First Flight: The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Airplane

120 Pages·2002·10.3 MB·English

by  Crouch, Tom

The Wright Brothers
and
the Invention
Airplane
o/7/*e
FEDERAL
PUBLICATfOM
1
Back cover, top: Monumentat WrightBrothersNational
Memorial, KillDevilHills, North Carolina
Back cover, bottom: 1905 WrightFlyerIIIin WrightBrothers
Aviation CenteratCarillon HistoricalPark, Dayton, Ohio
First Flight
The Wright Brothers and
the Invention ofthe Airplane
Tom D. Crouch
Foreword by John Glenn
Dayton Aviation Heritage
National Historical Park
Ohio
Wright Brothers National Memorial
North Carolina
Produced by the
Division of Publications
Harpers Ferry Center
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Washington, D.C.
NationalParkHandbookssupportmanagementpro-
gramsandpromotetheunderstandingandenjoymei
themorethan380parksintheNationalParkSystem.
TheNationalParkServicecaresforthesespecialplaces
savedbytheAmericanpeoplesothatallmayenjoyou"
heritage.Handbooksaresoldatparksandcanbepur-
chasedbymailfromtheSuperintendentofDocumei
U.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice,StopSSOP,Wash-
DC
ington, 20402-0001,orthroughtheInternetat
http://bookstore.gpo.gov.Thisishandbooknumber159.
Foreword 4
byJohn Glenn
A World Transformed 5
Introduction: At Home in theAir 6
Aviation Chronology:
Dreams ofFlying 8
ACenturyofFlight 10
Opening the Skies 13
by TomD. Crouch
Chapter 1 The Wright Family ofDayton 14
Chapter 2 Learningto Fly 26
Chapter 3 PerfectingtheAirplane 72
Related Sites 112
Further Reading 113
Index 114
h,thatviewistremendous!" Onlookingbackat
. EarthasIorbitedioomilesaboveitssurface, Iwas
elated,awestruck.Thefullspectrumofcolorswasvisi-
bleinthesunrisesandsunsetsshiningthroughthe
atmosphere'sprism.Theywerespectacularinaway
thatfilmcan'tcapture.Butmorethanthat,mynewper
spectiveonourhomeforeverchangedthewayI
thoughtaboutit.Thehuman-madeproblemsofour
troubledworldseemedoutofkeepingwithanEarth
thatappearedpeacefulandbeautifulinthedarkness
—
ofspace.Onthehorizonglowedaverythinfilm the
—
airthatsustainsus andIwasstruckbyitsfragility.
Myprivilegedviewofourplanetin1962canbe
traceddirectlybacktoOrvilleandWilburWright,
whojust59yearsearliermadetheworld'sfirstpow-
ered,controlledflightinaheavier-than-airmachine.
Foranaviatoravisittotheplaacceesswwhheerreethevinvented
flightis apowerful experience. WrightBrothers
NationalMemorialpresi sthesiteswheretheycon-
ductedtheirglidingexp< Lentsandmadetheirpow-
eredflightsin1903.Dayt
HistoricalParkpreserve: 'rairieFlvinsF
wneretneydevelopedapracticalairplane—-ttnhee11990055
WrightFlyerIII—andlearnedtofullycontrolitinsus-
tainedflight.TheparkalsopreservestheFlyeritself
andsitesassociatedwiththebrothers' earlyyears.
TheWrightswerethefirs»ttaassttrroonnaauutls.Theirinitial
shortflightopenedourquesttoreachbeyondthe
worldweknow.Theywerethefirsttestpilots. Com-
biningsciencewithdesignintuition,theysoughttogo
"faster,higher,farther," andafterthemtheworld
wouldneverbethesame.Aviationwasthedefining
technologyofthe20thcentury,alteringinternational
relations,quickeningcommerce,changingthefaceof
war.WhenIflyonanairliner,Iamcoveringadistance
insecondsthatwouldhavetakenadaybyhorseand
;on.AndIstilltrytogetawindowseat,becauseI
haveneverlostmysenseofwonderatlookingdown
atourworldfromabove.
A
World Transformed
Home
At in the Air
Theyalwayswaved. InphotographsoftheWright
brothers'firstpublicflightsin1908and1909,menand
womenlookupandwavetheirhandkerchiefs,wave
theirhats,atthepilotofthegreatnoisymachineflying
overhead.Theywantedtheirfellowhumanbeing,hav-
ingmadehiswayintothesky,tocatchsightofthem
below.Thesewerenotpassivewatchers;theytookpart
intheevent,bearingwitnesstooneofthemomentson
whichhistoryturns.
Howastoundingitmusthavebeen. "Exhilaration,"
—
"elation" thesewerethewordspeopleusedinrecall-
ingtheirreaction.Somehadseenflightbyotherexper-
imenters,butitwasragged,tentative,basicallyextend-
edhopswiththepilothangingontoanalienthing
alwaysonthebrinkofdisaster.Thisgracefulmachine,
though,wasathomeintheair. Itflewsmoothly,bank-
ingeffortlesslyintoturns,wonderfullyresponsiveto
thewillofthepilot.
Untilthenmostpeoplehadconsideredtheideaof
humanflightslightlyridiculous,onalevelwiththe
questforaperpetualmotionmachine,orworse,a
pridefulambitiontointrudeonarealmreservedfor
birdsandgods. ButafterseeingtheWrightsfly,they
feltliberated—thehumanexperiencehadbeengiven
anewdimension.
Intheinfancyofhumanflight,theWrights'genius
wastounderstandtwothingsthatnooneelse did.
Theyhadtoteachthemselvestobesuperbpilots,to
controlaninherentlyunstablemachineinmuchthe
samewaythatachildlearnstorideabicycle.Andthey
hadtobuildamachinethatcouldbecontrolled.They
knewthatrudderandelevatoralonewerenotenough;
somethingwasneededtoallowthepilottorolltheair-
craft'swings.Theirsolutionwassimple,elegant,and
—
revolutionary,awing-warpingsystem theforerunner
ofailerons.Airplanesnowofcourselookverydifferent
fromthatfirstFlyer,buttheirpilotscontrolthemin
essentiallythesameway.
Frenchspectatorshail Dayton,Ohio,andNorthCarolina'sOuterBanksare
Wilbur Wrightashe flies thesettingsfortheWrightstory,vividlyrecountedby
overa racetracknear
notedaeronauticalhistorianandWrightbiographer
LeMans, France, in 1908.
TomD.Crouch.Dayton,hometowntothetwobicycle
shopowners,wasthesupportiveenvironmentneeded
forresearch,buildingcomponentsoftheglidersand
poweredflyers,andin1904-05perfectingtheflyersin
flightsovernearbyHuffmanPrairie. OntheOuter
Bankstheyassembledthecomponentsandlaunched
theglidersagainandagainoffthe dunescalledKill
DevilHills,tuningthemachines,learningtofly,and
finallymakingthefirstpoweredflightin1903.Their
achievementlinkeddisciplinedimmersionintheoret-
icalandmechanicalproblemswithpureadventure-
lyingdownonawingtosailoverthebrightsand,the
Atlanticbreakersahead,ridingthewindwiththegulls.
Itisameasureofhumaningenuitythatjust24years
afterthefirstflight,CharlesLindberghcouldcrossthe
Atlantic.TothisheroicmantheWrightswereheroes.
Hesaidofthem: "Theirintellectsandsensesworkedin
mutualsupport.Theyrepresentedmaninbalance.And
fromthatbalancecamewingstoliftaworld."
Break me my bounds, andletmefly
To regions vastofboundless sky
PUBLIC DOCUMENT
I iUr^nce Dunbar
CL
1
*mH^
Dreams of Flying
&
From mythicqueststofollowbirdsintothesky
tothefirst humanfootstepsonthe moon,
we havealways reached higher, alwayssought ""^^
toescapegravity's bounds.
Icarusfalling
from thesky
1499 Giovanni Battista
Dantiattemptstoflywitha
setofwingsfromatower. He
1000B.C.E. Firstknown fails.
kite, inChina (earlyChinese
kiteshownabove). 1648 JohnWilkinstheorizes
aboutfixed-wingflight.
1232 Chinese military
rockets. 1680 Giovanni Borelli
concludesthathuman muscle
1250 RogerBacontheorizes powerisinadequatefor
abouthuman-propelled flight.
flight. Heassumesthepilot
mustflapthewings. 1783 Montgolfierbrothers
send alofta hot-a—irballoon
1485-1500 Leonardoda with a passenger thefirst
Vincidesignsflyingmachines human aerialvoyage (right).
(below).