Wilbur Wright (1867-1912)
and Orville Wright (1871-1948)
The Wright brothers realized one of mankind's earliest
dreams -- flying. Their 12-second-long powered airplane trip on Dec. 17, 1903
changed the world. It also catapulted the obscure and inseparable bicycle
mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, to permanent fame.
WRIGHTS REWROTE THEIR OWN HISTORY
By ORVILLE WRIGHT and WILBUR
WRIGHT
For The Associated Press
DAYTON,
Ohio -- It had not been our intention to make any detailed public statement
concerning the private trials of our power "Flyer" on the 17th of
December last; but since the contents of a private telegram, announcing to our
folks at home the success of our trials, was dishonestly communicated to the
newspaper men at the Norfolk office, and led to the imposition upon the public,
by persons who never saw the "Flyer" or its flights, of a fictitious
story incorrect in almost every detail; and since this story together with
several pretended interviews or statements, which were fakes pure and simple, have
been very widely disseminated, we feel impelled to make some correction.
The
real facts were as follows:
On
the morning of December 17th, between the hours of 10:30 o'clock and noon, four
flights were made, two by Orville Wright and two by Wilbur Wright. The starts
were all made from a point on the level sand about 200 feet west of our camp,
which is located a quarter of a mile north of the Kill Devil sand hill, in Dare
County, North Carolina.
The
wind at the time of the flights had a velocity of 27 miles an hour at ten
o'clock, and 24 miles an hour at noon, as recorded by the anemometer at the
Kitty Hawk Weather Bureau Station.
This
anemometer is thirty feet from the ground. Our own measurements, made with a
hand anemometer at a height of four feet from the ground, showed a velocity of
about 22 miles when the first flight was made, and 20 1/2 miles at the time of
the last one.
The
flights were directly against the wind. Each time the machine started from the
level ground by its own power alone, with no assistance from gravity, or any
other source whatever.
After
a run of about 40 feet along a mono-rail track, which held the machine eight
inches from the ground, it rose from the track and under the direction of the
operator climbed upward on an inclined course till a height of eight or ten
feet from the ground was reached, after which the course was kept as near
horizontal as the wind gusts and the limited skill of the operator would
permit.
Into
the teeth of a December gale the "Flyer" made its way forward with a
speed of ten miles an hour over the ground and thirty to thirty-five miles an
hour through the air.
It
had previously been decided that for reasons of personal safety these first
trials should be made as close to the ground as possible. The height chosen was
scarcely sufficient for maneuvering in so gusty a wind and with no previous
acquaintance with the conduct of the machine and its controlling mechanisms.
Consequently the first flight was short.
The
succeeding flights rapidly increased in length and at the fourth trial a flight
of fifty-nine seconds was made, in which time the machine flew a little more
than a half a mile through the air, and a distance of 852 feet over the ground.
The
landing was due to a slight error of judgment on the part of the aviator. After
passing over a little hummock of sand, in attempting to bring the machine down
to the desired height, the operator turned the rudder too far; and the machine
turned downward more quickly than had been expected. The reverse movement of
the rudder was a fraction of a second too late to prevent the machine from
touching the ground and thus ending the flight. The whole occurence occupied
little, if any more, than one second of time.
Only
those who are acquainted with practical aeronautics can appreciate the
difficulties of attempting the first trials of a flying machine in a
twenty-five mile gale. As Winter was already well set in, we should have
postponed our trials to a more favorable season, but for the fact that we were
determined, before returning home, to know whether the machine possessed
sufficient power to fly, sufficient strength to withstand the shocks of
landings, and sufficient capacity of control to make flight safe in boisterous
winds, as well as in calm air.
When
these points had been definitely established, we at once packed our goods and
returned home, knowing that the age of the flying machine had come at last.
From
the beginning we have employed entirely new principles of control; and as all
the experiments have been conducted at our own expense without assistance from
any individual or institution, we do not feel ready at present to give out any
pictures or detailed description of the machine.
----------------------------
NOTE
-- Dec. 17, 2003 was the 100th anniverssary of Wilbur and Orville Wright's first
powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C. The feat was duly noted by the
nation's press at the time, but the Wrights claimed the account was
"incorrect in almost every detail." Here from the archives of Wright
State University and the Library of Congress is the brothers' own account,
transmitted by The Associated Press on Jan. 5, 1904, and retransmitted for the
75th anniversary in December 1978. Punctuation, spelling and style are from the
original typewritten document.
Other
websites:
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/WrBr/Wright_articles.html
http://home.dayton.lib.oh.us/archives/WBCollection/wbbruno.html
http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/indepth
Pioneers
of flight:
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
A brilliant Renaissance artist, da Vinci also had some of
the earliest ideas on flight. One of his best-known drawings depicted the
aerial screw, an untested contraption that has since been classified as a
forerunner of today's helicopter.
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (1889-1972)
Sikorsky built and flew the first multi-motored plane and established the
world's record for helicopter flight. He fled Russia for New York in 1919 to
start a career building aircraft, but money problems forced him to teach
instead. Through teaching, Sikorsky came in contact with people who shared his
love of aviation. He started his own aeronautical enterprise four years later
and his accomplishments include fixed winged and multi-engined aircraft,
transoceanic flying boats and helicopters.
Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974)
In 1927, Lindbergh astounded the world by making the first solo, non-stop
transAtlantic flight. Upon his return to the United States he made a nationwide
tour to foster popular interest in aviation. Lindbergh married Anne Morrow, the
daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and with her made several long
flights. After the kidnapping and death of their son in 1932, the Lindberghs left
the United States for England.
Amelia Earhart (1897-1937)
Earhart's name became a household word in 1932 when she became the first
woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. Five years later, she and co-pilot
Frederick Noonan attempted to fly around the world, but her plane was lost
between New Guinea and Howland Island. The beloved Kansan's disappearance
spawned the aviation world's most talked-about mystery.
Charles Yeager (1923-present)
Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947, winning celebrity status and the
unofficial title of "Mr. Supersonic." A World War II fighter pilot
and a native of a tiny, poverty-stricken West Virginia town, he was featured
prominently in the book and movie "The Right Stuff." Yeager was
passed over when the government picked its first team of astronauts in 1959.
Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968)
In 1961, 27-year-old Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin became the first in history
to be rocketed into orbital space flight. His flight lasted 1 hour, 48 minutes
and circled the earth once. Gagarin, who proved that humans could survive
weightlessness and the crushing acceleration of a rocket ascent, had originally
trained to become an industrial worker before taking a course in flying and
enrolling as a Soviet air force cadet.
John Glenn (1921-present)
Glenn became the first American and the third person to orbit the earth
when he circled the globe three times in 1962. After leaving the space program,
Glenn entered Ohio politics and was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in
1974. He went into orbit again in 1998 to test the effects of space on the
elderly.
Neil Armstrong (1930-present)
As commander of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong was the first person
to walk on the moon, saying as he stepped from the lunar lander: "That's
one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." He later left the
space program to teach aeronautical engineering at the University of
Cincinnati. In 1986, President Reagan asked Armstrong to help investigate the
explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
GENERAL
SOURCES: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Columbia
Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, and The Houston Chronicle.
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