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Mattos, B.S.

CRUSADE FOR THE FIRST FLIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES

Langley flight attempts

Samuel Pierpont Langley was born in Massachusetts, in 1834. He was affined with scientific and technological matters. He attended Boston Latin School, graduated from The English High School, and then he was an assistant in the Harvard College Observatory. Later on, he became chair of mathematics at the United States Naval Academy. In 1867, he was nominated director of the Allegheny Observatory and professor of astronomy at the Western University of Pennsylvania, which is now known as the University of Pittsburgh, a position he kept until 1891, even while he became the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1887. Langley was the founder of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

Langley attempted to make a working piloted heavier-than-air aircraft but his two attempts with manned aircraft were not successful. Therefore, he began experimenting with rubber-band powered models and gliders in 1887. He built a rotating arm (functioning similar to a wind tunnel) and made larger flying models powered by miniature steam engines.

His first success came on May 6 1896, when his number 5 unpiloted model flew 1,000 m after a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River. The distance was ten times longer than any previous experiment with a heavier-than-air fiying machine, demonstrating that stability and sufficient lift could be achieved in such craft. On November 11, in the same year, his number 6 model flew approximately 700 m. On both occasions, the Aerodrome number 5 landed in the water, as planned, because, in order to save weight, it was not equipped with landing gear.

In 1898, based on the success of his models, Langley received a War Department grant of US$ 50.000 and US$ 20.000 from the Smithsonian to develop a piloted airplane, which he called an “Aerodrome” (coined from Greek words roughly translated as “air runner”). Langley hired Charles Manly as the engineer and test pilot. When Langley received word from his friend Octave Chanute of the Wright brothers’ success with their 1902 glider, he attempted to meet such brothers, but they politely evaded his request.

While the full-scale Aerodrome was being designed and built, the internal combustion engine was contracted out to manufacturer Stephen Balzer. When he failed to produce an engine to the power and weight specifications, Manly finished the design. This engine had far more power than did the engine 372 J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., São José dos Campos, Vol.4, No 3, pp. 355-379, Jul.-Sep., 2012