The History: Professor Samuel Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, has been developing a controllable, powered flying machine. Financially supported by the War Department and the Smithsonian, his machine called the Aerodrome was readied to fly.

The failure of Langley's October 7th flight had been blamed on a post that had been caught in the Aerodrome's launching track. A lug [fitting] on the problem post had been removed, new wings added and the engine reconditioned from its spill into the river.

Langley's assistant, engineer Charles Manly, operated the machine. The Aerodrome was launched from a height of 60 feet from a houseboat in the Potomac River two miles south of the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

The weather was perfect to attempt the flight in the morning, However, by the time the tugboat had towed the houseboat with the Aerodrome into position the winds had risen and it was cold. Patches of ice ran through the river and it was getting dark.

Manly chose to make the flight. Not wanting to be hampered by layers of heavy clothing, Manly was only garbed in long underwear, socks, light-weight shoes and his life jacket lined in cork.

As the cable holding the Aerodrome was released, a crashing sound was heard. The Aerodrome pitched nose up then slid tail first into the river.

Manly was pinned underneath the sinking Aerodrome. With his life jacket caught on a metal fitting, he removed the jacket and rose to the surface only to run into one of the patches of ice. He dove down and around to get to the surface as one of the men on the houseboat jumped in to assist him.

Once back on the houseboat, Dr. Francis Nash, a military surgeon, cut Manly's frozen underwear from his body and gave him a glass of whiskey.

There was further disappointment. Lines were attached to the Aerodrome from both the tugboat and the houseboat. In their attempt to quickly salvage the Aerodrome from the water the tugboat and houseboat crews jerked too hard at the line and the machine broke in two.

While Langley again blamed the failure on the launching mechanism, today it is agreed that the Aerodrome suffered a structural failure.

The newspapers capitalized on Langley's failures. Subsequently, Americans did not believe manned powered flight was possible and were skeptical even when they heard of the Wrights successes. While Langley wanted to continue the project, the War Department chose not to fund the research. Langley's manned flight experiments were over.