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Updated: May 24, 2025
"But I made it, and it shot. They said my air glider would never stay up, but she did." "But, Tom, this is different. You are talking of sending light waves one of the most delicate forms of motion in the world over a material wire. It can't be done!" "Look here, Dad!" exclaimed Tom, coming to a halt in front of his parent. "What is light, anyhow? Merely another form of motion; isn't it?"
The sun was indeed sinking below their horizon; they were just beginning to watch that curious phenomenon of seeing dawn backward, when they first struck air dense enough to operate the power units noticeably. Quickly the power was applied till the machines sank rapidly to the warmer levels, the only governing factor being the tendency of the glider to break loose from the grip of the magnet.
The first trial was bound to be the worst; it was an experiment I made with life, and the chance of death or injury was, I supposed, about equal to the chance of success. I believed that with a dawn-like lucidity. I had begun with a glider that I imagined was on the lines of the Wright brothers' aeroplane, but I could not be sure. It might turn over. I might upset it.
"When it's up in the air it will be all right, but until then I'll need help to move it. Ned, call Rad, will you?" The colored man, with Boomerang, his faithful mule, was soon on hand. The animal was hitched to the glider, and pulled it toward the hill.
"It wouldn't go, anyway. Suppose I caught one, or both, of those other gliders, busy at their reconnaissance and shot their tails off. So what? The fans still wouldn't have their blood and gore. We'd be so high they couldn't see the action. All they would be able to see would be the other glider falling." Freddy stopped dramatically and pointed a finger at him in triumph.
But what in the world is an air glider, Tom?" "It's the last word in aeroplanes. You don't need a motor to make it go." "Don't need a motor?" "No, the wind does it all. It's a sort of aeroplane, but the motion comes from the wind, acting on different planes, and this is accomplished by shifting weights. In it you can stand still in a fierce gale, if you like."
If the air glider is any good it ought to hold me. I will go up." "Now, Ned, how about you?" asked the young inventor. "Well, I guess it's up to me to come along, but I sure do wish it was over with," and Ned glanced out of the window to see if the gale was dying out. But the wind was as high as ever.
But important though Santos Dumont's experiments were with the air-ship, they were of even greater value when he turned his attention to the aeroplane. One of his first trials with a heavier-than-air machine was made with a huge glider, which was fitted with floats.
The total weight of the plane in flying order was about 700 lbs. As great a figure in the early days as either Ferber or Santos-Dumont was Louis Bleriot, who, as early as 1900 built a flapping-wing model, this before ever he came to experimenting with the Voisin biplane type of glider on the Seine.
"Thank heaven, there is some hope for poor Peter at last," murmured Mr. Petrofsky earnestly. "You never can get to the platinum mine," said Ned. "The winds will tear your airship to pieces." "Not the kind I'm going to make," declared Tom. "It's going to be an air glider, that will fairly live on high winds. Ho! for Siberia and the platinum mines. Will you come?"
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