CONQUEST OF THE AIR:

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 283, 24 November 1908, Page 3

CONQUEST OF THE AIR:

THE WRIGHT AEKOI'LAXE. EXPERIENCES OF A PASSEXtJEIi. Lorolon, October !). Mr Wilbur Wright carried a passen- [ gtr on his aeroplane lust Saturday for j a flight Instill'; mi less than S.Hiiin. ;U l 8-.lsee. Xfio distance covered was coni siiUn-silily over thirty five m'.li-s. T!c

: nearest approach to this flight with a | passenger was .Mr Wilbur Wright's | previous record of between 11 ami l:i niiiiiites. His passenger on Saturday' was the special correspondent of the I 'Figaro," who has siace written a. vivid account of his impressions. His only regrets arc that tile flight was all i too short and that he had not his note-1 book with, him in which to write his des-1 cription while ill the air. One could I write, he says, more easily in sin aero-[

plane than in a trai;i or motor car. i Tlie sensation of wheeling when tiio great nmeliiiie leans over towards the centre of the circle is intoxicating. The aeroplane responds to the sngtitestj touch of the rudder. One Juis a sense | of real (lying, not merely of passing : through the air. But the truth is that ' ' the glory of the thing passes description. ,

•' Ravished, fascinated, stirred beyond words," concluded the enthusiastic Frenchman, " I threw myself upon Wright's, neck ; die clac—l kissel him squarely. When Wright wishes it—to- J morrow if he likes—l will cross the channel with him from Calais to llover, I or from Dieppe to Newhaven." The Daily Mail, by the way, has just oll'era prize of £SOO for the first aeroplane! flight across the Charao!, and the WJrld of aviation is buzzing with excitement

at the forthcoming contest. The only aeronaut who received the announcement unmoved is Mr Wilbur Wright. But then Mr Wright never allows himself to get excitid about anything. The Times special correspondejt at Le Mario, the scene of the aeroplane trials, has an interesting little character sketch of the American aeronaut which is well worth quoting. ''Mr Wright',' be says, " is an altogether "-x----traordinary person, and his actions are! unlike those of ordinary men. Even those who know him best have given up

attempting to forecast what he will ilo in any particular circumstances. 'Hi; only 'u.ng that one can count upon is the truth of any positive statem nt that he Imakes; .hut then lie never makes a positivo statement, if lie can possibly Help it. Few mm have a simpler and more attractive manner, -,»w men have a more charming smile, and few men are less communicative, and certainly no one that I have ever met was more indifferent to considerations which might naturally he expected to influence him. Mr Wright is an ascetic savant, a refined and dignified recluse. His mind is like the figure of a geometrical' proposition. He seems to have taken up flying in order to find out whether certain results, which he has attained on paper, come true in practice. Retiring by temperament, he dislikes a crowd, and has kept it at arm's length as long as he could. His love of solitude leads him to sleep on two or three planks laid across the roof-beams of his aeroplane shed, though even here two bullets from the adjacent rifle range have found him out. and left boles in the flimsy walls of his shelter,

! one, indeed, insolently passing through the midst of the framework of his machine '•'This detachment from the grosser interests of the business man, this indifference to the feeling and expectations of the general public, is in itself beyond criticism. One cannot hut admire the delib'eratencss of his movements, the meticulous care winch he bestows upon the machine, which is the work of his own hands and brain." The Times writer expresses the belief that if all went well, Mr Wright might any day make a (light of 100 miles "To-morrow," he says, "Mr Wrigh'-i may astonish the world—or he may do nothing. You can never toll.'' ,