The Creation of the Airplane

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Recommended: The invention of flying

Flying has always been one of human’s greatest advancements. From the skies of world war one to the birds floating by. The airplane has created such an amazing transportation revolution all around the world. Approximately over 4.5 million people use an airplane every day for either personal use or work.
Orville and Wilbur Wright with the help of thousands of years of research created the first powered aircraft controlled, and sustained in flight with a pilot aboard. The number of years they spent just working on the first airplane was 6 years. They began research and planning in 1899, until their first success in 1905 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The plane was named Wright Flyer and has gone down in history as the first piloted plane.
In the beginning Wilbur and Orville Wright were simple men who owned a little bike shop in Greenfield Village, North Carolina. They were simple men with simple jobs, such as the bike shop and newspaper. The West Side News was theirs with Wilbur as an editor, and Orville as the printer.
During the year 1896 their curiosity soared as a headline crossed many of the papers across America. The all famous Otto Lilienthal had died in a glider crash from injuries. From that moment on the idea of human flight had interested both brothers into acting on the behalf of aerodynamics. They began work 2 years later in 1899.
On May 30th, 1899 Wilbur wrote a message to the Smithsonian:
“Dear sirs:
I am an enthusiast, but not a crank in the sense that I have some pet theories as to the proper construction of a flying machine. I wish to avail myself of all that is already known and then if possible add my mite to help on the future worker who will attain final success.
Yours truly
Wilbur Wright”
...

... middle of paper ...

... instead of gaining it. It was ⅓ less than what the brothers calculation has predicted. They had predicted that the change in wing curvature from 1/23 to 1/12 would lift the plane more. Instead it created its problems with the elevator and pitch control. They would quickly fix this to a shallower curvature of 1/19. This fix would help dramatically with control but lift would stay poor.
All in all the attempted flight trails were a disaster and a downer. They had built the largest glider in history, but it didn’t have the results they were looking for. It had troubles with lift, and control, two of the most major factors to flight. Though they did have some success the glider reached a height of 90 meters (300 ft.)

Works Cited

http://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/fly/1901/flight.cfm
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wrighthtml/wrighttime2.html

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