History
On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made the first successful controlled flight of a heavier-than-air flying
machine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This aircraft, known as the Wright Flyer, was the result of a four-year long
program of research and development conducted by Wilbur and Orville Wright beginning in 1899. The Wright brothers
had a passing interest in flight as youngsters. In 1878 their father gave the Wright brothers a toy flying helicopter model
powered by strands of twisted rubber. They played with it extensively and built several larger copies of the model. They
also experimented with kites. But not until the fatal crash of glider pioneer Otto Lilienthal in 1996, did the Wrights begin
to study flight seriously. In the summer of 1899 the Wright brothers built their first aircraft - a five-foot-wingspan
biplane kite. The Wrights followed Lilienthal's lead of using gliders as a stepping stone towards a practical powered
airplane. The 1899 kite was built to verify their proposed system of control. This meant that control would be a central
feature of the later successful powered airplane.
Instead of shifting the pilot's body weight to control the aircraft by altering the centre of gravity by, as Lilienthal had
done, the Wrights intended to balance their glider aerodynamically. Their reasoning was that if a wing generates lift when
presented to an oncoming flow of air, producing differing amounts of lift on either end of the wing would cause one side to
rise more than the other, which in turn would bank the entire aircraft. A mechanical means of inducing this differential lift
would provide the pilot with effective lateral control of the airplane. The Wrights accomplished this by twisting, or
warping, the tips of the wings in opposite directions through a series of lines attached to the outer edges of the wings that
were manipulated by the pilot. This was significant because it provided an effective method of controlling an airplane in
three-dimensional space and, because it was aerodynamically based, it did not limit the size of the aircraft as did shifting
body weight. The satisfactory performance of the 1899 kite proved the wing warping control system. Encouraged by the
success of their small wing warping kite, the brothers built and flew two full-size piloted gliders in 1900 and 1901.
The Wrights' home of Dayton, Ohio, did not offer suitable conditions for flying the gliders. An inquiry to the U.S. Weather
Bureau identified Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, with its sandy, wide-open spaces and strong, steady winds as an ideal test
site. In September 1900, the Wrights made their first trip to the little fishing hamlet that they would make world famous.
The Wrights' third glider, built in 1902 based on the wind tunnel experiments, was a dramatic success. Lift problems had
been solved, and with a few refinements to the control system (the key one being a movable vertical tail), they were able
to make numerous extended controlled glides. They made between seven hundred and one thousand flights in 1902. The
single best one was 622½ feet in twenty-six seconds. The brothers were now convinced that they stood at the threshold of
realizing mechanical flight.
During the spring and summer of 1903 they built their first powered airplane. This was a larger and stronger version of
the 1902 glider, the only fundamentally new component being the propulsion system. With the assistance of their bicycle
shop mechanic, Charles Taylor, the Wrights built a small, twelve-horsepower petrol engine. While the engine was a
significant achievement, the genuinely innovative feature of the propulsion system was the propellers. The brothers
considered each propeller as rotary wings, which produced force aerodynamically. By turning an airfoil section on its
side and spinning it to create an air flow over the surface, the Wrights reasoned that a horizontal "lift" force would be
generated that would propel the airplane forward.
By autumn 1903, the powered airplane was ready for trial. A number of problems with the engine transmission system
delayed the first flight attempt until mid-December. After winning the toss of a coin to determine which brother would
make the first try, Wilbur took the pilot's position and made an unsuccessful attempt on December 14th, damaging the
Flyer slightly. Repairs were completed and a second attempt was made on December 17. It was now Orville's turn. At
10:35 a.m. the Flyer lifted off the beach at Kitty Hawk for a twelve-second flight, traveling 120 feet (37 meters). Three
more flights were made that morning, with the brothers alternating as pilot. With Wilbur at the controls, the fourth and
last flight covered 852 feet (260 meters) in 59 seconds. With this final long flight, there was no question that the Wrights
had flown.
As the brothers and the others present discussed the long flight, a gust of wind overturned the Wright Flyer and sent it
tumbling across the sand. The aircraft was severely damaged and never flown again. But the Wrights had achieved what
they had set out to do. They had successfully demonstrated their design for a heavier-than-air flying machine.
Design :
The 1903 Wright Flyer was built from spruce and ash timber, and was covered with muslin. The framework
"floated" in pockets sewn into the muslin covering, which made it an integral part of the structure. This
ingenious feature made the aircraft light, strong, and flexible. The aircraft was powered by a simple four-
cylinder engine of the Wright brothers own design.
Wingspan: 40 ft 4 in (12.3 m)
Length:
21 ft (6.4 m)
Height:
9 ft 3 in (2.8 m)
Weight, empty:
605 lb (274 kg)
Power plant:
12 horsepower 4-stroke petrol engine, drivien two contr-rotating propellers
