Viewing page 31 of 58

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

one for the U.S. Army [[strikethrough]] when required fore power. [[/strikethrough]]. Baldwin moved his operations to Hammondsport and a dirigible hangar was erected. In view of these activities Curtiss started working on larger engines for [[strikethrough]] aviation [[/strikethrough]] aircraft, and Capt. Baldwin proceeded to build and test this new Army airship there. Curtiss had [[strikethrough]] went [[/strikethrough]] gone up with Baldwin as engine man on test flights and eventually began flying [[strikethrough]] it [[/strikethrough]] an airship himself. As a mechanic for Curtiss, Wildman's work soon turned into quite an aeronautical venture. 
    That summer Curtiss also made trips to Nova Scotia,[[strikethrough]] Canada, [[/strikethrough]]  to discuss installation of a Curtiss engine in one of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell's tetrahedral kites. This led to the forming of the Aerial Experiment Association in October, 1907 to experiment with flying machines. Wildman soon found himself in the midst of those now historic activities and assisted in the building and testing of the planes and engines made by that notable organization in 1908. Late that Fall the aerial experiment group attempted to fly off the waters of Lake Keuka by installing floats under the "June Bug" but the experiment was not successful due to poor float design and lack of power. With floats, the airplane was called the "Loon" and Wildman assisted with this very early attempt to fly off the water, which was finally accomplished by Curtiss in January, 1911 at San Deigo, California. (Ten months earlier Henri Fabre of France had become first in the world to design, build, and pilot a hydroairplane)
   Up to this time all Curtiss engines had been air-cooled, [[strikethrough]] following his [[/strikethrough]] which was customary with motorcycle practice, but in February, 1908 Balwin [[strikethrough]] was awarded another [[/strikethrough]] received The contract [[strikethrough]] for a still larger dirigible calling for [[/strikethrough]] to build the army's airship. He and Curtiss decided that it should have a specially designed 4-cylinder 30 [[strikethrough]] H.P. [[/strikethrough]] hp, water-cooled Curtiss engine. In helping to build this special engine Wildman had a hand in the very beginning of all Curtiss water-cooled aircraft engines to follow. This engine was such an improvement over the former air-cooled type that another one was made, [[strikethrough]] comprising two of these [[/strikethrough]] utilizing two of the 4-cylinder [[strikethrough]] engines [[/strikethrough]] blocks built into a 90° vee [[strikethrough]] Light [[/strikethrough]] 8-cylinder 50 [[strikethrough]] -60 H.P. model [[/strikethrough]] hp type. This second V-8 was used by Curtiss in the winning 1909 Gordon Benett race airplane. Wildman accompanied Curtiss to France for that famous event and as one of his mechanics [[strikethrough]] nursed this [[/strikethrough]] spurred that new engine to a glorious finish.