Chicago, April 28, 1905
I have yours of 20th and I am greatly amused by your account of the answer made to Mr. Archdeacon. I enclose another clipping about him.
I have an answer from Montgomery, who says that his machine had about 180 square feet wing surface, 24 feet from tip to tip, two surfaces in tandem (somewhat like Langley's), and weighed 42 pounds; the aeronaut weighed 145 lbs. The speed and angles of flight varied and were not measured. The time occupied in descending was about 13 minutes.
If we accept the statement that the aeronaut cut loose 3,000 ft. up, and assume the descent at 1 in 7, we have 21,000 ft. for the distance glided in 13 minutes, or at the rate of, say, 18 miles an hour.
Montgomery also says that he has had urgent and promising demands for machines for exhibition purposes, and is preparing them; to be first shown to the press, when full sets of photos will be taken and sent to me with accounts of the performance. I infer that he has applied for a patent and does not want to disclose his details until he is protected.