Chapter XVIII: Biographies of Prominent Aeronauts

The Wright Brothers--Santos-Dumont--Louis Bleriot--Gabriel
Voisin--Leon Delagrange--Henri Farman--Robert
Esnault-Pelterie--Count von Zeppelin--Glenn H. Curtiss--Charles
K. Hamilton--Hubert Latham--Alfred Leblanc--Claude
Grahame-White--Louis Paulhan--Clifford B. Harmon--Walter
Brookins--John B. Moisant--J. Armstrong Drexel--Ralph Johnstone.

On January 1, 1909, it would have been a brief task to write a few biographical notes about the “prominent” aviators. At that date there were but five who had made flights exceeding ten minutes in duration--the Wright brothers, Farman, Delagrange, and Bleriot. At the close of 1910 the roll of aviators who have distinguished themselves by winning prizes or breaking previous records has increased to more than 100, and the number of qualified pilots of flying machines now numbers over 300. The impossibility of giving even a mention of the notable airmen in this chapter is apparent, and the few whose names have been selected are those who have more recently in our own country come into larger public notice, and those of the pioneers whose names will never lose their first prominence.

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS.

The Wright Brothers have so systematically linked their individual personalities in all their work, in private no less than in public, that the brief life story to be told here is but one for them both. In fact, until Wilbur went to France in 1908, and Orville to Washington, the nearest approach to a separation is illustrated by a historic remark of Wilbur’s to an acquaintance in Dayton, one afternoon: “Orville flew 21 miles yesterday; I am going to beat that to-day.” And he did--by 3 miles.

Their early life in their home town of Dayton, Ohio, was unmarked by significant incident. They were interested in bicycles, and at length went into the business of repairing and selling these machines.

Their attention seems to have been strongly turned to the subject of human flight by the death of Lilienthal in August, 1896, at which time the press published some of the results of his experiments. A magazine article by Octave Chanute, himself an experimenter with gliders, led to correspondence with him, and the Wrights began a series of similar investigations with models of their own building.

By 1900 they had succeeded in flying a large glider by running with a string, as with a kite, and in the following year they had made some flights on their gliders, of which they had several of differing types. For two years the Wrights studied and tested and disproved nearly every formula laid down by scientific works for the relations of gravity to air, and finally gave themselves up to discovering by actual trial what the true conditions were, and to the improvement of their gliders accordingly. Meanwhile they continued their constant personal practice in the air.

The most of this experimental work was done at Kitty Hawk, N. C.; for the reason that there the winds blow more uniformly than at any other place in the United States, and the great sand dunes there gave the Wrights the needed elevation from which to leap into the wind with their gliders. Consequently, when at last they were ready to try a machine driven by a motor, it was at this secluded spot that the first flights ever made by man with a heavier-than-air machine took place. On December 17, 1903, their first machine left the ground under its own power, and remained in the air for twelve seconds. From this time on progress was even slower than before, on account of the complications added by the motive power; but by the time another year had passed they were making flights which lasted five minutes, and had their machine in such control that they could fly in a circle and make a safe landing within a few feet of the spot designated.

On the 5th of October, 1905, Wilbur Wright made his historic flight of 24 miles at Dayton, Ohio, beating the record of Orville, made the day before, of 21 miles. The average speed of these flights was 38 miles an hour. No contention as to the priority of the device known as wing-warping can ever set aside the fact that these long practical flights were made more than a year before any other man had flown 500 feet, or had remained in the air half a minute, with a heavier-than-air machine driven by power.

The Wrights are now at the head of one of the largest aeroplane manufactories in the world, and devote the larger part of their time to research work in the line of the navigation of the air.

ALBERTO SANTOS-DUMONT.

ALBERTO SANTOS-DUMONT was born in Brazil in 1877. When but a lad he became intensely interested in aeronautics, having been aroused by witnessing the ascension at a show of an ordinary hot-air balloon. Within the next few years he had made several trips to Paris, and in 1897 made his first ascent in a balloon with the balloon builder Machuron, the partner of the famous Lachambre.

In 1898 he began the construction of his notable series of dirigibles, which eventually reached twelve in number. With his No. 6 he won the $20,000 prize offered by M. Deutsch (de la Meurthe) for the first trip from the Paris Aero Club’s grounds to and around the Eiffel Tower in 30 minutes or less. The distance was nearly 7 miles. It is characteristic of M. Santos-Dumont that he should give $15,000 of the prize to relieve distress among the poor of Paris, and the remainder to his mechanicians who had built the balloon.

His smallest dirigible was the No. 9, which held 7,770 cubic feet of gas; the largest was the No. 10, which held 80,000 cubic feet.

In 1905, when Bleriot, Voisin, and their comrades were striving to accomplish flight with machines heavier than air, Santos-Dumont turned his genius upon the same problem, and on August 14, 1906, he made his first flight with a cellular biplane driven by a 24 horse-power motor. On November 13th of the same year he flew 720 feet with the same machine. These were the first flights of heavier-than-air machines in Europe, and the first public flights anywhere. Later he turned to the monoplane type, and with “La Demoiselle” added new laurels to those already won with his dirigibles.

LOUIS BLERIOT.

LOUIS BLERIOT, designer and builder of the celebrated Bleriot monoplanes, and himself a pilot of the first rank, was born in Cambrai, France, in 1872. He graduated from a noted technical school, and soon attached himself to the group of young men--all under thirty years of age--who were experimenting with gliders in the effort to fly. His attempts at first were with the flapping-wing contrivances, but he soon gave these up as a failure, and devoted his energy to the automobile industry; and the excellent Bleriot acetylene headlight testifies to his constructive ability in that field.

Attracted by the experiments of M. Ernest Archdeacon he joined his following, and with Gabriel Voisin engaged in building gliders of the biplane type. By 1907 he had turned wholly to the monoplane idea, and in April of that year made his first leap into the air with a power-driven monoplane. By September he had so improved his machine that he was able to fly 600 feet, and in June, 1908, he broke the record for monoplanes by flying nearly a mile. Again and again he beat his own records, and at length the whole civilized world was thrilled by his triumphant flight across the British Channel on July 25, 1909.

The Bleriot machines hold nearly all the speed records, and many of those in other lines of achievement, and M. Bleriot enjoys the double honor of being an eminently successful manufacturer as well as a dauntless aviator of heroic rank.

GABRIEL VOISIN.

GABRIEL VOISIN, the elder of the two Voisin brothers, was born in 1879 at Belleville-sur-Saone, near the city of Lyons, France. He was educated as an architect, but early became interested in aeronautics, and engaged in gliding, stimulated by the achievements of Pilcher, in England, and Captain Ferber, in his own country. He assisted M. Archdeacon in his experiments on the Seine, often riding the gliders which were towed by the swift motor boats.

In 1906 he associated himself with his brother in the business of manufacturing biplane machines, and in March, 1907, he himself made the first long flight with a power-driven machine in Europe. This aeroplane was built for his friend Delagrange, and was one in which the latter was soon breaking records and winning prizes. The second machine was for Farman, who made the Voisin biplane famous by winning the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize of $10,000 for making a flight of 1,093 yards in a circle.

The Voisin biplane is distinctive in structure, and is accounted one of the leading aeroplanes of the present day.

LEON DELAGRANGE.

LEON DELAGRANGE was born at Orleans, France, in 1873. He entered the School of Arts as a student in sculpture, about the same time that Henri Farman went there to study painting, and Gabriel Voisin, architecture. He exhibited at the Salon, and won several medals. In 1905, he took up aeronautics, assisted at the experiments of M. Archdeacon. His first aeroplane was built by Voisin, and he made his first flight at Issy, March 14, 1907. Less than a month later--on April 11--he made a new record for duration of flight, remaining in the air for 9 minutes and 15 seconds--twice as long as the previous record made by Farman.

At Rheims, in 1909, he appeared with a Bleriot monoplane, and continued to fly with that type of machine until his death. At Doncaster, England, he made the world record for speed up to that time, travelling at the rate of 49.9 miles per hour. He was killed at Bordeaux, France, in January, 1910, by the fall of his machine.

HENRI FARMAN.

HENRI FARMAN, justly regarded as the most prominent figure in the aviation world today, was born in France in 1873. His father was an Englishman.

While a mere boy he became locally famous as a bicycle racer, and later achieved a wider fame as a fearless and skillful driver in automobile races. In 1902 he won the Paris-Vienna race.

In September, 1907, he made his first attempt to fly, using the second biplane built by his friend Gabriel Voisin, and in the following year he won with it the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize of $10,000. He then built a machine after his own ideas, which more resembles the Wright machine than the Voisin, and with it he has won many prizes, and made many world records. Demands for machines, and for teaching the art of handling them, have poured in upon him, necessitating a continual increase of manufacturing facilities until it may safely be said that he has the largest plant for building flying machines in the world, turning out the largest number of machines, and through his school for aviators is instructing a larger number of pupils annually than any other similar establishment.

ROBERT ESNAULT-PELTERIE.

ROBERT ESNAULT-PELTERIE was born in 1880, and educated in the city of Paris. He early showed a mechanical turn of mind, and was interested particularly in scientific studies. He became an enthusiast in matters aeronautic, and devoted himself to the construction of gasoline engines suitable for aviation purposes. After satisfying his ideal in this direction with the now famous “R-E-P” motor, he designed a new type of flying machine which is known as the “R-E-P monoplane.” His first flights were made at Buc in October, 1907, and while they were short, they proved the possibility of steering a flying machine so that it would describe a curved line--at that time a considerable achievement among European aviators. In April, 1908, he flew for ¾ of a mile, and reached a height of 100 feet. This feat eclipsed all previous records for monoplanes.

His fame, however, rests upon his motors, which are quite original in design and construction.

COUNT FERDINAND VON ZEPPELIN.

COUNT FERDINAND VON ZEPPELIN was born in 1838, on the shores of the Lake Constance, where his great airships have had their initial trials.

It is an interesting fact that Count von Zeppelin made his first balloon ascension in a war-balloon attached to the army corps commanded by his friend, Carl Schurz, during the Civil War.

It was only after years of absorbing study of all that human knowledge could contribute that Count von Zeppelin decided upon the type of dirigible which bears his name. Under the patronage of the King of Würtemberg he began his first airship, having previously built an immense floating shed, which, swinging by a cable, always had its doors facing away from the wind.

The successful flights of the series of magnificent Zeppelin airships have been marvellous in an age crowded with wonders. And the misfortune which has followed close upon their superb achievements with complete destruction would long ago have undone a man of less energy and courage than the dauntless Count. It should be borne in mind, however, that of the hundreds of passengers carried in his ships of the air, all have come to land safely--a record that it would be difficult to match with any other form of travel. The accidents which have destroyed the Zeppelins have never happened in the air, excepting only the wrecking of the _Deutschland_ by a thunderstorm.

The indefatigable Count is now constructing another airship with the new alloy, electron, instead of aluminum. He estimates that 5,000 pounds’ weight can be saved in this way.

CAPTAIN THOMAS S. BALDWIN.

CAPTAIN THOMAS S. BALDWIN, balloonist and aviator, was born in Mississippi in 1855. His first aeronautical experience was as a parachute rider from a balloon in the air. He invented the parachute he used, and received for it a gold medal from the Balloon Society of Great Britain. Exhibiting this parachute, Captain Baldwin made an extensive tour of the civilized world.

In 1892 he built his first airship, a combination of a balloon, a screw propeller, and a bicycle, the last to furnish the motive power. It was not until 1902, when be installed an automobile engine in his airship, that he succeeded in making it sail. It was not yet dirigible, however; but after two years of devising and experimenting, he sailed away from Oakland, Cal., on August 2, 1904, against the wind, and after a short voyage, turned and came back to his balloon-shed. From this time on he made several successful dirigibles, and in 1908 he met all the requirements of the United States Government for a military dirigible, and sold to it the only dirigible it possesses.

He became interested in the experiments of Curtiss and McCurdy at Hammondsport, in 1908, and aided in building the remarkable series of biplanes with which record flights were made. The newer design, known as the Baldwin biplane, is unique in the pivoted balancing plane set upright above the upper plane, a device entirely distinct from the warping or other manipulation of horizontal surfaces for the purpose of restoring lateral balance.

GLENN HAMMOND CURTISS.

GLENN HAMMOND CURTISS was born at Hammondsport, N. Y., on the shore of Lake Keuka, in 1878. From boyhood he was a competitor and winner in all sorts of races where speed was the supreme test. By nature a mechanic, he became noted for his ingenious contrivances in this line, and built a series of extremely fast motor-cycles, with one of which he made the record of one mile in 26⅖ seconds, which still stands as the fastest mile ever made by man with any form of mechanism.

Through the purchasing of one of his light engines by Captain Baldwin for his dirigible, Curtiss became interested in aeronautical matters, and soon built a glider with which he sailed down from the Hammondsport hills. The combination of his motor and the glider was the next step, and on July 4, 1908, he flew 1½ miles with the _June Bug_, winning the _Scientific American_ trophy.

Learning that the United States was not to be represented at the Rheims meet in August, 1909, he hastily built a biplane and went there. He won the first prize for the course of 30 kilometres (18.6 miles), second prize for the course of 10 kilometres, the James Gordon Bennett cup, and the tenth prize in the contest for distance. From Rheims he went to Brescia, Italy, and there won the first prize for speed. In all these contests he was matching his biplane against monoplanes which were acknowledged to be a faster type than the biplane.

On May 29, 1910, Mr. Curtiss made the first stated aeroplane tour to take place in this country, travelling from Albany to New York City, 137 miles, with but one stop for fuel. With this flight he won a prize of $10,000.

He has made many other notable flights and stands in the foremost rank of the active aviators. At the same time he is busily engaged in the manufacture of the Curtiss biplane and the Curtiss engine, both staple productions in their line.

CHARLES KEENEY HAMILTON.

CHARLES KEENEY HAMILTON is justly regarded as one of the most skilful of aviators. He was born in Connecticut in 1881, and showed his “bent” by making distressing, and often disastrous, leaps from high places with the family umbrella for a parachute.

In 1904 he worked with Mr. Israel Ludlow, who at that time was experimenting with gliders of his own construction, and when Mr. Ludlow began towing them behind automobiles, Hamilton rode on the gliders and steered them. Later he became interested in ballooning, and made a tour of Japan with a small dirigible.

He early became famous in the aviation world by his spectacular glides from a great height. He has said that the first of these was unintentional, but his motor having stopped suddenly while he was high in the air, he had only the other alternative of falling vertically. The sensation of the swift gliding having pleased him, he does it frequently “for the fun of it.” These glides are made at so steep an angle that they have gained the distinctive name, “Hamilton dives.”

Hamilton came most prominently before the public at large with his flight from Governor’s Island to Philadelphia and back, on June 13, 1910. Following close upon Curtiss’s flight from Albany to New York, it was not only a record-breaking achievement, but helped to establish in this country the value of the aeroplane as a vehicle for place-to-place journeyings.

HUBERT LATHAM.

HUBERT LATHAM, the famous Antoinette pilot, is a graduate of Oxford. His father was a naturalized Frenchman.

His first aeronautical experience was as companion to his cousin, Jacques Faure, the balloonist, on his famous trip from London to Paris in 6½ hours, the fastest time ever made between the two places until the Clement-Bayard dirigible surpassed it by a few minutes on October 16, 1910.

The Antoinette monoplane with which M. Latham has identified himself began with the ingenious engine of Levavasseur, which was speedily made use of for aeroplanes by Santos-Dumont, Bleriot, and Farman. Levavasseur also had ideas about aeroplanes, and persuaded some capitalists to back him in the enterprise. When it was done, no one could be found to fly it. Here M. Latham, a lieutenant of miners and sappers in the French army, stepped into the breach, and has made a name for himself and for the Antoinette machine in the forefront of the progress of aviation.

After winning several contests he set out, on July 19, 1909, to cross the British Channel. After flying about half the distance he fell into the sea. Six days later Bleriot made the crossing successfully, and Latham made a second attempt on July 27th, and this time got within a mile of the Dover coast before he again came down in the water.

He has shown unsurpassed daring and skill in flying in gales blowing at 40 miles per hour, a record which few other aviators have cared to rival.

ALFRED LEBLANC.

ALFRED LEBLANC, the champion cross-country flier of the world, was born in France in 1879. By profession he is a metallurgist. A friend of Bleriot, he became interested in monoplane flying, the more readily because he was already a skilled balloonist.

At the time Bleriot made his historic flight across the British Channel, Leblanc preceded him, and, standing on the Dover shore, signalled Bleriot where to strike the land.

He organized Bleriot’s school for aviators at Pau, and became its director. Its excellence is exhibited in the quality of its pupils; among them Chavez, Morane, and Aubrun.

The achievement through which Leblanc is most widely known is his winning of the 489-mile race over the northern part of France in August, 1910, and with the victory the prize of $20,000 offered.

CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE.

CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE, the most famous of British aviators, learned to fly in France, under the tutelage of M. Bleriot, Having accomplished so much, he went to Mourmelon, the location of Farman’s establishment, and made himself equally proficient on the Farman biplane. While in France he taught many pupils, among them Armstrong Drexel. Returning to England, he opened a school for English aviators.

He came into prominent public notice in his contest with Paulhan in the race from London to Manchester, and although Paulhan won the prize, Grahame-White received a full share of glory for his plucky persistence against discouraging mishaps.

At the Boston-Harvard meet, in September, 1910, Grahame-White carried off nearly all the prizes, and in addition won for himself a large measure of personal popularity.

On October 14th he flew from the Benning Race Track 6 miles away, over the Potomac River, around the dome of the Capitol, the Washington Monument, and over the course of Pennsylvania Avenue, up to the State, War, and Navy Department building, alighting accurately with his 40-foot biplane in the 60-foot street. Having ended his “call,” he mounted his machine and rose skilfully into the air and returned to his starting point.

At the Belmont Park meet, in October, Grahame-White captured the international speed prize with his 100-horse-power Bleriot monoplane, and finished second in the race around the Statue of Liberty, being beaten by only 43 seconds.

LOUIS PAULHAN.

LOUIS PAULHAN was, in January, 1909, a mechanic in Mourmelon, France, earning the good wages in that country of $15 per week. He became an aviator, making his first flight on July 10, 1909, of 1¼ miles. Five days later he flew over 40 miles, remaining in the air 1 hour 17 minutes, and rising to an altitude of 357 feet, then the world’s record. He flew constantly in public through the remainder of 1909, winning many prizes and breaking and making records.

In January, 1910, he was the most prominent aviator at the Los Angeles meet, and there made a new world’s record for altitude, 4,166 feet.

Within the 13 months and 3 weeks (up to October 1, 1910) that he has been flying, he has won over $100,000 in prizes, besides receiving many handsome fees for other flights and for instruction to pupils.

CLIFFORD B. HARMON.

CLIFFORD B. HARMON has the double distinction of being not only the foremost amateur aviator of America, but his feats have also at times excelled those of the professional airmen. On July 2, 1910, Mr. Harmon made a continuous flight of more than 2 hours, breaking all American records, and this he held for several months.

Mr. Harmon’s first experience in the air was as a balloonist, and in this capacity he held the duration record of 48 hours 26 minutes for a year. On this same voyage, at the St. Louis Centennial, he made a new record in America for altitude attained, 24,400 feet.

At the Los Angeles aviation meet, in January, 1910, where he went with his balloon _New York_, he met Paulhan, and became his pupil. At that meet Paulhan made a new world’s record for altitude with a Farman biplane, and this machine Mr. Harmon bought, and brought to Mineola, L. I., where he practised assiduously, crowning his minor achievements by flying from there across Long Island Sound to Greenwich, Conn.

At the Boston-Harvard aviation meet, in September, 1910, Mr. Harmon won every prize offered to amateur contestants.

WALTER BROOKINS.

WALTER BROOKINS is one of the youngest of noted aviators. He was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1890, and went to school to Miss Katherine Wright, sister of the Wright brothers. Young Walter was greatly interested in the experiments made by the Wrights, and Orville one day promised him that when he grew up they would build a flying machine for him. Brookins appeared at Dayton in the early part of 1910, after several years’ absence, during which he had grown up, and demanded the promised flying machine. The Wrights met the demand, and developed Brookins into one of the most successful American aviators.

Brookins’s first leap into prominence was at the Indianapolis meet, in June, 1910, where he made a new world’s record for altitude, 4,803 feet. This being beaten soon after in Europe, by J. Armstrong Drexel, with 6,600 feet, Brookins attempted, at Atlantic City, in September, to excel Drexel’s record, and rose to a height of 6,175 feet, being forced to come down by the missing of his motor.

On September 29, 1910, he left Chicago for Springfield, Ill. He made two stops on the way for repairs and fuel, and reached Springfield in 7 hours 9 minutes elapsed time. His actual time in the air was 5 hours 47 minutes. The air-line distance between the two cities is 187 miles, but as Brookins flew in the face of a wind blowing 10 miles an hour, he actually travelled 250 miles. During the journey Brookins made a new cross-country record for America in a continuous flight for 2 hours 38 minutes.

JOHN B. MOISANT.

JOHN B. MOISANT is an architect of Chicago, born there of Spanish parentage in 1883. Becoming interested in aviation, he went to France in 1909, and began the construction of two aeroplanes, one of them entirely of metal. He started to learn to fly on a Bleriot machine, and one day took one of his mechanicians aboard and started for London. The mechanician had never before been up in an aeroplane. After battling with storms and repairing consequent accidents to his machine, Moisant landed his passenger in London three weeks after the start. It was the first trip between the two cities for an aeroplane carrying a passenger, and although Moisant failed to win the prize which had been offered for such a feat, he received a great ovation, and a special medal was struck for him.

At the Belmont Park meet, in October, 1910, Moisant, after wrecking his own machine in a gale, climbed into Leblanc’s Bleriot, which had been secured for him but a few minutes before, and made the trip around the Statue of Liberty in New York Bay and returned to the Park in 34 minutes 38 seconds. As the distance is over 34 miles, the speed was nearly a mile a minute. This feat won for him, and for America, the grand prize of the meet--$10,000.

J. ARMSTRONG DREXEL.

J. ARMSTRONG DREXEL is a native of Philadelphia. He was taught to fly a Bleriot machine at Pau by Grahame-White, and he has frequently surpassed his instructor in contests where both took part. At the English meets in 1910 he won many of the prizes, being excelled in this respect only by Leon Morane.

At Lanark, Scotland, he established a new world’s record for altitude, 6,600 feet. At the Belmont Park meet he passed his former record with an altitude of 7,185 feet, making this the American record, though it had been excelled in Europe. At Philadelphia, November 23, 1910, he reached an altitude of 9,970 feet, according to the recording barometer he carried, thus making a new world’s record. This record was disputed by the Aero Club, and it may be reduced. A millionaire, he flies for sheer love of the sport.

RALPH JOHNSTONE.

RALPH JOHNSTONE was born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1880. He became an expert bicycle rider, and travelled extensively in many countries giving exhibitions of trick bicycle riding, including the feat known as “looping the loop.” He joined the staff of the Wright Brothers’ aviators in April, 1910, and speedily became one of the most skilful aeroplane operators.

He made a specialty of altitude flying, breaking his former records day after day, and finally, at the International Aviation Meet at Belmont Park, L. I., in October, 1910, he made a new world’s altitude record of 9,714 feet, surpassing the previous record of 9,121 feet made by Wynmalen at Mourmelon, on October 1st.

Johnstone was instantly killed at Denver, Col., on November 14, 1910, by a fall with his machine owing to the breaking of one of the wings at a height of 800 feet.