While Langley's book, Memoir on Mechanical Flight doesn't contain complete building instructions, it does contain a few clues and insights into his mindset.
1) He was rather dismissive of these as toys, an attitude that can't have helped, and might explain why his results per buck were so much lower the that of the Brothers Wright.
2) He seemed to have been obsessed with the problem of launching the models, a bugaboo that pursued him to the end.
3) He settled on motorsticks made from shellacked paper with the rubber inside.
4) He figured 300 ft lb/lb for the rubber in torque, a very low figure, but 1500-2000 ft lb/lbin tension. He seems to have been concerned that the knots in a wound motor would lead to uneven power.
5) I have some information on #26
| Total Length | 105cm |
| Span | 83cm |
| Chord, Top wing | 14cm |
| Chord Bottom wing | 19cm |
| Diameter, prop | 29cm |
| Area, top wing | 1134 sq cm |
| Area, bottom wing | 1548 sq cm |
| Area, tail | 144 sq cm |
| Weight, wings | 51 gr |
| Weight, tail | 7 gr |
| Weight, frame | 38 gr |
| Weight, wheels* | 20 gr |
| Weight, rubber | 40 gr |
| Weight TOTAL | 156 gr |
| Turns, rubber | 100 |
| Motor run | 8 sec |
| Calculated power | 0.001hp |
*There are no wheels in the drawing or photo
