#Half wing steam full#
#Half wing steam series#

He also conducted an extensive series of experiments with rubber band-powered models. Langley mostly ran tests with flat plates, but he also mounted small model airplanes he called aerostats, and even stuffed birds, on the arm.

#Half wing steam full#

At full speed, the tips of the whirling arm approached seventy miles per hour. He had erected a huge, 18.3 m (60 ft) diameter whirling arm at the university's Allegheny Observatory to perform aerodynamic research. Langley had begun serious investigation into heavier-than-air flight several years earlier while at the then Western University of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh (now the University of Pittsburgh). He became the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1887. Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906) was a leading scientific figure in the United States in the latter nineteenth century, well known especially for his astronomical research. On both occasions, the Aerodrome Number 5 landed in the water, as planned, because, in order to save weight, it was not equipped with landing gear. Two flights were made on May 6, one of 1,005 m (3,300 ft) and a second of 700 m (2,300 ft), at a speed of approximately 40 kph (25 mph). It was launched from a spring-actuated catapult mounted on top of a houseboat on the Potomac River near Quantico, Virginia. It made the world's first successful flight of an unpiloted, engine-driven, heavier-than-air craft of substantial size. After several failures with designs that were too fragile and under-powered to sustain themselves, Langley had his first genuine success on May 6, 1896, with his Aerodrome Number 5. In 1891, he began experiments with large, tandem-winged models powered by small steam and gasoline engines he called aerodromes.

Samuel Pierpont Langley became the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1887. View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage conditions may apply For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer CCO - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0) This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. CCO - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0) This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions).