ground at Issy-les-Moulineaux, some five miles out from Paris, at 10:12 AM. At that time, the airplane was started and ran along the ground for 90 or 120 m and attained its usual speed of about 30 miles an hour, and quickly ascended into the air to a height of 3.6 or 4.5 m. It passed between the two posts that formed the goal for the start and finish, and flew in a straight line towards the 500-m post. When about half way to this post, Farman operated his horizontal rudder, and caused the machine to rise to a height of about 7.5 m. The airplane swept around the halfway post almost on an even keel, and then took a straight course back to the goal, which it passed through at about the same height as before, descending 30 m or so beyond in practically the same place from which it started. The time of this flight was 1 minute and 28 seconds, which corresponds with an average speed of about 25 miles an hour.
Not content with winning the 10,000 Francs prize, Farman once more flew his machine on January 15, for the purpose of ascertaining how much it would lift. He at first. loaded it with 66 pounds dead weight, but he found that only a slight lift could be obtained with this weight. With 20 kg dead weight, the machine rose and flew for a few hundred yards, but it was unable to make a sustained flight. With 15 pounds weight added, the machine flew from one end of the field to the other, and made a sharp turn when struck by a sudden strong gust of wind, which caused it to wheel around almost at right angles, and also to incline inward very sharply. After making the turn, however, it finished its flight on an even keel and at a height of 1.2 or 1.5 m above the ground.
In a final test, Farman flew from one end of the field to the other, and skirted along the fortifications at this point in a large circle, covering in all more than 2 km in a flight that lasted nearly three minutes. This final flight was the longest which had thus far been made. Farman expressed himself as quite satisfied that his machine was being pushed to the limit as far as its lifting power is concerned. In all probability his next step will be to equip it with a more powerful and lighter motor. By Farman’s recent successful flights in a circle, the record of the Wright brothers made in this country over two years ago has in this respect been duplicated: however there are many other points to be considered when one reviews the practicability of airplane flight. Firstly, Farman has found that his machine in that condition was incapable of long-distance flight, because of its inability to lift any perceptible quantity of fuel; secondly, he has not demonstrated its capability of flying with safety against a wind having a velocity of 32 km/h — a feat which the Wright brothers accomplished with their first motor-driven machine in 1903. While Farman’s airplane had approximately the same weight as that of the Wright brothers, it was fitted with a motor of three times the horse-power, and of about one-quarter the weight per horse-power developed. In spite of their handicap in the shape of less horse-power and a much weightier motor, the Wright brothers’ airplane made a speed of 64 km/h, as against 52 km/h shown by Farman’s. Therefore, the American inventors, by constructing a slightly larger machine and fitting it with an up-to-date, lightweight, and aeronautical motor, should have been readily able to carry two men and sufficient fuel for a flight of 200 km, which are among the requirements specified by the War Department for a heavier-than-air flying machine.
In March 1908, Farman recovered the machine in rubberized fabric and changed the engine for a 50-hp Renault. The Voisin-Farman I-bis became the Henri Farman I-bis. The new engine did not last long and he installed back the Antoinette one. However, Farman’s constant tinkering with his plane showed how confidently he had grasped the essentials of Aeronautics. During the Summer, he added side-curtains to the wings, to make them true box kites, and importantly put in ailerons of his own design so that the machine could be banked. On May 28, 1908, Farman took the first passenger in Europe into the air. Appropriately enough it was Ernest Archdeacon, the man who had been doing so much to encourage Aviation in France since 1903.
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The only other prominent aviator during this period was Léon Delagrange, who, like Farman, had purchased a standard Voisin in 1907. However, he was less technically-minded than Henry and had made only a few modifications to the basic design (Fig. 10). Gabriel Voisin remarked that, in contrast to Farman, Delagrange ‘was not the sporting type and knew nothing about running an engine’. Nevertheless, a sporting rivalry seems to have been developed between
