e. After much study we
finally concluded that tails were a source of trouble rather than of
assistance, and therefore we decided to dispense with them altogether.
It seemed reasonable that if the body of the operator could be placed in
a horizontal position instead of the upright, as in the machines of
Lilienthal, Pilcher and Chanute, the wind resistance could be very
materially reduced, since only one square foot instead of five would be
exposed. As a full half-horse-power could be saved by this change, we
arranged to try at least the horizontal position. Then the method of
control used by Lilienthal, which consisted in shifting the body, did
not seem quite as quick or effective as the case required; so, after
long study, we contrived a system consisting of two large surfaces on
the Chanute double-deck plan, and a smaller surface placed a short
distance in front of the main surfaces in such a position that the
action of the wind upon it would counterbalance the effect of the travel
of the center of pressure on the main surfaces. Thus changes in the
direction and velocity of the wind would have little disturbing effect,
and the operator would be required to attend only to the steering of the
machine, which was to be effected by curving the forward surface up or
down. The lateral equilibrium and the steering to right or left was to
be attained by a peculiar torsion of the main surfaces, which was
equivalent to presenting one end of the wings at a greater angle than
the other. In the main frame a few changes were also made in the details
of construction and trussing employed by Mr. Chanute. The most important
of these were: (1) The moving of the forward main cross-piece of the
frame to the extreme front edge; (2) the encasing in the cloth of all
cross-pieces and ribs of the surfaces; (3) a rearrangement of the wires
used in trussing the two surfaces together, which rendered it possible
to tighten all the wires by simply shortening two of them.

[Illustration]

With these plans we proceeded in the summer of 1900 to Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina, a little settlement located on the strip of land
that separates Albemarle Sound from the Atlantic Ocean. Owing to the
impossibility of obtaining suitable material for a 200-square-foot
machine, we were compelled to make it only 165 square feet in area,
which, according to the Lilienthal tables, would be supported at an
angle of three degrees in a wind of about 21 miles per hour. On t