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Scientific American, June 08, 1901
Boston Transcript, August 19, 1901
New York Herald, August 19, 1901
American Inventor letters to the editor penned by Whitehead and
editorial responses April, 1902
The Aeronautic World, May, 1903
Scientific American, September 19, 1903
Aviation History, March 1996
Air Enthusiast 35, January 1988
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Whitehead’s Letters to American Inventor
Excerpt from letter dated January 17, 1902
This new machine has been tried twice, on January 17, 1902. It
was intended to fly only short distances, but the machine behaved
so well that at the first trial it covered nearly two miles over
the water of Long Island Sound, and settled in the water without
mishap to either machine or operator. It was then towed back to
the starting place. On the second trial it started from the same
place and sailed with myself on board across Long Island Sound.
The machine kept on steadily in crossing the wind at a height
of about 200 feet, when it came into my mind to try steering around
in a circle. As soon as I turned the rudder and drove one propeller
faster than the other the machine turned a bend and flew north
with the wind at a frightful speed, but turned steadily around
until I saw the starting place in the distance. I continued to
turn but when near the land again, I slowed up the propellers
and sank gently down on an even keel into the water, she readily
floating like a boat. My men then pulled her out of the water,
and as the day was at a close and the weather changing for the
worse, I decided to take her home until Spring.
The length of flight on the first was about two miles, and on
the second about seven miles. The last trial was a circling flight,
and as I successfully returned to my starting place with a machine
hithero untried and heavier than air, I consider the trip quite
a success. To my knowledge it is the first of its kind. This matter
has so far never been published.
I have no photographs taken yet of No. 22 but send you some of
No. 21 as these machines are exactly alike, except the details
mentioned. No. 21 has made four trips, the longest one and a half
miles, on August 14, 1901. The wings of both machines measure
36 feet from tip to tip, and the length of the entire machine
is 32 feet. It will run on the ground 50 miles an hour, and in
air travel at about 70 miles. I believe that if wanted, it would
fly 100 miles an hour. The power carried is considerably more
than necessary.
Believing with Maxim that the future of the air machine lies in
an apparatus made without the gas bag, I have taken up the aeroplane
and will stick to it until I have succeeded completely or expire
in the attempt of so doing.
As soon as I get my machine out this Spring I will let you know.
To describe the feeling of flying is almost impossible, for, in
fact, a man is more frightened than anything else.
Trusting that this will interest your readers, I remain,
Very truly yours, Gustave Whitehead”
The editor of American Inventor wrote to Whitehead asking for
confirmation, his reply follows:
Editor, American Inventor
Dear Sir: Yours of the 26th received. Yes it was a full-sized
flying machine and I, myself, flew seven miles and returned to
my starting point.
In both the flights described in my previous letter, I flew in
the machine myself. This, of course, is new to the world at large,
but I do not care much in being advertised except by a good paper
like yours. Such accounts may help others along who are working
in the same line. As soon as I can I shall try again. This coming
Spring I will have photographs made of Machine No. 22 in the air
and let you have pictures taken during its flight. If you can
come up and get them yourself, so much the better. I attempted
this before, but in the first trial the weather was bad, some
little rain and avery cloudy sky, and the snapshots that were
taken did not come out right. I cannot take any time exposures
of the machine when in flight on account of its high speed.
I enclose a small sketch showing the course the machine made in
her longest flight, January 17, 1902.
Trusting this will be satisfactory, I remain,
Yours truly, Gustave Whitehead.
Editors Note in response:
Newspaper readers will remember several accounts of Mr. Whitehead’s
performances last summer. Probably most people put them down as
fakes, but it seems as though the long-sought answer to the most
difficult problem Nature ever put to man is gradually coming in
sight. The Editor and the readers of the columns await with interest
the promised photographs of the machine in the air. The similarity
of this machine to Langley’s experimental flying machine is well
shown in the accompanying illustration, reprinted from a previous
issue. Mr. Langley, it will be remembered, was the first to demonstrate
the possibility of mechanical flight.
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