Viewing page 251 of 459

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

12  AVIATION May, 1911
[[image - plane on ground]]
[[caption - Chas. F. Walsh's first Aeroplane, Built in 1909, of Which he Speaks in This Article]]
[[left column]]
succeeded in accomplishing the thing that I had dreamed about so long. This feeling was immediately surmounted by the desire to return to terra firma as soon as possible, so I depressed my elevating plane, and landed on all three wheels, for a wonder considering that I did not know how to operate the machine.
I might say right here that I experienced more real joy after this flight than from any subsequent flight with the exception of the one when I made the flights for my aviator's license and the time when I made my first turn, which I will attempt to describe later. In all these flights which I made during April, May, June and July I was using a 2- h.-p. automobile motor, which I borrowed from the old company who
[[/left column]]
[[right column]]
built the first aeroplane for me. This motor was barely powerful enough to carry me a thousand feet, and that was always after a long downhill run, but I was progressing.
In August I induced another friend to loan me a three-cylinder Elbridge motor. This engine was about 100 pounds lighter and gave more power. After installing and tuning it up I gave the signal to get go. After a short run of 150 feet, I rose to an altitude of 50 feet and leveled off and sailed triumphantly over the heads of my good and staunch supporters, who threw up their hats and cheered me to the limit. I landed about a mile away with perfect ease and safety. This engine, although it gave plenty of power, had an excessive vibration, so I found that by put
[[/right column]]
[[image - man with plane]]
[[caption - The Biplane Constructed by Aviator Walsh in Thirty-one Days]]