Unlocking the Sky: Glenn Hammond Curtiss and the Race to Invent the Airplane

271 Pages·2003·0.81 MB·English

by  Seth Shulman

UNLOCKING

THE SKY

l
G L E N N H A M M O N D C U RT I SS

A N D T H E R A C E

TO I N V E N T

T H E A I R P L A N E

SETH SHULMAN
For Benjamin,
who loves inventing
Let us hope that the advent of a successful flying
machine, now only dimly foreseen...w ill bring
nothing but good into the world; that it shall abridge
distance, make all parts of the globe accessible, bring
men into closer relation with each other, advance
civilization, and hasten the promised era in which
there shall be nothing but peace and goodwill among
all men.
—Octave Chanute, 1894

C O N T E N T S
Epigraph iii
LANGLEY’S FOLLY 1
PROLOGUE
REWRITING AVIATION HISTORY
PA R T I
INTRIGUE AT HAMMONDSPORT 25
ONE
WRIGHTS AND WRONGS 41
TWO
AMERICA OR BUST 60
THREE
REACHING FOR THE SKY
PA RT II
CAPTAINS OF THE AIR 81
FOUR
SKY DANCING 103
FIVE
FLIGHT OF THE JUNE BUG 122
SIX
vi CONTENTS
SKY KING 14 4
SEVEN
WARPED WINGS
PA RT III
GROUNDED 16 9
EIGHT
FLIGHT OF A HERO 18 6
NINE
NEW BEGINNINGS 20 5
TEN
ALL BUT THE LEGACY 223
EPILOGUE
23 1
APPENDIX A PARTIAL LIST OF INVENTIONS BY GLENN CURTISS
23 5
S OURCES
24 5
ACKNOWLED GMENTS
24 7
INDEX
About the Author
Other Books by Seth Shulman
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
P R O L O G U E
LANGLEY’S FOLLY

Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical
and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.
—Simon Newcomb,
prominent scientist, 1902
B
y midafternoon on December 8,
1903, dozens of spectators have gathered on the sunny banks of the
Potomac River south of Washington, D.C.
They have come to glimpse the future.
Most have made their way from the city in horse-drawn car-
riages; some in newfangled motorcars. And now, with overcoats
and caps, blankets and field glasses, they huddle against the bitter
breeze, chatting excitedly on the riverbank. Scores more have come
via the Potomac from nearby wharves, navigating chunks of bob-
bing ice. They peer from the decks of barges, yachts, and sailboats
moored for the unannounced event.
Prominent among the onlookers is a jaunty group of newspaper
reporters. Notepads at the ready, they ride the edgy adrenaline of a
2 UNLOCKING THE SKY
big story and busy themselves picking out the faces of prominent
members of Washington society: Elihu Root, President Teddy
Roosevelt’s secretary of war, is on hand, as is Army General Wallace
F. Randolph and other of the nation’s top military brass, scientists,
and politicians. Skeptical by trade, the reporters maintain a glib air
but, secretly, each recognizes the day’s potential. Possibly—just
possibly—they could be ringside for the most momentous spectacle
of the young century.
This cold, blustery afternoon, all eyes are trained on a large
houseboat in the middle of one of the Potomac’s widest sections,
where it converges with the Anacostia River. Pacing back and forth
on the deck of the ungainly craft is the unmistakable figure of
Samuel Pierpont Langley, venerable head of the Smithsonian Insti-
tution, attired for the occasion in a boating cap and woolen over-
coat, his neatly trimmed beard shining white in the afternoon sun.
There on deck, Langley notes how gusty the day has become;
the squalls have picked up to 18 miles per hour. From Langley’s
own account of the day, we know that he is worried as the wind
speed rises and the afternoon wears into early evening. But you
could never see it in his demeanor. Ever conscious of his role as pro-
ject director, Langley exudes his usual straight-backed pride and
confidence—characteristics sometimes taken for arrogance.
A prominent scientist with an international reputation, Langley
is well known by 1903 for his heretical belief that a machine heavier
than the air can carry a human being in flight. Yet he has done far
more than champion this view. All but abandoning his field of
astronomy, Langley has pioneered the embryonic field of “aerial
navigation” for fifteen years and published his results widely. Based
on the success of Langley’s efforts, the U.S. War Department has
secretly funded his five-year effort to build a full-scale prototype of