The first model airplane was the work of two brothers, Wilbur and Orville. They were the sons of Rev. Milton Wright, Bishop of the United Brethren Church in Cedar Rapids,Iowa State, U.S.A Wilbur was born in 1867 and Orville in 1871. There were five children in the family.
one day, when Wilbur was eleven years old and Orville seven, there father brought home a toy for them-a little flying machine. Its shape was like that of a present-day helicopter and had been designed by a Frenchman. It was made to fly vertically high up into the air. This first flying machine stirred up their imagination. The boys tried to build a machine copying the model. They didn't succeeded, but they learned about some basic problems in flying machines from those experiments.
At twelve, Orville, got interested in wood-engraving, and Wilbur gave him a tool-set as a Christmas present. A friend of Orville obtained a small printing press and the boys started to print a classroom newspaper. The paper was named The Midget, aptly, because of its very small size.
But the newspaper stopped with its first issue which carried the announcement : "Next week we propose to publish one of Miss Jennings' famouse lectures on the inherent wickedness of school children". Miss Jennings was their class-teacher and what was intended was a satire on her. Orville's father promptly banned any further issues of the newspaper and thus ended the enterprise.
But this did not put Orville off. The boys went around the town and collected orders for printing invoices and letter headings. Thus the printing developed into a business venture. Orville bought a bigger and better equipments with the money he earned. He took the bussiness seriously. He was nearing the end of his school years and spent his last two summer vacations working in a press, learning about printing. He worked sixty hours a week at the press. At the age of seventy he started establishing his own printing press, and Wilbur joined him.
They built a sufficiently good printing press and started a local weekly called West Side News. The first issue which came out in March 1889, contained articles about Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin, paragraphs on foreign affairs, and among other things, seventeen advertisements. It was a fine achievement. Wilbur was the editor and Orville, the publisher.
The newspaper went on splendidly. In the midst of this success the first tragedy in their family occurred: their mother died.
After some time, the brothers made West Side News a daily newspaper. This was an unwise move. Big newspapers had already captured the field. They couldn't compete with them and the West Side News had to close down.
This forced them look around for a new interest. They got interest in the bicycle. Dunlop's 'Safety' cycle with its pneumatic(air filled) tyres had already ousted the 'Penny-farthing' bicycle with its large front wheel and tiny rear wheel. The 'Safety' was still very costly, but the brothers bought one bicycle each. They were so enamoured with the cycle that they opened a shop and started cycle trade. The business did well. After some time they started making bicycles themselves, and thus the Wright Cycle Company came into being. The company was a great success.
The age of motor cars was just beginning. The early motor cars were called 'horseless'. People looked with wonder as those vehicles, all by themselves, without horses to draw them, rumbled along town and country roads.
At about the same time, in Germany, another couple of brothers were carrying out dangerous experiments on flying. The 'crazy' brothers were Otto and Gustav Lilienthal. The Lilienthal brothers tried to imitate the flight of birds. For this they built large-size kites, which, emulating wings, were to glide through the air like a stork or a seagull. The admiration Wilbur and Orville felt for the Lilienthal brothers was limitless when they heard that Otto had actually made the flight.
Then Orville fell ill with typhoid. One day, when he was convalescing, Wilbur showed him a newspaper. The front-page news was that Otto Lilienthal had been killed in a gliding experiment. The editor had added his own comment that this should be a lesson to all would-be aviators: "If the Lord had wanted man to fly as birds do, would he not have provided him with wings?"
Lilienthal's death did not deter the Wright brothers. It only made them the more determined to invent a flying machine. But they had learned a lesson from Otto's death. It was that they had to study every side of the problem and find answers before they built the 'glider' (early flying machines were called gliders).
They collected all the available literature on flying-books, newspaper reports, writings about others who had tried to invent a flying machine, in fact, anything that increased their knowledge on the subject. They soon began to understand the mistakes made by the pioneers of the flying machine. For instance, they hadn't given attention to the problem of balance, that is, how to keep the machine steady in the air without overturning. The flying machine would meet strong winds and have to withstand them. One day the answer struck Wilbur suddenly. If the wings could be bent during flight, the machine could be controlled and balanced by the pilot under all kinds of weather conditions.
In August 1899, the first model was ready for testing. Now what remained was finding a suitable place for the testing. For this they collected information about the speed of wind in different parts of the United States. They even wrote to the Weather Bureau Washington asking fir wind statistics. Finally they chose Kitty Hawks in North Carolina. It was not too far from Dayton where they lived. It had long stretches of sand dunes and was an ideal place for trying out a glider.They pulled their glider up to the top of a sand hill and Wilbur climbed into it.
"We have done it!" they both shouted as the glider took off. Wilbur and Orville took turns going up in the machine. They found that their control of the glider was even better than they had expected.
The Wrights continued their gliding experiments for many more weeks. They were able to collect important data. Then when winter set in,no further experimenting was possible, so they returned to Dayton.
The following July they made a second trial with a ne, much bigger glider. This time the glider incorporated all the devices which had proved workable in the first machine. This machine also did not come up to their expectations.
Back again in Dayton they experimented on mini models, testing aircraft wings in artificial winds made with a fan driven by a gas engine. They tested more than 200 models.
They returned to Kitty Hawks with a new glider designed with the knowledge they had gained from the experiments conducted in their workshop. The most important new feature was the tail, which seemed necessary to keep the machine balanced.
The new glider was wonderful to operate. It showed that their experiments with mini models were worthwhile and the improvement they had made accordingly were right.
They went back to Dayton and important improvements were again made on the devices. They came to the sand dunes again and conducted yet another series of tests.
Hitherto they had been trying only gliders that used wind power. Now their next step should be to build a flying machine powered by an engine-a machine not subjected to winds.
The chief problem was the engine. The engine for the machine shouldn't be heavy; the weight should not be more than 160 lb and the engine should be able to produce power to the tune of 8 h.p.
Finally, they struck upon a petrol engine. But no manufacturer of petrol engines was willing to supply an engine to the Wright brothers. They did not wish to associate their names with such a 'crazy business' as the flying machine. So the Wright brothers had to build it themselves, which they did with the help of a mechanic.
At last everything was ready at the Kitty Hawks beach. It was a clear and cold day. But the first trial on December 14,1903 was unsuccessful. The machine climbed a few feet and then settled to the ground at the foot of the hill. The second trial was conducted two days lateron December 17. This time the result was better. "The flight lasted only 12 seconds but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself into the air in full flight by its own power, had sailed forward without reducing speed, and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started," wrote Orville in his report.
There were only five people to witness this historic event-four men and a boy. They assisted the Wrights in various ways. One of them took a photograph of the flight, and all helped to carry the machine back to track for another start.
Next Wilbur took his turn to go on the flight. The brothers hads agreed that on fluight would they be together. This was a precaution they took to save at least one life in the event of a crash.
The wind had lessened and consequently the machine had greater speed this time. The distance increased to 200 feet.
Twenty minutes later, the third filght started with Orville in control. He reported that this time the machine was steadier than it had been the first time. The machine was in air for 15 seconds and the flight covered 200 feet.
It was Wilbur's turn next. After the start, the machine was under much better control. It was in the air for 59 seconds this time. The flight covered a distance of 852 feet.
In the afternoon the brothers walked to the local telegraph office and sent a telegram to their father, informing him of the first successful flights in an engine-fitted machine.
Newspapers reported the flight, but few gave it the importance it deserved. Meanwhile the Wrights were already building a new machine, sturdier and heavier, and a new engine of eight cylinders. They applied for a patent for their flying machine and carried out more than fifty flights in 1904.
France, more than American, showed interest in the invention. Wilbur took their plane to France in 1908 and gave a demonstration of flight. It took the whole of France by storm.
Meanwhile Orville had been invited to demonstrate the airplane to a group of officials of the U.S. government and deputies of the Armed Forces.
one day, when Wilbur was eleven years old and Orville seven, there father brought home a toy for them-a little flying machine. Its shape was like that of a present-day helicopter and had been designed by a Frenchman. It was made to fly vertically high up into the air. This first flying machine stirred up their imagination. The boys tried to build a machine copying the model. They didn't succeeded, but they learned about some basic problems in flying machines from those experiments.
At twelve, Orville, got interested in wood-engraving, and Wilbur gave him a tool-set as a Christmas present. A friend of Orville obtained a small printing press and the boys started to print a classroom newspaper. The paper was named The Midget, aptly, because of its very small size.
But the newspaper stopped with its first issue which carried the announcement : "Next week we propose to publish one of Miss Jennings' famouse lectures on the inherent wickedness of school children". Miss Jennings was their class-teacher and what was intended was a satire on her. Orville's father promptly banned any further issues of the newspaper and thus ended the enterprise.
But this did not put Orville off. The boys went around the town and collected orders for printing invoices and letter headings. Thus the printing developed into a business venture. Orville bought a bigger and better equipments with the money he earned. He took the bussiness seriously. He was nearing the end of his school years and spent his last two summer vacations working in a press, learning about printing. He worked sixty hours a week at the press. At the age of seventy he started establishing his own printing press, and Wilbur joined him.
They built a sufficiently good printing press and started a local weekly called West Side News. The first issue which came out in March 1889, contained articles about Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin, paragraphs on foreign affairs, and among other things, seventeen advertisements. It was a fine achievement. Wilbur was the editor and Orville, the publisher.
The newspaper went on splendidly. In the midst of this success the first tragedy in their family occurred: their mother died.
After some time, the brothers made West Side News a daily newspaper. This was an unwise move. Big newspapers had already captured the field. They couldn't compete with them and the West Side News had to close down.
This forced them look around for a new interest. They got interest in the bicycle. Dunlop's 'Safety' cycle with its pneumatic(air filled) tyres had already ousted the 'Penny-farthing' bicycle with its large front wheel and tiny rear wheel. The 'Safety' was still very costly, but the brothers bought one bicycle each. They were so enamoured with the cycle that they opened a shop and started cycle trade. The business did well. After some time they started making bicycles themselves, and thus the Wright Cycle Company came into being. The company was a great success.
The age of motor cars was just beginning. The early motor cars were called 'horseless'. People looked with wonder as those vehicles, all by themselves, without horses to draw them, rumbled along town and country roads.
At about the same time, in Germany, another couple of brothers were carrying out dangerous experiments on flying. The 'crazy' brothers were Otto and Gustav Lilienthal. The Lilienthal brothers tried to imitate the flight of birds. For this they built large-size kites, which, emulating wings, were to glide through the air like a stork or a seagull. The admiration Wilbur and Orville felt for the Lilienthal brothers was limitless when they heard that Otto had actually made the flight.
Then Orville fell ill with typhoid. One day, when he was convalescing, Wilbur showed him a newspaper. The front-page news was that Otto Lilienthal had been killed in a gliding experiment. The editor had added his own comment that this should be a lesson to all would-be aviators: "If the Lord had wanted man to fly as birds do, would he not have provided him with wings?"
Lilienthal's death did not deter the Wright brothers. It only made them the more determined to invent a flying machine. But they had learned a lesson from Otto's death. It was that they had to study every side of the problem and find answers before they built the 'glider' (early flying machines were called gliders).
They collected all the available literature on flying-books, newspaper reports, writings about others who had tried to invent a flying machine, in fact, anything that increased their knowledge on the subject. They soon began to understand the mistakes made by the pioneers of the flying machine. For instance, they hadn't given attention to the problem of balance, that is, how to keep the machine steady in the air without overturning. The flying machine would meet strong winds and have to withstand them. One day the answer struck Wilbur suddenly. If the wings could be bent during flight, the machine could be controlled and balanced by the pilot under all kinds of weather conditions.
In August 1899, the first model was ready for testing. Now what remained was finding a suitable place for the testing. For this they collected information about the speed of wind in different parts of the United States. They even wrote to the Weather Bureau Washington asking fir wind statistics. Finally they chose Kitty Hawks in North Carolina. It was not too far from Dayton where they lived. It had long stretches of sand dunes and was an ideal place for trying out a glider.They pulled their glider up to the top of a sand hill and Wilbur climbed into it.
"We have done it!" they both shouted as the glider took off. Wilbur and Orville took turns going up in the machine. They found that their control of the glider was even better than they had expected.
The Wrights continued their gliding experiments for many more weeks. They were able to collect important data. Then when winter set in,no further experimenting was possible, so they returned to Dayton.
The following July they made a second trial with a ne, much bigger glider. This time the glider incorporated all the devices which had proved workable in the first machine. This machine also did not come up to their expectations.
Back again in Dayton they experimented on mini models, testing aircraft wings in artificial winds made with a fan driven by a gas engine. They tested more than 200 models.
They returned to Kitty Hawks with a new glider designed with the knowledge they had gained from the experiments conducted in their workshop. The most important new feature was the tail, which seemed necessary to keep the machine balanced.
The new glider was wonderful to operate. It showed that their experiments with mini models were worthwhile and the improvement they had made accordingly were right.
They went back to Dayton and important improvements were again made on the devices. They came to the sand dunes again and conducted yet another series of tests.
Hitherto they had been trying only gliders that used wind power. Now their next step should be to build a flying machine powered by an engine-a machine not subjected to winds.
The chief problem was the engine. The engine for the machine shouldn't be heavy; the weight should not be more than 160 lb and the engine should be able to produce power to the tune of 8 h.p.
Finally, they struck upon a petrol engine. But no manufacturer of petrol engines was willing to supply an engine to the Wright brothers. They did not wish to associate their names with such a 'crazy business' as the flying machine. So the Wright brothers had to build it themselves, which they did with the help of a mechanic.
At last everything was ready at the Kitty Hawks beach. It was a clear and cold day. But the first trial on December 14,1903 was unsuccessful. The machine climbed a few feet and then settled to the ground at the foot of the hill. The second trial was conducted two days lateron December 17. This time the result was better. "The flight lasted only 12 seconds but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself into the air in full flight by its own power, had sailed forward without reducing speed, and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started," wrote Orville in his report.
There were only five people to witness this historic event-four men and a boy. They assisted the Wrights in various ways. One of them took a photograph of the flight, and all helped to carry the machine back to track for another start.
Next Wilbur took his turn to go on the flight. The brothers hads agreed that on fluight would they be together. This was a precaution they took to save at least one life in the event of a crash.
The wind had lessened and consequently the machine had greater speed this time. The distance increased to 200 feet.
Twenty minutes later, the third filght started with Orville in control. He reported that this time the machine was steadier than it had been the first time. The machine was in air for 15 seconds and the flight covered 200 feet.
It was Wilbur's turn next. After the start, the machine was under much better control. It was in the air for 59 seconds this time. The flight covered a distance of 852 feet.
In the afternoon the brothers walked to the local telegraph office and sent a telegram to their father, informing him of the first successful flights in an engine-fitted machine.
Newspapers reported the flight, but few gave it the importance it deserved. Meanwhile the Wrights were already building a new machine, sturdier and heavier, and a new engine of eight cylinders. They applied for a patent for their flying machine and carried out more than fifty flights in 1904.
France, more than American, showed interest in the invention. Wilbur took their plane to France in 1908 and gave a demonstration of flight. It took the whole of France by storm.
Meanwhile Orville had been invited to demonstrate the airplane to a group of officials of the U.S. government and deputies of the Armed Forces.
The Wrights were finally recognized and acclaimed as inventors who had given wings to humankind. They were the pioneers. Others took up from where they left off and great improvements were made on the airplane. In 1909, a Frenchman named Bleriot flew over the English Channel. Twenty years later an American crossed the Atlantic in an airplane. Today there is a vast network of air routes circling the globe.o
Wilbur contracted typhoid and died in 1912. He was forty-five. His brother Orville lived another 35 years. He was fortunate enough to see the airplane attain a speed of 750 miles an hour, which is nearly the velocity of sound.
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