Manuscript/Mixed Material
Letter to Glenn H. Curtiss, December 11, 1914

Dec. 11, 1914. Glenn H. Curtiss, Esq., Hammondsport, N. Y. Dear Mr. Curtiss:—

Bell et al. v. Myers, Interference N ^o 34,455.

We are just in receipt of yours of the 10th inst., and have wired you as follows:—

“In Bell Myers interference shall start testimony Cameron and Bell here Wednesday sixteenth instant. Then adjourn to Hammondsport for your testimony and corroborating witnesses. Shall reach Hammondsport Sunday December twentieth for conference with you and witnesses. Be prepared to give testimony starting Monday December twenty-first. Shall require services of Notary Public and skilled typewriter. Wire acknowledgment of this telegram giving name of Notary Public.”

We expect to complete the testimony of Messrs. Cameron and Bell so that the writer can reach Hammondsport on Sunday, the 20th inst., for a short conference with you and the corroborating witnesses before the starting of testimony on December 21, 1914. We trust that you will have your photographs and drawings at hand so that they may be readily examined.

In connection with the corroborating testimony desired, you probably have available in Hammondsport one or more witnesses who were familiar with the construction of the “June Bug”. Kleckler and Ingram occur to us as being probably available. We should want them to testify as to the construction of the machine, and to be particularly specific with reference to the proposition that the lateral balancing rudders were normally arranged at a zero angle of incidence. They would have no difficulty in recollecting the flight of July 4, 1908, when you won the Scientific American Trophy, and they would also probably recollect without difficulty that it was some little time prior to that date that the lateral balancing rudders were changed from a normal positive angle of incidence to a normal negative angle of incidence. They might also remember that much trouble had been experienced in connection with leaky supporting surfaces, and that it was necessary, “in order to get into the air”, to have all the surface possible; but that, after the supporting surfaces had been painted, whereby the leakage was cured, the machine flew so strongly that the lateral ailerons were changed to a normal zero angle of incidence.