combination of runners and wheels. A moderately firm surface is
necessary for the machine to run along the ground; if the ground
be soft or marly the wheels would sink in the soil, and serious
accidents have resulted from the sudden stoppage of the forward
motion due to this cause.

With their first power-driven machine the Wrights made a series
of very fine flights, at first in a straight line. In 1904 they
effected their first turn. By the following year they had made
such rapid progress that they were able to exceed a distance of
20 miles in one flight, and keep up in the air for over half an
hour at a time. Their manager now gave their experiments great
publicity, both in the American and European Press, and in 1908
the brothers, feeling quite sure of their success, emerged from a
self-imposed obscurity, and astonished the world with some
wonderful flights, both in America and on the French flying
ground at Issy.

A great loss to aviation occurred on 30th May, 1912, when Wilbur
Wright died from an attack of typhoid fever. His work is
officially commemorated in Britain by an annual Premium Lecture,
given under the auspices of the Aeronautical Society.



CHAPTER XXVII
The First Man to Fly in Europe

In November, 1906, nearly the whole civilized world was
astonished to read that a rich young Brazilian aeronaut, residing