99 years of flight

[pilotyip]

Personal?

Yea Bug, I guess it is personal, I have been over to their house many times. Thanks for the support from catcher and inline. In the book "The Bishop's Boys" (their father was a bishop) there is moment is the their pursuit of the flying machine where a light bulb comes on. They have used all the information in world they can find about flying machines, all the machines up to that time pursued built in stability, therefore once they became unstable, they could not be controlled. The machines were flown by untrained people who acted as weights and often killed themselves. The Wright Bros. wanted to avoid killing themselves in an airplane. They boys needed a new approach. They would sit for hours thinking together, not talking. They were both bicycle builders. One of them said bicycles are inherently unstable, but by operator input we make them stable, and discussed applying this to a flying machine. This lead them to be the first to understand roll about the longitudinal axis and the effect of adverse yaw and the need to apply rudder with rolling. They were the source of all this information on aerodynamic, and would have been awarded a Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering if they had applied through a University program. Their research was fantastic. Their biggest short coming was their avoidance of publicity, they hid their airplane for almost 4 years. When practicing at Huffman Plain they would post lookouts to warm them of approaching trolleys so they could hide the airplane.

 

[310]

The Wrights were the first to understand the need for and designed a system for control of the aircraft in three axis. They also created the first accurate lift tables and had the unusual combination of being great thinkers and doers. They were able to build what their minds conceived. They were the first to recognize that the prop is a rotating wing and give it the proper profile. They relied on scientific experimentation and unusual fortitude. Early on during their experiments they decided that most of the accepted work of others was flawed and started using their own findings to build upon. All good evidence will support these statements.

 

[milwan]

http://www.nzine.co.nz/pearse.html

 

[crash-proof]

just to throw another wrench in the gears....

I grew up in Brazil for 1/2 my life and there it is undeniable fact that the inventor of the first airplane was:
Alberto Santos Dumont! (Born in Brazil, prolific inventor living in France)

He first flew his machine in a Paris parkgrounds in 1906 in a widely photographed and publicized event, 3 years after the Wright brothers. Brazilians argue that the Wright Flyer was not capable of taking off under its own power and needed a catapult in order to acheive flight, therefore, was a powered glider, not an airplane!!! Which was not the case of the 14bis - which by the way had a canard surface.

I heard somewhere that russians have their own aviation hero as well. And not sure what the Europeans think, but I bet the French go with Dumont.

 

[inline]

just to throw another wrench in the gears....

I grew up in Brazil for 1/2 my life and there it is undeniable fact that the inventor of the first airplane was:
Alberto Santos Dumont! (Born in Brazil, prolific inventor living in France)

He first flew his machine in a Paris parkgrounds in 1906 in a widely photographed and publicized event, 3 years after the Wright brothers. Brazilians argue that the Wright Flyer was not capable of taking off under its own power and needed a catapult in order to acheive flight, therefore, was a powered glider, not an airplane!!! Which was not the case of the 14bis - which by the way had a canard surface.

I heard somewhere that russians have their own aviation hero as well. And not sure what the Europeans think, but I bet the French go with Dumont. [/QU

OTE]

You're undeniably wrong. The Wrights were the first.

 

[crash-proof]

You're undeniably wrong. The Wrights were the first. [/B]

Sounds like the anti-drug campaign on TV :
"So why are drugs related to terrorism?"
"Cause it's a F-A-C-T"
"Oh, so now I see how it's related"

Or, in our discussion:
"So the Wright brother's really flew the first airplane?"
"Yes, it is F-A-C-T"
"Ah, so the Wright Brothers must have really flown the first airplane"


Avbug, thanks for the insight. I hate one-sided arguments. It seems like we're commiting a heresy with this Wright issue. So much for freedom of speech.