The Langley Aerodrome was a pioneering but unsuccessful manned, tandem wing-configuration powered flying machine, designed at the close of the 19th century by Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Langley. The U.S. Army paid $50,000 for the project in 1898 after Langley's successful flights with small-scale uncrewed models two years earlier. Design and development Langley coined the name "Aerodrome" and applied it to a series of engine-driven uncrewed and crewed tandem wing aircraft that were built under his supervision by Smithsonian staff in the 1890s and early 1900s. The term is derived from Greek words meaning "air runner". After a series of unsuccessful tests beginning in 1894, Langley's uncrewed steam-driven model "Number 5" made a successful 90-second flight of over at about per hour at a height of to on May 6, 1896. In November, model "Number 6" flew almost . Both aircraft were launched by catapult from a houseboat in the Potomac River near Quantico, Virginia, south of Washington, D.C. The flights impressed Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt enough for him to assert that "the machine has worked" and to call for the United States Navy to create a four-officer board to study the utility of Langleys "flying machine" in March 1898, the first documented U.S. Navy expression of interest in aviation. The group approved the idea, although the Navy did not take on the project. Instead, the Board of Ordnance and Fortification of the U.S. Department of War acted on the recommendation and made $50,000 in grants to the Smithsonian for construction of a full-scale man-carrying version. Langley's technical team also built a gasoline-powered quarter-scale uncrewed model, which flew successfully twice on June 18, 1901, and again with an improved engine on August 8, 1903. The full-scale Aerodrome's internal combustion engine generated 53 horsepower, about four times that of the Wright brothers' gasoline engine of 1903. The Aerodrome's other features, however, especially structure and control, left much to be desired. The Aerodrome had a primitive control system that included a cruciform tail and a centrally-mounted rudder. Langley again used a houseboat catapult for launch. He chose his chief engineer, Charles M. Manly, to ride the aircraft and operate the controls as best he might. On the first flight attempt, October 7, 1903, the craft failed to fly and dropped into the Potomac River immediately after launch. On the second attempt, December 8, the craft collapsed after launch and