600 square feet which supported a total weight of 925 lbs.;
while the motor was 12 to 15 horse-power driving two propellers
on each side behind the main planes through chains and giving
the machine a speed of about 30 m.p.h. one of these chains was
crossed so that the propellers revolved in opposite directions
to avoid the torque which it was feared would be set up if they
both revolved the same way. The machine was not fitted with a
wheeled undercarriage but was carried on two skids, which also
acted as outriggers to carry the elevator. Consequently, a
mechanical method of launching had to be evolved and the machine
received initial velocity from a rail, along which it was drawn
by the impetus provided by the falling of a weight from a wooden
tower or 'pylon.' As a result of this the Wright aeroplane in
its original form had to be taken back to its starting rail
after each flight, and could not restart from the point of
alighting. Perhaps, in comparison with French machines of more
or less contemporary date (evolved on independent lines in
ignorance of the Americans' work), the chief feature of the
Wright biplane of 1905 was that it relied entirely upon the
skill of the operator for its stability; whereas in France some
attempt was being made, although perhaps not very successfully,
to make the machine automatically stable laterally. The
performance of the Wrights in carrying a loading of some 60 lbs.
per horse-power is one which should not be overlooked. The wing
loading was about 1 1/2 lbs. per square foot.

About the same time that the Wrights were carrying out their
power-driven experiments, a band of pioneers was quite
independently beginning to approach success in France. In
practically every case, however, they started from a somewhat