During 1904 over one hundred flights were made, and changes in construction necessary to sail in circles were devised. In 1905, the Wrights kept on secretly with their practice and development of their machine, first one and then the other making the flights until both were equally proficient. In the latter part of September and early part of October, 1905, occurred a series of flights which the Wrights allowed to become known to the public. At a meeting of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, held in London on December 15, 1905, a letter from Orville Wright to one of the members was read. It was dated November 17, 1905, and an excerpt from it is as follows:
“During the month of September we gradually improved in our practice, and on the 26th made a flight of a little over 11 miles. On the 30th we increased this to 12⅕th miles; on October 3, to 15⅓ miles; on October 4, to 20¾ miles, and on October 5, to 24¼ miles. All these flights were made at about 38 miles an hour, the flight of October 5 occupying 30 minutes 3 seconds. Landings were caused by the exhaustion of the supply of fuel in the flights of September 26 and 30, and October 8, and in those of October 3 and 4 by the heating of the bearings in the transmission, of which the oil cups had been omitted. But before the flight on October 5, oil cups had been fitted to all the bearings, and the small gasoline can had been replaced with one that carried enough fuel for an hour’s flight. Unfortunately, we neglected to refill the reservoir just before starting, and as a result the flight was limited to 38 minutes....
A Wright machine in flight.
“The machine passed through all of these flights without the slightest damage. In each of these flights we returned frequently to the starting point, passing high over the heads of the spectators.”
These statements were received with incredulity in many parts of Europe, the more so as the Wrights refused to permit an examination of their machine, fearing that the details of construction might become known before their patents were secured.
The Archdeacon machine on the Seine.
During the summer of 1905, Captain Ferber and Ernest Archdeacon of Paris had made experiments with gliders. One of the Archdeacon machines was towed by an automobile, having a bag of sand to occupy the place of the pilot. It rose satisfactorily in the air, but the tail became disarranged, and it fell and was damaged. It was rebuilt and tried upon the waters of the Seine, being towed by a fast motor-boat at a speed of 25 miles an hour. The machine rose about 50 feet into the air and sailed for about 500 feet.
Archdeacon gathered a company of young men about him who speedily became imbued with his enthusiasm. Among them were Gabriel Voisin, Louis Bleriot, and Leon Delagrange. The two former, working together, built and flew several gliders, and when Santos-Dumont made his historic flight of 720 feet with his multiple-cell machine on November 13, 1906 (the first flight made in Europe), they were spurred to new endeavors.