SAMUEL P. LANGLEY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 01/24/1887 - HFSID 254800
Price: $800.00
SAMUEL P. LANGLEY. ALS: "S.P. Langley", 1p, 5x8.
Allegheny Observatory, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, 1887 January 24. To Mr.
Hitgard. In full: "I am greatly obliged by yours of the 22nd and its
enclosure, which will be most useful to me. I am very glad too, that the
Superintendent approves the idea also. I will write at once to Emibeck. As for
the other matter: it brought me at any rate evidence of your kind feeling; and
that I assure you I consider as something to value." Langley, an astronomer and Director of the Smithsonian,
successfully built a steam-powered glider that flew, unmanned, in 1896 for ¾
mile before running out of fuel. With a $50,000 grant from Congress, he built
the Aerodrome, a full-size copy of his successful glider but with
a five-cylinder radial engine. In two tests in the fall of 1903, the
Aerodrome was launched by catapult in the Potomac with Charles Manly, the
engine's designer, at the controls. Both tests ended in failure with the
Aerodrome falling into the river. Nine days after his second failure,
well attended by the press, Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully flew their
Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Lightly rippled. Lightly stained,
touching the "y" in Langley, pencil erasures at upper margin. Overall, fine
condition.
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