a cross between a box kite and a Chanute glider. Extending out behind the two main planes was a rudder like a huge box kite, which was used to steer the machine from right to left. This also helped to keep the biplane from tipping forward or backward. A single horizontal rudder in front steered it upward or downward. These rudders were manipulated by the operator, who sat between the two main planes in front of his engine, by either pushing his pilot wheel forward or backward or by turning it like the steering wheel of an automobile. There was no device for balancing the aeroplane, but the construction kept it on a fairly even keel—or, as the scientist said, it had inherent or automatic stability—i. e., stability automatically gained from the construction of the machine. Also the operator was supposed to swing his body from side to side to aid this. The aeroplane started from and alighted on four wheels set under the main plane and the tail. It had 559 square feet of surface and with the engine weighed 1,100 pounds. The motor was a 50-horsepower Antoinette, which drove a single aluminum propeller.
After preliminary "bird hops" at Issy-les-Mollineaux, Farman on October 26 beat Santos-Dumont's record by flying 771 metres. On January 13, 1908, he won the Deutsch-Archdeacon Cup of 50,000 francs for the first person to make a circular flight of 500 metres. Two months later Delagrange challenged Farman for his world championship, but lost, Farman twice circling the two pylons, or marking poles, that had been set up 500 metres apart, in 3 minutes 31 seconds. The distance covered with turns was 2004.8 metres. Delagrange flew the 500 metres in 2.5 minutes.
Then for the first time in the world's history two men rode in an aeroplane, Delagrange taking his rival behind him and sailing over a part of the course. A month later Delagrange took the distance record from Farman with a flight of 5,575 metres in 9-1/4 minutes.
While these pioneers were winning prizes and breaking records Louis Blériot was bringing his aeroplane to a successful stage. He had been working on the problem of aviation since 1900, but had failed with wing flappers and machines like box kites. Finally he had some success with a tandem monoplane like Professor Langley's. The first of his machines of this kind was smashed in a fall, but the second, Blériot's seventh flier, flew steadily and was the fastest aeroplane ever developed.
Thus Blériot at the opening of 1908 had developed his monoplane idea far past the stage Professor Langley ever had developed it. He had increased the size of the forward plane and decreased the size of the rear plane until the great forward wings did all the work of sustaining the machine in the air, while the chief uses of the tail were steering and steadying the machine. Moreover, Blériot's was the first machine among the practical European fliers to have a system of wing warping such as the Wright brothers had developed in their wonderful biplane, and such as Glenn Curtiss, another American inventor, was at the same time developing for his machines.
This gave Blériot what is called three-rudder control—that is, the vertical rudder at the rear to steer it from right to left, the horizontal rudder, also on the tail, to steer it up or down, and the flexible wing tips to keep it from tipping sidewise. The aspect ratio of the early Blériots was low, which gave them greater speed. In other words, the main plane did not have so great a spread as most aeroplanes do, while it was much deeper, and, having less of an entering edge, it could go faster. There were three wheels—two under the main plane and the third under the tail for starting and alighting. The engine was just under and at the front of the main plane, driving a single propeller. This propeller—which is the type most used on monoplanes—is called a tractor propeller because, instead of pushing the aeroplane forward from the rear, it pulls it from the front. The operator sat just to the rear and above the engine so he could look out and over the top of the main plane.
The last day of October, 1908, Blériot jumped into international fame with this machine by making a cross-country flight from Toury to Artenay, a total distance of about 17 miles. This was the second cross-country flight ever attempted. The day previous Farman had flown his biplane from Châlons to Rheims, nearly 17 miles.
Meanwhile the Wright brothers had been making great progress, as will be seen shortly, and Wilbur Wright had brought a biplane to France to make demonstrations for a French syndicate. He took up quarters at Le Mans in August, 1908. His notable flights broke the world's records for distance and duration. Early in the month he flew 52 miles and was in the air 1 hour and 31 minutes. A few days later he broke the French records for altitude by going up 380 feet, and on the last day of the year won the Michelin prize of 20,000 francs for the longest flight of the year.
In January Wilbur Wright went to Pau, where he opened a school and was joined by his brother Orville, who had just recovered from a historical accident in the United States which will be described shortly. At Pau they made a great many flights and exhibited their aeroplane to thousands and thousands of people from all over the world, including great scientists, military men, statesmen, and many members of the European nobility. Among these was young King Alfonso of Spain, who took such a delight in the machine that he would have made an ascension were it not for the objections of his ministers. King Edward of England also visited the famous brothers, talked with them about their achievements, and witnessed several fine flights. Then Wilbur took his machine to Italy, where King Emanuel attended his exhibitions in Rome. Later in London the two brothers were entertained by the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain and received its gold medal. During this time they won the respect of the whole world of aviation.
"Now to return to the progress made by the intrepid American inventors in our own country, led by the Wright brothers, Glenn Curtiss, A. M. Herring, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, and his associates, F. W. Baldwin and J. A. D. McCurdy," continued the boy's friend.