PL. 101. ATTEMPTED LAUNCHING OF AERODROME, DECEMBER 8, 1903 [◊] ENLARGEMENT OF PHOTOGRAPH BY THE WASHINGTON STAR
As has already been remarked, darkness had descended to such an extent that the light was not strong enough to give photographs with the very rapid shutters with which Mr. Smillie had his cameras equipped, and that, therefore, [p274] incontrovertible evidence, which the instantaneous photographs had given as to just what had occurred to the machine in the accident of October 7, was in this case unfortunately lacking. It was at first thought that no photographs had been obtained while the machine was actually in the air, but it was later found that by some rare fortune the photographer for The Washington Star had secured a photograph, which, while small, showed very distinctly some decidedly interesting facts. An enlargement of this photograph is shown in Plate [101], by the kind permission of The Washington Star. Referring to this photograph, it will be seen that at the moment it was taken the machine was practically vertical in the air, and it confirms the testimony of the eye witnesses, and also the writer’s impression that the machine was maintained in a vertical position for several moments by the upward thrust of the propellers. It will also be seen that the Pénaud tail has been completely demolished and is hanging as a limp roll of cloth, which the strong wind has deflected backwards towards the house-boat, the port rear wing has broken its main ribs, both where they are attached to the main frame and also about midway the length of the wing, the outer end being partially folded towards the frame. The starboard rear wing has also broken both of its main ribs at the point where they are joined to the frame, and they have also broken at a point about one-third their length from the frame, the outer end being likewise folded towards the frame. By a still more careful inspection, it will also be seen that the port front wing is apparently uninjured, while the starboard front wing has broken the middle main rib at a point between the sixth and seventh cross-ribs, and while it cannot be distinctly seen at first that the front main rib has also broken at the same point very careful inspection will show that this is the case, as the sixth and seventh ribs, showing as faintly darker lines in the photograph, are seen to be displaced, so that they are together and actually crossing each other. It will furthermore be seen that both front wings have been pressed upward by the wind until their tips near the inner ends are in contact with the cross-frame. This could not have happened unless the front guy-post had given away either by bending or breaking. The fact that it has given way is further evidenced by a more careful examination of the extreme front end of the machine, where it will be seen that the bowsprit and the curved tubes which form the extreme end of the steel frame have been bent from a straight line with reference to the main frame. This bending of the bowsprit and the curved tubes could be produced only by the front guy-post coming in contact with some obstruction on the launching car as the machine left it. It is known very certainly that the rear end of the machine came in contact with the launching car, as the car itself shows a very deep gash in the wooden cross-piece at its center, which was produced by the port-bearing point at the rear striking it. As this bearing point was elevated five feet above the cross-piece of the launching car, and was also six feet six inches to [p275] the rear of the point where the wood is torn, this rear-bearing point must have travelled downward at an angle of approximately thirty-eight degrees in order for the bearing point to strike the car at this point. As the lower end of the rear guy-post was only eighteen inches above the cross-piece of the launching car, it, of course, would be broken before the bearing point could descend so much. As has been previously stated, Mr. Reed, who was at the rear of the launching track, states very positively that the rudder was dragging on the track at least ten feet before the launching car reached the front end of the track where the machine was actually launched. There are several ways in which the rudder could have gotten down on the track, but positive information is lacking. If it was dragging on the track, as Mr. Reed states (and from his extended experience and rather acute powers of observation I should place great credence in his report), the subsequent demolition of the guy-posts succeeded by the destruction of the rear wings and serious injury of the front ones is easily explained. If the dropping of the rudder on the track occurred from the breaking of the upper rudder post, over which the upper control wire passed, the lower vertical surface would first come in contact with the track, and the destruction of this part would certainly occasion subsequent destruction of the horizontal and upper vertical surfaces of the rudder, leaving the central rib of the rudder still attached to the frame, and upon the machine being released from the car a few moments later this destroyed rudder would easily catch in the launching car and pull the aerodrome down on it, and thus cause the destruction of the guy-posts, wings, and so forth. If the dropping of the rudder was caused primarily by its main rib breaking loose from its connection with the frame, the rudder would still be dragged along behind the machine by the wire cords through which it was operated, and the subsequent launching of the machine would still give the rudder every chance to catch in the launching car and drag the machine down on it.
It can therefore be said that, while positive information is lacking, there is very strong evidence that the accident in the launching was due to the rudder becoming entangled with the launching track owing to the breakage of some part of the mechanism by which it was connected to the main frame.
It is of importance to note that the photograph furnishes incontrovertible evidence that the main frame of the machine was in no way injured, except for the slight bending of the forward curved extension, and that, therefore, the accident was in no way due to the weakness of the frame. The main frame was not even injured by the machine coming down in the water on its back, and the later damage was entirely caused by the combination of the ignorance of the tug-boatmen and the darkness in which they were working, when they attempted to tow it to the rear of the house-boat so that it could be removed from the water. [p276]
On the day following the trial a very careful inspection was made in the hope of obtaining some more definite information as to just what caused the accident, but the serious injury to the machine caused by the tug-boatmen breaking it in the water had so greatly tangled things up that it was impossible to tell anything about it. The workmen were immediately put to work removing fittings from the broken wings, rudder, etc., and dismounting the engine, which was immediately reassembled on its testing frame and found to be absolutely uninjured. The transverse frame of the machine was comparatively uninjured, the damage done by the men on the tug-boat being the breaking of the machine in two at a point just back of the cross-frame, together with the consequent destruction of the bearing points, “trestle,” and certain fittings by which the main guy-wires were attached to the main tubes and pyramids.
The situation which now existed was most distressing and disheartening. Mr. Langley felt that he could not approve of further expenditures from any Smithsonian fund, and the Board of Ordnance and Fortification of the War Department having been severely criticised on the floors of Congress for its original allotment for the work, deemed it inexpedient to incur a possible curtailment of the funds annually placed at its disposal for general experimental work through a manifestation of continued interest in the flying machine.
As has already been stated, representatives from the Board of Ordnance and Fortification of the War Department were present at both tests of the large aerodrome; on October 7 Major Montgomery M. Macomb and Mr. G. H. Powell, and on December 7 General W. F. Randolph accompanied by Major Macomb and Mr. Powell, represented the War Department, and Dr. F. S. Nash, at that time Contract Surgeon, U. S. A., was officially present at both trials to render medical assistance should it be needed.
By permission of the War Department, the official report of the tests submitted by Major Macomb to the Board of Ordnance and Fortification is here made public:
Enc. 1st to 3d end’t, BOF 6191.