But,
however sustained, I saw it sweep in a few seconds of its
leisurely flight, over a distance that to me was encumbered with
every sort of obstacle, which did not exist for it . . . . How
wonderfully easy, too, was its flight! There was not a flutter of
its pinions as it swept over the field, in a motion which seemed
as effortless as that of its shadow. After many years and in
mature life, I was brought to think of these things again, and
to. ask myself whether the problem of artificial flight was as
hopeless and as absurd as it was then thought to be"... In three
or four years Langley made nearly forty models. "The primary
difficulty lay in making the model light enough and sufficiently
strong to support its power," he says. "This difficulty continued
to be fundamental through every later form; but, beside this, the
adjustment of the center of gravity to the center of pressure of
the wings, the disposition of the wings themselves, the size of
the propellers, the inclination and number of the blades, and a
great number of other details, presented themselves for
examination."
By 1891 Langley had a model light enough to fly, but proper
balancing had not been attained. He set himself anew to find the
practical conditions of equilibrium and of horizontal flight. His
experiments convinced him that "mechanical sustenation of heavy
bodies in the air, combined with very great speeds, is not only
possible, but within the reach of mechanical means we actually
possess.
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