The
Scientific American from Dec. 26, 1903 informed its readers that
the aeroplane of the Wright brothers had been started from the top of a 100-foot sand dune and it had risen in the air to a height of about 60 feet, after which it had driven a distance of some three miles!!
"A Successful Experiment with a Motor-Driven Aeroplane.
On December 17 the Messrs. Orville and Wilbur Wright made some successful experiments at Kitty Hawk, N. C, with an aeroplane propelled by a 16-horsepower, four-cylinder, gasoline motor, and weighing complete more than 700 pounds.
The aeroplane was started from the top of a 100-foot sand dune. After it was pushed off, it at first glided downward near the surface of the incline. Then, as the propellers gained speed, the aeroplane rose steadily in the air to a height of about 60 feet, after which it was driven a distance of some three miles against a twenty-mile-an-hour wind at a speed of about eight miles an hour. Mr. Wilbur Wright was able to land on a spot he selected, without hurt to himself or the machine.
This is a decided step in advance in aerial navigation with aeroplanes, and it is probably due to the increased degree of controllability resulting from the Wright brothers’ novel form of horizontal rudder, which is a small guiding aeroplane placed in front of, instead of behind, the aeroplane proper. A well illustrated description of the Wright aeroplane appeared in our Februarr 22, 1902, issue. The present aeroplane has the very large surface of 510 square feet, making its apparent entire controllability all the more remarkable."
Source: "A Successful Experiment with a Motor-Driven Aeroplane.", Scientific American, pag. 486, Dec. 26, 1903,
https://archive.org/stream/scientifi...ge/n9/mode/1up