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[[preprinted]] AERO CLUB OF AMERICA. 753 FIFTH AVENUE, New York City. Cable Address, "Aeromerica New York." ^[[ [[signature]] Orville Wright [[/signature]] ]] March 12, 1906. The following statement has been made to the Aero Club of America: Though America, through the labors of Professor Langley, Mr. Chanute, and others, had acquired not less than ten years ago the recognized leadership in that branch of aeronautics which pertains to bird-like flight, it has not heretofore been possible for American workers to present a summary of each year's experiments to a society of their own country devoted exclusively to the promotion of aeronautical studies and sports. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that we now find ourselves able to make a report to such a society. "Previous to the year 1905 we had experimented at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, with man-carrying gliding machines in the years 1900, 1901, 1902 and 1903; and with a man-carrying motor flyer, which, on the 17th day of December, 1903, sustained itself in the air for 59 seconds, during which time it advanced against a 20-mile wind a distance of 852 feet. Flights to the number of more than 100 had also been made at Dayton, Ohio in 1904, with a second motor flyer. Of these flights, a complete circle made for the first time on the 20th of September, and two flights of 3 miles each made on the 9th of November and the 1st of December, respectively, were the more notable performances. "The object of the 1905 experiments was to determine the cause and discover remedies for several obscure and somewhat rare difficulties which had been encountered in some of the 1904 flights, and which it was necessary to overcome before it would be safe to employ flyers for practical purposes. The experiments were made in a swampy meadow about 8 miles east of Dayton, Ohio, and continued from June until the early days of October, when the impossibility of longer maintaining privacy necessitated their discontinuance. "Owing to frequent experimental changes in the machine and the resulting differences in its management, the earlier flights were short; but, towards the middle of September means of correcting the obscure troubles were found, and the flyer was at last brought under satisfactory control. From this time forward almost every flight established a new record. In the following schedule the duration, distance and cause of stopping are given for some of the later flights. Date. Distance. Time. Cause of Stopping. Pilot Sept. 26 17,961 meters (11 1/8 miles) 18 min. 9 sec. Exhaustion of fuel. W.W. Sept. 29 19,570 meters (12 miles) 19 min. 55 sec. Exhaustion of fuel. - O.W. Sept. 30 .............. 17 min. 15 sec. Hot bearing. - O.W. Oct. 3 24,535 meters (15 1/4 miles) 25 min. 5 sec. Hot bearing. - O.W. Oct. 4 33,456 meters (20 3/4 miles) 33 min. 17 sec. Hot bearing. - O.W. Oct. 5 38,956 meters (24 1-5 miles) 38 min. 3 sec. Exhaustion of fuel. - W.W. "It will be seen that an average speed of a little more than 38 miles an hour was maintained in the last flight. All of the flights were made over a circular course of about three-fourths of a mile to the lap, which reduced the speed somewhat. The machine increased its velocity on the straight parts of the course and slowed down on the curves. It is believed that in straight flight the normal speed is more than 40 miles an hour. In the earlier of the flights named above less than 6 pounds of gasoline was carried. In the later ones a tank was fitted large enough to hold fuel for an hour, but by oversight it was not completely filled before the flight of October 5. "In the past three years a total of 160 flights have been made with our motor-driven flyers, and a total distance of almost exactly 160 miles covered, an average of a mile to each flight, but until the machine had received its final improvements the flights were mostly short, as is evidenced by the fact that the flight of October 5th was longer than the 105 flights of the year 1904 together. "The lengths of the flights were measured by a Richard anemometer which was attached to the machine. The records were found to agree closely with the distances measured over the ground when the flights were made in calm air over a straight course; but when the flights were made in circles a close comparison was impossible because it was not practicable to accurately trace the course over the ground. In the flight of October 5th a total of 29.7 circuits of the field was made. The times were taken with stop-watches. In operating the machine it has been our
