JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
Here's a clearer picture, which is from the front cover of the magazine, and which identifies the fliers--as you can see the middle flyer that looks like a Wright plane was Octave Chanute, and which was moved over to the left in a new design to accommodate the title of the journal in the ad. Chanute was really very helpful to the Wrights and gave them support at nearly all times during their experiments...but I think it was his interest in them early on that was most beneficial, as the Wrights were just starting out and Chanute was a recognized world-wide authority who actually traveled to Dayton to meet them. Anyway, that's his flyer, though not Chanute himself, who I'm pretty sure never flew one of his own inventions--the Wrights on the other hand insisted upon that, saying it was of the most supreme importance for understanding motion in the air and controlling the aircraft. As the Wrights realized at the outset, it wasn't getting into the air that was the problem--it was staying there. And in order to stay there you had to be able to move the aircraft, and so move different parts of the aircraft. Everything else flowed from that.
It was in volume 1 issue 7 that Chanute was quoted saying that the Wrights "flew like a vulture" which was a high compliment, given the ability of vultures, and that with them "soaring flight was almost an accomplished fact". (p. 147). See Internet Archives for the magazine: https://archive.org/details/aeronauti111118021903glen/page/148
And so where were the Wright Brothers?
At the time of publication in December 1903 they were down in Kitty Hawk, with their motorized flyer, just >this close< to making their historic flight. They were never interested in publicity, never wanting economic support, always insistent upon themselves only. They were cautious and prudent in sharing their work, though they were hardly the hermit-like inventors that they were sometimes portrayed to be in the unsympathetic press. Their flight didn't make headlines, and they wouldn't see popular fame yet for several more years. The Scientific American was skeptical of the Wrights, an was not particularly supportive of their claims until late in the game. It wasn't until 1908 that the SA fully embraced the brothers for the great pioneers they were.
The flyer at bottom center was the Langley Aerodrome, which at just about the time of publication of this ad was being launched/thrown into the Potomac on a test flight. It was a disaster, and one from which Langley--one of the most highly-respected scientists in the country--would never recover.
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