Wright Bros 110th Anniversary

People seem to get misled by the 1903 flights. By 1905 the Wrights had developed excellent control, using an airplane that didn’t look very different from the 1903 machine. It proved the soundness of their conception. And still no one else was even close. If they’d gone home in 1903 without flying at all it really wouldn’t have mattered because they made so many flights in 1904 and 1905.

It’s too bad they didn’t just fill up the tank, take off from Huffman Prairie, fly to Dayton, do a couple of laps around the city, and fly home. By the end of 1905 they clearly had that capability. Even by then, no one else had done more than hops ending in crashes. But that’s another story.

the Wrights had some measure of control, poor though it was.

Stability and control was in its infancy,might be a little unfair to say that the Wrights control system was poor but certainly along with all early aeroplanes – structural strength and control systems were marginal!
But surely it would be fair to say that the Wrights laid the basis for the 3 axis control system and had worked out most of the basics of aerodynamics/stability and control !

If Wright aircraft were so good, it seems ironic that the company was taken over by arch-rival Curtiss. In retrospect, the only thing they deployed of lasting value (along with various other pioneers) was the use of long-span wings.

Well – Wilbur died in 1912(?) – he was the businessman out of the two of them.
The Wright company got bogged down in patent disputes and also with some dubious behaviour by the smithsonian/curtiss/langley et al.
Curtiss Wright was formed years after Orville was out of the (company) picture !

As I understand it, Pearse achieved skimming along in ground effect (think floating along the runway). Whether that counts as “flying” is a matter of definition and different observers might have different opinions.

I’m by no means an authority on what counts as flight, but from what I’ve gathered in the past the difference between Pearse and the Wrights is the bit about controlled flight. Pearse got airborne but he was in the lap of the gods after that, the Wrights had some measure of control, poor though it was.

Wow…lots of Wright bashing going on – somebody will have to remind me when the first perfect aeroplane was made ; )

They certainly went about it all in a very practical way and dare I say – in a more scientific way than earlier errr scientists !
Easy to bash pioneers – nobody knew the best way of going about designing/building/flying aeroplanes – they really did start from scratch since much of the previously accepted scientific ‘knowledge’ turned out to be inaccurate and flawed !
Not easy when you are learning to fly and being the engineer/test pilot at the same time !

SR 71..??

SST ?

If Wright aircraft were so good, it seems ironic that the company was taken over by arch-rival Curtiss. In retrospect, the only thing they deployed of lasting value (along with various other pioneers) was the use of long-span wings.

Oh ok, not exactly for the masses is it?

3 hours?? what in?

SR 71..??

3 hours?? what in?

110 years since first controlled flight and just over 10 since you could fly the Atlantic in 3 hours…..

Not when I went to school, it wasn’t!

Oh, and – happy birthday, Propstrike 😎

Unfortunately, the claims made by others on his behalf have taken hold, and I think it’s now on the national curriculum in NZ that Pearse was first to fly.

That’s a shock, New Zealand saying a local was first to fly. IIRC, the Soviets also used to teach a Russian was the first.

If the 1903 Flyer left a lot to be desired, their later improved models clearly showed that they were the world leaders in aviation. Their 1905 Flyer was very controllable.
And as late as their 1908 exhibition tour in France their superiority continued. The French were impressed (a rare feat) as were the English, or at least the Short brothers.

Now the DC 3 I can be impressed by. Remind me just how many DC3 replacement designs has it outlived?

what did the south africans replace their aged shackletons with?

As I understand it, Pearse achieved skimming along in ground effect (think floating along the runway). Whether that counts as “flying” is a matter of definition and different observers might have different opinions.

That’s a claim that’s often made on Pearse’s behalf

Gets the Merry Cans going tho, dont it?!

Richard Pearce beat em anyways!

That’s a claim that’s often made on Pearse’s behalf, but the biggest critic of the claim was Pearse himself! He wrote several letters to scientific journals around the world stating that he made no claim to be the first to achieve controlled flight, despite claims being made by others on his behalf.

Unfortunately, the claims made by others on his behalf have taken hold, and I think it’s now on the national curriculum in NZ that Pearse was first to fly.

Now the DC 3 I can be impressed by. Remind me just how many DC3 replacement designs has it outlived?

An amalgamation of other people’s ideas and ultimately an evolutionary dead end. I’d alos be more impressed if they’d managed to achieve flight without a catapult launch system.

Boy, a tough audiance in tonight ! Mr Nut is NOT impressed.

Maybe the first fight of the DC-3 is more impressive, also Dec 17th. And my birthday..:rolleyes: