Wright brothers' invention

American aviation pioneers, inventors of the airplane

For other uses, see Wright brothers (disambiguation).

Wright brothers
Orville (left) and Wilbur Wright in
Nationality	American
Other&#;names	Will and Orv The Bishop's boys
Known&#;for	Inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane with the Wright Flyer, which pioneered the use of an effective flight control system
Parents
Relatives	Katharine Wright (sister)[a]
Orville Wright
Born	()August 19, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Died	January 30, () (aged&#;76) Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack[1]
Education	3 years high school
Occupation	Printer / publisher, bicycle retailer / manufacturer, airplane inventor / manufacturer, pilot trainer
Signature
Wilbur Wright
Born	()April 16, Millville, Indiana, U.S.
Died	May 30, () (aged&#;45) Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Cause of death	Typhoid fever[2]
Education	4 years high school
Occupation	Editor, bicycle retailer / manufacturer, airplane inventor / manufacturer, pilot trainer
Signature

The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, – January 30, ) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, – May 30, ), were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane.^[3][4][5] They made the first controlled, sustained flight of an engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, , four miles (6&#;km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, at what is now known as Kill Devil Hills.

In the Wright brothers developed the Wright Flyer II, which made longer-duration flights including the first circle, followed in by the first truly practical fixed-wing aircraft, the Wright Flyer III.

The brothers' breakthrough invention was their creation of a three-axis control system, which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium.

Their system of aircraft controls made fixed-wing powered flight possible and remains standard on airplanes of all kinds.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]:&#;&#;} Their first U.S. patent did not claim invention of a flying machine, but rather a system of aerodynamic control that manipulated a flying machine's surfaces.^[12] From the beginning of their aeronautical work, Wilbur and Orville focused on developing a reliable method of pilot control as the key to solving "the flying problem".

This approach differed significantly from other experimenters of the time who put more emphasis on developing powerful engines.^[13] Using a small home-built wind tunnel, the Wrights also collected more accurate data than any before, enabling them to design more efficient wings and propellers.^{[11]:&#;&#;[14]:&#;&#;}

The brothers gained the mechanical skills essential to their success by working for years in their Dayton, Ohio-based shop with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and other machinery.

How did wilbur wright died

Wilbur wright

Wright brothers first flight

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Why did the wright brothers invent the airplane

Their work with bicycles, in particular, influenced their belief that an unstable vehicle such as a flying machine could be controlled and balanced with practice.^[14]:&#;&#; This was a trend, as many other aviation pioneers were also dedicated cyclists and involved in the bicycle business in various ways.^[15] From until their first powered flights in late , the brothers conducted extensive glider tests that also developed their skills as pilots.

Their shop mechanic Charles Taylor became an important part of the team, building their first airplane engine in close collaboration with the brothers.^[16]

The Wright brothers' status as inventors of the airplane has been subject to numerous counter-claims. Much controversy persists over the many competing claims of early aviators.

Edward Roach, historian for the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, argues that the Wrights were excellent self-taught engineers who could run a small company well, but did not have the business skills or temperament necessary to dominate the rapidly growing aviation industry at the time.^[17]

Childhood

Wilbur and Orville Wright were two of seven children born to Milton Wright (–), a clergyman of English and Dutch ancestry, and Susan Catherine Koerner (–), of German and Swiss ancestry.^[18][19] Milton Wright's mother, Catherine Reeder, was descended from the progenitor of the Vanderbilt family&#;– one of America's richest families&#;– and the Huguenot Gano family of New Rochelle, New York.^[20] Wilbur and Orville were the 3rd great nephews of John Gano, the Revolutionary War Brigade Chaplain, who allegedly baptized PresidentGeorge Washington.^[21] Through John Gano they were 5th cousins 1 time removed of billionaire and aviatorHoward Hughes.^[22] Wilbur was born near Millville, Indiana, in ; Orville in Dayton, Ohio, in ^[23]

The brothers never married.

The other Wright siblings were Reuchlin (–), Lorin (–), Katharine (–), and twins Otis and Ida (born , died in infancy). The direct paternal ancestry goes back to a Samuel Wright (b. in Essex, England) who sailed to America and settled in Massachusetts in ^[23]

None of the Wright children had middle names. Instead, their father tried hard to give them distinctive first names.

Wilbur was named for Willbur Fisk and Orville for Orville Dewey, both clergymen that Milton Wright admired.^[24] They were "Will" and "Orv" to their friends and in Dayton, their neighbors knew them simply as "the Bishop's kids", or "the Bishop's boys".

Because of their father's position as a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, he traveled often and the Wrights frequently moved – twelve times before finally returning permanently to Dayton in In elementary school, Orville was given to mischief and was once expelled.^[25] In , when the family lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, their father brought home a toy helicopter for his two younger sons.

The device was based on an invention of French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Pénaud. Made of paper, bamboo and cork with a rubber band to twirl its rotor, it was about 1&#;ft (30&#;cm) long. Wilbur and Orville played with it until it broke, and then built their own.^[26] In later years, they pointed to their experience with the toy as the spark of their interest in flying.^{[14]:&#;56–57&#;}

Early career and research

Both brothers attended high school, but did not receive diplomas.

The family's abrupt move in from Richmond, Indiana, to Dayton, Ohio, where the family had lived during the s, prevented Wilbur from receiving his diploma after finishing four years of high school. The diploma was awarded posthumously to Wilbur on April 16, , which would have been his th birthday.^[27] In late or early , while playing an ice-skating game with friends Wilbur was struck in the face by a hockey stick by Oliver Crook Haugh, who later became a serial killer.^[28] Wilbur lost his front teeth.

He had been vigorous and athletic until then, and although his injuries did not appear especially severe, he became withdrawn. He had planned to attend Yale. Instead, he spent the next few years largely housebound. During this time he cared for his mother, who was terminally ill with tuberculosis, read extensively in his father's library and ably assisted his father during times of controversy within the Brethren Church,^[11]:&#;&#; but also expressed unease over his own lack of ambition.^[14]:&#;&#;

Orville dropped out of high school after his junior year to start a printing business in , having designed and built his own printing press with Wilbur's help.

Wilbur joined the print shop, and in March the brothers launched a weekly newspaper, the West Side News. Subsequent issues listed Orville as publisher and Wilbur as editor on the masthead. In April they converted the paper to a daily, The Evening Item, but it lasted only four months. They then focused on commercial printing.

One of their clients was Orville's friend and classmate, Paul Laurence Dunbar, who rose to international acclaim as a ground-breaking African-American poet and writer. For a brief period the Wrights printed the Dayton Tattler, a weekly newspaper that Dunbar edited.^[29]

Capitalizing on the national bicycle craze (spurred by the invention of the safety bicycle and its substantial advantages over the penny-farthing design), in December the brothers opened a repair and sales shop (the Wright Cycle Exchange, later the Wright Cycle Company) and in began manufacturing their own brand.^[30] They used this endeavor to fund their growing interest in flight.

In the early or mids they saw newspaper or magazine articles and probably photographs of the dramatic glides by Otto Lilienthal in Germany.

brought three important aeronautical events. In May, Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Langley successfully flew an unmanned steam-powered fixed-wing model aircraft.

In mid-year, Chicago engineer and aviation authority Octave Chanute brought together several men who tested various types of gliders over the sand dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan. In August, Lilienthal was killed in the plunge of his glider.^[31] These events lodged in the minds of the brothers, especially Lilienthal's death.

The Wright brothers later cited his death as the point when their serious interest in flight research began.^[32]

Wilbur said, "Lilienthal was without question the greatest of the precursors, and the world owes to him a great debt."^[32] In May&#; Wilbur wrote a letter^[33] to the Smithsonian Institution requesting information and publications about aeronautics.^[34] Drawing on the work of Sir George Cayley, Chanute, Lilienthal, Leonardo da Vinci, and Langley, they began their mechanical aeronautical experimentation that year.

The Wright brothers always presented a unified image to the public, sharing equally in the credit for their invention. Biographers note that Wilbur took the initiative in and , writing of "my" machine and "my" plans before Orville became deeply involved when the first person singular became the plural "we" and "our".

Author James Tobin asserts, "it is impossible to imagine Orville, bright as he was, supplying the driving force that started their work and kept it going from the back room of a store in Ohio to conferences with capitalists, presidents, and kings. Will did that. He was the leader, from the beginning to the end."^[35]

Ideas about control

Despite Lilienthal's fate, the brothers favored his strategy: to practice gliding in order to master the art of control before attempting motor-driven flight.

The death of British aeronaut Percy Pilcher in another hang gliding crash in October only reinforced their opinion that a reliable method of pilot control was the key to successful – and safe – flight. At the outset of their experiments they regarded control as the unsolved third part of "the flying problem". The other two parts&#;– wings and engines&#;– they believed were already sufficiently promising.^[14]:&#;&#;

The Wright brothers' plan thus differed sharply from more experienced practitioners of the day, notably Ader, Maxim, and Langley, who all built powerful engines, attached them to airframes equipped with untested control devices, and expected to take to the air with no previous flying experience.

Although agreeing with Lilienthal's idea of practice, the Wrights saw that his method of balance and control by shifting his body weight was inadequate.^[36] They were determined to find something better.

On the basis of observation, Wilbur concluded that birds changed the angle of the ends of their wings to make their bodies roll right or left.^[37] The brothers decided this would also be a good way for a flying machine to turn – to "bank" or "lean" into the turn just like a bird – and just like a person riding a bicycle, an experience with which they were thoroughly familiar.

Equally important, they hoped this method would enable recovery when the wind tilted the machine to one side (lateral balance). They puzzled over how to achieve the same effect with man-made wings and eventually discovered wing-warping when Wilbur idly twisted a long inner-tube box at the bicycle shop.^[38]

Other aeronautical investigators regarded flight as if it were not so different from surface locomotion, except the surface would be elevated.

They thought in terms of a ship's rudder for steering, while the flying machine remained essentially level in the air, as did a train or an automobile or a ship at the surface. The idea of deliberately leaning, or rolling, to one side either seemed undesirable or did not enter their thinking.^{[14]:&#;–&#;} Some of these other investigators, including Langley and Chanute, sought the elusive ideal of "inherent stability", believing the pilot of a flying machine would not be able to react quickly enough to wind disturbances to use mechanical controls effectively.

The Wright brothers, in contrast, wanted the pilot to have absolute control.^{[14]:&#;–&#;} For that reason, their early designs made no concessions toward built-in stability (such as dihedral wings). They deliberately designed their first powered flyer with anhedral (drooping) wings, which are inherently unstable, but less susceptible to upset by gusty cross winds.

Flights

Toward flight

On July 27, , the brothers put wing warping to the test by building and flying a biplane kite with a 5-foot (&#;m) wingspan, and a curved wing with a 1-foot (&#;m) chord. When the wings were warped, or twisted, the trailing edge that was warped down produced more lift than the opposite wing, causing a rolling motion.

The warping was controlled by four lines between kite and crossed sticks held by the kite flyer.

Wilbur and orville wright brothers biography information for kids Determined to develop their own successful design, Wilbur and Orville headed to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina , known for its strong winds. Wilbur Wright was born on April 16, , near Millville, Indiana. It was a windy environment which helped give planes lift off. In July , Orville completed the demonstration flights for the U.

In return, the kite was under lateral control.^[39]

In the brothers went to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to begin their manned gliding experiments. In his reply to Wilbur's first letter, Octave Chanute had suggested the mid-Atlantic coast for its regular breezes and soft sandy landing surface. Wilbur also requested and examined U.S.

Weather Bureau data, and decided on Kitty Hawk^[40][41] after receiving information from the government meteorologist stationed there.^[42][43]

Kitty Hawk, although remote, was closer to Dayton than other places Chanute had suggested, including California and Florida.

The spot also gave them privacy from reporters, who had turned the Chanute experiments at Lake Michigan into something of a circus. Chanute visited them in camp each season from to and saw gliding experiments, but not the powered flights.

Gliders

Main article: Wright Glider

The Wrights based the design of their kite and full-size gliders on work done in the s by other aviation pioneers.

They adopted the basic design of the Chanute-Herring biplane hang glider ("double-decker" as the Wrights called it), which flew well in the experiments near Chicago, and used aeronautical data on lift that Otto Lilienthal had published. The Wrights designed the wings with camber, a curvature of the top surface.

The brothers did not discover this principle, but took advantage of it.

The better lift of a cambered surface compared to a flat one was first discussed scientifically by Sir George Cayley. Lilienthal, whose work the Wrights carefully studied, used cambered wings in his gliders, proving in flight the advantage over flat surfaces. The wooden uprights between the wings of the Wright glider were braced by wires in their own version of Chanute's modified Pratt truss, a bridge-building design he used for his biplane glider (initially built as a triplane).

The Wrights mounted the horizontal elevator in front of the wings rather than behind, apparently believing this feature would help to avoid, or protect them from, a nosedive and crash like the one that killed Lilienthal.^{[11]:&#;73&#;} Wilbur incorrectly believed a tail was not necessary,^[44] and their first two gliders did not have one.

According to some Wright biographers, Wilbur probably did all the gliding until , perhaps to exercise his authority as older brother and to protect Orville from harm as he did not want to have to explain to their father, Bishop Wright, if Orville got injured.^{[45][14]:&#;&#;}

Wingspan	Wing area	Chord	Camber	Aspect ratio	Length	Weight
	17&#;ft 6&#;in (&#;m)	&#;sq&#;ft (15&#;m2)	5&#;ft (2&#;m)	1/20		11&#;ft 6&#;in (&#;m)	52&#;lb (24&#;kg)
	22&#;ft (7&#;m)	&#;sq&#;ft (27&#;m2)	7&#;ft (&#;m)	1/12*,1/19		14&#;ft (&#;m)	98&#;lb (44&#;kg)
	32&#;ft 1&#;in (&#;m)	&#;sq&#;ft (28&#;m2)	5&#;ft (&#;m)	1/20–1/24		17&#;ft (&#;m)	&#;lb (51&#;kg)

* (This airfoil caused severe stability problems; the Wrights modified the camber on-site.)

The brothers flew the glider for only a few days in the early autumn of at Kitty Hawk.

In the first tests, probably on October 3, Wilbur was aboard while the glider flew as a kite not far above the ground with men below holding tether ropes.^{[14]:&#;–&#;} Most of the kite tests were unpiloted, with sandbags or chains and even a local boy as ballast.^[47]

They tested wing-warping using control ropes from the ground.

The glider was also tested unmanned while suspended from a small homemade tower. Wilbur, but not Orville, made about a dozen free glides on only a single day, October For those tests the brothers trekked four miles (6&#;km) south to the Kill Devil Hills, a group of sand dunes up to feet (30&#;m) high (where they made camp in each of the next three years).

Although the glider's lift was less than expected, the brothers were encouraged because the craft's front elevator worked well and they had no accidents. However, the small number of free glides meant they were not able to give wing-warping a true test.

The pilot lay flat on the lower wing, as planned, to reduce aerodynamic drag.

As a glide ended, the pilot was supposed to lower himself to a vertical position through an opening in the wing and land on his feet with his arms wrapped over the framework. Within a few glides, however, they discovered the pilot could remain prone on the wing, headfirst, without undue danger when landing. They made all their flights in that position for the next five years.

Before returning to Kitty Hawk in the summer of , Wilbur published two articles, "The Angle of Incidence" in The Aeronautical Journal, and "The Horizontal Position During Gliding Flight" in Illustrierte Aeronautische Mitteilungen.

The brothers brought all of the material they thought was needed to be self-sufficient at Kitty Hawk. Besides living in tents once again, they built a combination workshop and hangar. Measuring 25 feet (&#;m) long by 16 feet (&#;m) wide, the ends opened upward for easy glider access.^{[39]:&#;–&#;}

Hoping to improve lift, they built the glider with a much larger wing area and made dozens of flights in July and August for distances of 50 to &#;ft (15 to &#;m).^[48] The glider stalled a few times, but the parachute effect of the forward elevator allowed Wilbur to make a safe flat landing, instead of a nose-dive.

These incidents wedded the Wrights even more strongly to the canard design, which they did not give up until The glider, however, delivered two major disappointments. It produced only about one-third the lift calculated and sometimes pointed opposite the intended direction of a turn – a problem later known as adverse yaw – when Wilbur used the wing-warping control.

On the trip home a deeply dejected Wilbur remarked to Orville that man would not fly in a thousand years.^[49]

The poor lift of the gliders led the Wrights to question the accuracy of Lilienthal's data, as well as the "Smeaton coefficient" of air pressure, a value which had been in use for over years and was part of the accepted equation for lift.

L = lift in pounds k = coefficient of air pressure (Smeaton coefficient) S = total area of lifting surface in square feet V = velocity (headwind plus ground speed) in miles per hour CL = coefficient of lift (varies with wing shape)

The Wrights used this equation to calculate the amount of lift that a wing would produce.

Over the years a wide variety of values had been measured for the Smeaton coefficient; Chanute identified up to 50 of them. Wilbur knew that Langley, for example, had used a lower number than the traditional one. Intent on confirming the correct Smeaton value, Wilbur performed his own calculations using measurements collected during kite and free flights of the glider.

His results correctly showed that the coefficient was very close to (similar to the number Langley used), not the traditional , which would significantly exaggerate predicted lift.^{[50]:&#;–&#;}

The brothers decided to find out if Lilienthal's data for lift coefficients were correct.

They devised an experimental apparatus which consisted of a freely rotating bicycle wheel mounted horizontally in front of the handlebars of a bicycle. The brothers took turns pedaling the bicycle vigorously, creating air flow over the horizontal wheel. Attached vertically to the wheel were an airfoil and a flat plate mounted 90° away.

As air passed by the airfoil, the lift it generated, if unopposed, would cause the wheel to rotate.

The flat plate was oriented so its drag would push the wheel in the opposite direction of the airfoil. The airfoil and flat plate were made in specific sizes such that, according to Lilienthal's measurements, the lift generated by the airfoil would exactly counterbalance the drag generated by the flat plate and the wheel would not turn.

However, when the brothers tested the device, the wheel did turn. The experiment confirmed their suspicion that either the standard Smeaton coefficient or Lilienthal's coefficients of lift and drag – or all of them – were in error.^{[51][50]:&#;–&#;}

They then built a six-foot (&#;m) wind tunnel in their shop, and between October and December&#; conducted systematic tests on dozens of miniature wings.^[52] The "balances" they devised and mounted inside the tunnel to hold the wings looked crude, made of bicycle spokes and scrap metal, but were "as critical to the ultimate success of the Wright brothers as were the gliders."^[50]:&#;&#; The devices allowed the brothers to balance lift against drag and accurately calculate the performance of each wing.

They could also see which wings worked well as they looked through the viewing window in the top of the tunnel. The tests yielded a trove of valuable data never before known and showed that the poor lift of the and gliders was entirely due to an incorrect Smeaton value, and that Lilienthal's published data were fairly accurate for the tests he had done.^{[51][50]:&#;&#;}

Before the detailed wind tunnel tests, Wilbur traveled to Chicago at Chanute's invitation to give a lecture to the Western Society of Engineers on September 18, He presented a thorough report about the – glider experiments and complemented his talk with a lantern slide show of photographs.

Wilbur's speech was the first public account of the brothers' experiments.^[53] A report was published in the Journal of the society, which was then separately published as an offprint titled Some Aeronautical Experiments in a &#;copy printing.^[54]

Lilienthal had made "whirling arm" tests on only a few wing shapes, and the Wrights mistakenly assumed the data would apply to their wings, which had a different shape.

The Wrights took a huge step forward and made basic wind tunnel tests on scale-model wings of many shapes and airfoil curves, followed by detailed tests on 38 of them. An important discovery was the benefit of longer narrower wings: in aeronautical terms, wings with a larger aspect ratio (wingspan divided by chord – the wing's front-to-back dimension).

Such shapes offered much better lift-to-drag ratio than the stubbier wings the brothers had tried so far. With this knowledge, and a more accurate Smeaton number, the Wrights designed their glider.

The wind tunnel tests, made from October to December , were described by biographer Fred Howard as "the most crucial and fruitful aeronautical experiments ever conducted in so short a time with so few materials and at so little expense".^[56] In their September Century Magazine article, the Wrights explained, "The calculations on which all flying machines had been based were unreliable, and every experiment was simply groping in the dark We cast it all aside and decided to rely entirely upon our own investigations."^[57]

The glider wing had a flatter airfoil, with the camber reduced to a ratio of 1-in, in contrast to the previous thicker wing.

The larger aspect ratio was achieved by increasing the wingspan and shortening the chord. The glider also had a new structural feature: A fixed, rear vertical rudder, which the brothers hoped would eliminate turning problems. However, the glider encountered trouble in crosswinds and steep banked turns, when it sometimes spiraled into the ground – a phenomenon the brothers called "well digging".

According to Combs, "They knew that when the earlier glider banked, it would begin to slide sideways through the air, and if the side motion was left uncorrected, or took place too quickly, the glider would go into an uncontrolled pivoting motion. Now, with vertical fins added to correct this, the glider again went into a pivoting motion, but in the opposite direction, with the nose swinging downward."^{[39]:&#;,&#;–&#;}

Orville apparently visualized that the fixed rudder resisted the effect of corrective wing-warping when attempting to level off from a turn.

He wrote in his diary that on the night of October 2, "I studied out a new vertical rudder". The brothers then decided to make the rear rudder movable to solve the problem.^[58] They hinged the rudder and connected it to the pilot's warping "cradle", so a single movement by the pilot simultaneously controlled wing-warping and rudder deflection.

The apparatus made the trailing edge of the rudder turn away from whichever end of the wings had more drag (and lift) due to warping. The opposing pressure produced by turning the rudder enabled corrective wing-warping to reliably restore level flight after a turn or a wind disturbance. Furthermore, when the glider banked into a turn, rudder pressure overcame the effect of differential drag and pointed the nose of the aircraft in the direction of the turn, eliminating adverse yaw.

In short, the Wrights discovered the true purpose of the movable vertical rudder. Its role was not to change the direction of flight, as a rudder does in sailing, but rather, to aim or align the aircraft correctly during banking turns and when leveling off from turns and wind disturbances.^[59] The actual turn – the change in direction – was done with roll control using wing-warping.

The principles remained the same when ailerons superseded wing-warping.

With their new method, the Wrights achieved true control in turns for the first time on October 9, a major milestone. From September 20 until the last weeks of October, they flew over a thousand flights. The longest duration was up to 26 seconds, and the longest distance more than feet (&#;m).

Having demonstrated lift, control, and stability, the brothers now turned their focus to the problem of power.^{[39]:&#;,&#;–&#;}

Thus did three-axis control evolve: wing-warping for roll (lateral motion), forward elevator for pitch (up and down) and rear rudder for yaw (side to side). On March 23, , the Wrights applied for their famous patent for a "Flying Machine", based on their successful glider.

Some aviation historians believe that applying the system of three-axis flight control on the glider was equal to, or even more significant, than the addition of power to the Flyer. Peter Jakab of the Smithsonian asserts that perfection of the glider essentially represents invention of the airplane.^{[60][11]:&#;–&#;}

Adding power

In addition to developing the lift equation, the brothers also developed the equation for drag.

It is of the same form as the lift equation, except the coefficient of drag replaces the coefficient of lift, computing drag instead of lift. They used this equation to answer the question, "Is there enough power in the engine to produce a thrust adequate to overcome the drag of the total frame&#;," in the words of Combs.

The Wrights then "&#;measured the pull in pounds on various parts of their aircraft, including the pull on each of the wings of the biplane in level position in known wind velocities They also devised a formula for power-to-weight ratio and propeller efficiency that would answer whether or not they could supply to the propellers the power necessary to deliver the thrust to maintain flight they even computed the thrust of their propellers to within 1&#;percent of the thrust actually delivered&#;"^{[39]:&#;–,&#;–&#;}

In the brothers built the powered Wright Flyer, using their preferred material for construction, spruce,^[61] a strong and lightweight wood, and Pride of the West muslin for surface coverings.

They also designed and carved their own wooden propellers, and had a purpose-built gasoline engine fabricated in their bicycle shop. They thought propeller design would be a simple matter and intended to adapt data from shipbuilding. However, their library research disclosed no established formulae for either marine or air propellers, and they found themselves with no sure starting point.

They discussed and argued the question, sometimes heatedly, until they concluded that an aeronautical propeller is essentially a wing rotating in the vertical plane.^{[50]:&#;–&#;} On that basis, they used data from more wind tunnel tests to design their propellers. The finished blades were just over eight feet long, made of three laminations of glued spruce.

The Wrights decided on twin "pusher" propellers (counter-rotating to cancel torque), which would act on a greater quantity of air than a single relatively slow propeller and not disturb airflow over the leading edge of the wings.

Wilbur made a March entry in his notebook indicating the prototype propeller was 66% efficient. Modern wind tunnel tests on reproduction propellers show they were more than 75% efficient under the conditions of the first flights, "a remarkable feat", and actually had a peak efficiency of 82%.^[62] The Wrights wrote to several engine manufacturers, but none could meet their need for a sufficiently light-weight powerplant.

They turned to their shop mechanic, Charlie Taylor, who built an engine in just six weeks in close consultation with the brothers.^[50]:&#;&#;

To keep the weight down the engine block was cast from aluminum, a rare practice at the time. The Wright/Taylor engine had a primitive version of a carburetor, and had no fuel pump.

Gasoline was gravity-fed from the fuel tank mounted on a wing strut into a chamber next to the cylinders where it was mixed with air: The fuel-air mixture was then vaporized by heat from the crankcase, forcing it into the cylinders.^[63]

The propeller drive chains, resembling those of bicycles, were supplied by a manufacturer of heavy-duty automobile chains.^[64] The Flyer cost less than a thousand dollars, in contrast to more than $50, in government funds given to Samuel Langley for his man-carrying Great Aerodrome.^[65] In $1, was equivalent to $34, in The Wright Flyer had a wingspan of &#;ft (&#;m), weighed &#;lb (&#;kg),^[66] and had a 12 horsepower (&#;kW), &#;lb (82&#;kg) engine.^[67]

On June 24, , Wilbur made a second presentation in Chicago to the Western Society of Engineers.

He gave details about their experiments and glider flights, but avoided any mention of their plans for powered flight.^{[39]:&#;–&#;}

First powered flight

In camp at Kill Devil Hills, the Wrights endured weeks of delays caused by broken propeller shafts during engine tests.

After the shafts were replaced (requiring two trips back to Dayton), Wilbur won a coin toss and made a three-second flight attempt on December 14, , stalling after takeoff and causing minor damage to the Flyer. Because December 13, , was a Sunday, the brothers did not make any attempts that day, even though the weather was good, so their first powered test flight happened on the st&#;anniversary of the first hot air balloon test flight that the Montgolfier brothers had made on December 14, In a message to their family, Wilbur referred to the trial as having "only partial success", stating "the power is ample, and but for a trifling error due to lack of experience with this machine and this method of starting, the machine would undoubtedly have flown beautifully."^[70]

Following repairs, the Wrights finally took to the air on December 17, , making two flights each from level ground^[71] into a freezing headwind gusting to 27 miles per hour (43&#;km/h).

The first flight, by Orville at &#;am, of feet (37&#;m) in 12&#;seconds, at a speed of only miles per hour (&#;km/h) over the ground, was recorded in a famous photograph.^[42] The next two flights covered approximately and feet (53 and 61&#;m), by Wilbur and Orville respectively. Their altitude was about 10 feet (&#;m) above the ground.^[72] The following is Orville Wright's account of the final flight of the day:^[73]

Wilbur started the fourth and last flight at just about 12&#;o'clock.

The first few hundred feet were up and down, as before, but by the time three hundred ft had been covered, the machine was under much better control. The course for the next four or five hundred feet had but little undulation. However, when out about eight hundred feet the machine began pitching again, and, in one of its darts downward, struck the ground.

The distance over the ground was measured to be &#;feet; the time of the flight was 59&#;seconds. The frame supporting the front rudder was badly broken, but the main part of the machine was not injured at all. We estimated that the machine could be put in condition for flight again in about a day or two.

Five people witnessed the flights: Adam Etheridge, John T.

Daniels (who snapped the famous "first flight" photo using Orville's pre-positioned camera), and Will Dough, all of the U.S. government coastal lifesaving crew; area businessman W.C. Brinkley; and Johnny Moore, a teenaged boy who lived in the area. After the men hauled the Flyer back from its fourth flight, a powerful gust of wind flipped it over several times, despite the crew's attempt to hold it down.

Severely damaged, the Wright Flyer never flew again.^[74] The brothers shipped the airplane home, and years later Orville restored it, lending it to several U.S. locations for display, then to the Science Museum in London (see Smithsonian dispute below), before it was finally installed in in the Smithsonian Institution, its current residence.

Wilbur and orville wright monument: In the last two years of his life from to , Wilbur played a key role in the patent struggle. Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. Frederick Jones. My disease has increased in severity and I feel that it will soon cost me an increased amount of money if not my life.

The Wrights sent a telegram about the flights to their father, requesting that he "inform press".^[42] However, the Dayton Journal refused to publish the story, saying the flights were too short to be important. Meanwhile, against the brothers' wishes, a telegraph operator leaked their message to a Virginia newspaper, which concocted a highly inaccurate news article that was reprinted the next day in several newspapers elsewhere, including Dayton.^{[50]:&#;–&#;[75]}

The Wrights issued their own factual statement to the press in January.^[50]:&#;&#; Nevertheless, the flights did not create public excitement – if people even knew about them – and the news soon faded.^{[citation needed]} In Paris, however, Aero Club of France members, already stimulated by Chanute's reports of Wright gliding successes, took the news more seriously and increased their efforts to catch up to the brothers.^[76]

An analysis in by Professor Fred E.C.

Culick and Henry R. Jex demonstrated that the Wright Flyer was so unstable as to be almost unmanageable by anyone but the Wrights, who had trained themselves in the glider.^[77] In a recreation attempt on the event's th&#;anniversary on December 17, , Kevin Kochersberger, piloting an exact replica, failed in his effort to match the success that the Wright brothers had achieved with their piloting skill.^[78]

Establishing legitimacy

In the Wrights built the Wright Flyer II.

They decided to avoid the expense of travel and bringing supplies to the Outer Banks and set up an airfield at Huffman Prairie, a cow pasture eight miles (13&#;km) northeast of Dayton. The Wrights referred to the airfield as Simms Station in their flying school brochure. They received permission to use the field rent-free from owner and bank president Torrance Huffman.

They invited reporters to their first flight attempt of the year on May&#;23, on the condition that no photographs be taken.

Wilbur and orville wright brothers biography information today We estimated that the machine could be put in condition for flight again in about a day or two. There, he made many public flights and gave rides to officials, journalists and statesmen. September 12, PM By Juan. This injury and the resulting depression caused Wilbur to give up his dreams of studying at Yale.

Engine troubles and slack winds prevented any flying, and they could manage only a very short hop a few days later with fewer reporters present. Library of Congress historian Fred Howard noted some speculation that the brothers had intentionally failed to fly in order to cause reporters to lose interest in their experiments.

Whether that is true is not known, but after their poor showing local newspapers virtually ignored them for the next year and a half.^[79]

The Wrights were glad to be free from the distraction of reporters. The absence of newsmen also reduced the chance of competitors learning their methods. After the Kitty Hawk powered flights, the Wrights made a decision to begin withdrawing from the bicycle business so they could concentrate on creating and marketing a practical airplane.^{[14]:&#;–&#;} This was financially risky, since they were neither wealthy nor government-funded (unlike other experimenters such as Ader, Maxim, Langley, and Santos-Dumont).

The Wright brothers did not have the luxury of being able to give away their invention: It had to be their livelihood. Thus, their secrecy intensified, encouraged by advice from their patent attorney, Henry Toulmin, not to reveal details of their machine.

At Huffman Prairie, lighter winds made takeoffs harder, and they had to use a longer starting rail than the foot (18&#;m) rail used at Kitty Hawk.

Wilbur and orville wright monument

Wilbur and orville wright brothers biography information book

Orville wright

The first flights in revealed problems with longitudinal stability, solved by adding ballast and lengthening the supports for the elevator.^[14]:&#;&#; During the spring and summer they suffered many hard landings, often damaging the aircraft and causing minor injuries. On August&#;13, making an unassisted takeoff, Wilbur finally exceeded their best Kitty Hawk effort with a flight of 1, feet (&#;m).

They then decided to use a weight-powered catapult to make takeoffs easier and tried it for the first time on September&#;7.^[80]

On September 20, , Wilbur flew the first complete circle in history by a manned heavier-than-air powered machine, covering 4, feet (1,&#;m) in about a minute and a half.^[80] Their two best flights were November&#;9 by Wilbur and December&#;1 by Orville, each exceeding five minutes and covering nearly three miles in almost four circles.^[81] By the end of the year the brothers had accumulated about 50 minutes in the air in &#;flights over the rather soggy 85 acres (34&#;ha) pasture, which, remarkably, is virtually unchanged today from its original condition and is now part of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, adjacent to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The Wrights scrapped the battered and much-repaired aircraft, but saved the engine, and in built a new airplane, the Flyer&#;III. Nevertheless, at first this Flyer offered the same marginal performance as the first two. Its maiden flight was on June&#;23 and the first few flights were no longer than 10&#;seconds.^[82] After Orville suffered a bone-jarring and potentially fatal crash on July&#;14, they rebuilt the Flyer with the forward elevator and rear rudder both enlarged and placed several feet farther away from the wings.

They also installed a separate control for the rear rudder instead of linking it to the wing-warping "cradle" as before.^[83]

Each of the three axes – pitch, roll, and yaw – now had its own independent control. These modifications greatly improved stability and control, enabling a series of six dramatic "long flights" ranging from 17 to 38&#;minutes and 11 to 24 miles (18 to 39&#;km) around the three-quarter mile course over Huffman Prairie between September&#;26 and October&#;5.

Wilbur made the last and longest flight, miles (&#;km) in 38&#;minutes and 3&#;seconds, ending with a safe landing when the fuel ran out. The flight was seen by several invited friends, their father Milton, and neighboring farmers.^[83]

Reporters showed up the next day (only their second appearance at the field since May the previous year), but the brothers declined to fly.

The long flights convinced the Wrights they had achieved their goal of creating a flying machine of "practical utility" which they could offer to sell.

The only photos of the flights of – were taken by the brothers. (A few photos were damaged in the Great Dayton Flood of , but most survived intact.) In Ohio beekeeping businessman Amos Root, a technology enthusiast, saw a few flights including the first circle.

Articles he wrote for his beekeeping magazine were the only published eyewitness reports of the Huffman Prairie flights, except for the unimpressive early hop local newsmen saw. Root offered a report to Scientific American magazine, but the editor turned it down. As a result, the news was not widely known outside Ohio, and was often met with skepticism.

The Paris edition of the Herald Tribune headlined a article on the Wrights "Flyers or liars?".

In years to come, Dayton newspapers would proudly celebrate the hometown Wright brothers as national heroes, but the local reporters somehow missed one of the most important stories in history as it was happening a few miles from their doorstep.

J.M. Cox,^[b] who published the Dayton Daily News at that time, expressed the attitude of newspapermen – and the public – in those days when he admitted years later: "Frankly, none of us believed it."^[84]

A few newspapers published articles about the long flights, but no reporters or photographers had been there.

The lack of splashy eyewitness press coverage was a major reason for disbelief in Washington, DC, and Europe, and in journals like Scientific American, whose editors doubted the "alleged experiments" and asked how U.S. newspapers, "alert as they are, allowed these sensational performances to escape their notice."^[87]

In October&#;, the brothers were visited by the first of many important Europeans they would befriend in coming years, Colonel J.E.

Capper, later superintendent of the Royal Balloon Factory.

Wilbur and orville wright brothers biography information Wilbur served as the paper's editor. The Wright brothers soon found that their success was not appreciated by all. Wilbur was a bright and studious child and excelled in school. The Wright brothers' extraordinary success led to contracts in both Europe and the United States, and they soon became wealthy business owners.

Capper and his wife were visiting the United States to investigate the aeronautical exhibits at the St.&#;Louis World Fair, but had been given a letter of introduction to both Chanute and the Wrights by Patrick Alexander. Capper was very favorably impressed by the Wrights, who showed him photographs of their aircraft in flight.^[88]

The Wright brothers were certainly complicit in the lack of attention they received.

Fearful of competitors stealing their ideas, and still without a patent, they flew on only one more day after October 5. From then on, they refused to fly anywhere unless they had a firm contract to sell their aircraft.

Wilbur and orville wright genealogy Many in the press, as well as fellow flight experts, were reluctant to believe the brothers' claims. Wilbur and Orville Wright were American inventors and pioneers of aviation. Wilbur Wright was the elder brother of Orville Wright, with whom he developed the world's first successful airplane. In the winter of , an accident changed the course of Wilbur's life.

They wrote to the U.S. government, then to Britain, France and Germany with an offer to sell a flying machine, but were rebuffed because they insisted on a signed contract before giving a demonstration. They were unwilling even to show their photographs of the airborne Flyer.

The American military, having recently spent $50, on the Langley Aerodrome – a product of the nation's foremost scientist – only to see it plunge twice into the Potomac River "like a handful of mortar", was particularly unreceptive to the claims of two unknown bicycle makers from Ohio.^[89] Thus, doubted or scorned, the Wright brothers continued their work in semi-obscurity, while other aviation pioneers like Santos-Dumont, Henri Farman, Léon Delagrange, and American Glenn Curtiss entered the limelight.

European skepticism

In , skeptics in the European aviation community had converted the press to an anti-Wright brothers stance. European newspapers, especially those in France, were openly derisive, calling them bluffeurs (bluffers).^[90]Ernest Archdeacon, founder of the Aéro-Club de France, was publicly scornful of the brothers' claims despite published reports; specifically, he wrote several articles and, in , stated that "the French would make the first public demonstration of powered flight."^[91] The Paris edition of the New York Herald summed up Europe's opinion of the Wright brothers in an editorial on February 10, "The Wrights have flown or they have not flown.

They possess a machine or they do not possess one. They are in fact either fliers or liars. It is difficult to fly. It's easy to say, 'We have flown'."^[90]

In , after the Wrights' first flights in France, Archdeacon publicly admitted he had done them an injustice.^[91]

Contracts and return to Kitty Hawk

The brothers contacted the United States Department of War, the British War Office and a French syndicate on October&#;19, The U.S.

Board of Ordnance and Fortification replied on October&#;24, , specifying they would take no further action "until a machine is produced which by actual operation is shown to be able to produce horizontal flight and to carry an operator." In May&#;, Orville wrote:^[39]:&#;&#;

A practical flyer having been finally realized, we spent the years and in constructing new machines and in business negotiations.

It was not till May of this year that experiments were resumed at Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina&#;"

The brothers turned their attention to Europe, especially France, where enthusiasm for aviation ran high, and journeyed there for the first time in for face-to-face talks with government officials and businessmen.

They also met with aviation representatives in Germany and Britain. Before traveling, Orville shipped a newly built Model&#;A Flyer to France in anticipation of demonstration flights. In France, Wilbur met Frank P. Lahm, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Aeronautical Division. Writing to his superiors, Lahm smoothed the way for Wilbur to give an in-person presentation to the U.S.

Board of Ordnance and Fortification in Washington, DC, when he returned to the U.S. This time, the Board was favorably impressed, in contrast to its previous indifference.

With further input from the Wrights, the U.S. Army Signal Corps issued Specification in December , inviting bids for construction of a flying machine under military contract.^[92] The Wrights submitted their bid in January,^[c] and were awarded a contract on February 8, Then on March 23, , the brothers had a contract to form the French company La Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérienne.

This French syndicate included Lazare Weiller, Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, Hart O. Berg, and Charles Ranlett Flint.^{[39]:&#;–&#;}

In May they went back to Kitty Hawk with their Flyer to practice for their contracted demonstration flights. Their privacy was lost when several correspondents arrived on the scene.

The brothers' contracts required them to fly with a passenger, so they modified the Flyer by installing two upright seats with dual control levers. Charlie Furnas