Continents
In America, however, the WRIGHT BIPLANE.
COMTE DE LAMBERT IN FLIGHT. trials were brought to a tragic close by the disaster in which Lieutenant Selfridge was killed when a passenger on Orville Wright's machine. Wilbur Wright, in France, however, had no check to his progress, and he made an astounding series of flights. The December 31st, when Wilbur Wright last grand record was accomplished on travelled for 2 hr. 20 min. 23 sec., in which time he covered about 90 miles, the official WRIGHT BIPLANE.
COMTE DE LAMBERT MAKING A TURN.
IO [AERONAUTICS WRIGHT BIPLANE.
COMTE DE LAMBERT FLYING OVER PARIS-OCT. 18, 1909. distance being 77 miles. It might here be pointed out that many discrepancies occur in aeronautical records. An aeroplane, in circling round a course staked out on the ground, swings wide at the corners, and covers a greater mileage than that shown by the official measurement. It would be better to take the mean distance between concentric courses about 100 ft. apart.
Point-to-point records are not exact also in many cases, as the machines do not pursue quite a bee-line. Measurement by time occupied in the air is more equitable.
The early part of the year 1909 was devoted to the training of pupils in France and Italy by the Wrights, and although many new competitors sprang up, several months passed ere they drew within measurable distance of the famous Americans. In Canada the McCurdy machine, Silver