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Langley Aerodrome A [above]
Samuel Langley's successful flights of model-size Aerodromes in 1896 led him to build a full-size, human-carrying airplane. Langley's simple approach was merely to scale up the unpiloted Aerodromes to human-carrying proportions, which proved to be a grave error. He focused primarily on the power plant. The completed engine, a water-cooled five-cylinder radial with remarkable power, was indeed a great achievement.
Despite the excellent engine, Langley's Aerodrome A met with disastrous results, crashing on takeoff on October 7, 1903, and again on December 8 -- only nine days before the Wright brothers' historic flights. While Langley blamed the launch mechanism, it is clear that the aircraft was overly complex, structurally weak, and aerodynamically unsound. The second crash ended Langley's aeronautical work. |