It Flies!

By Kristina Dell Sunday, Nov. 30, 2003
    • In June 1899 a letter arrived at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. "I am an enthusiast but not a crank," wrote a bicycle-shop owner from Dayton, Ohio. "I wish to avail myself of all that is already known and then if possible add my mite to help." The letter was from Wilbur Wright, who, with his brother Orville, wanted to build an airplane. They began with kites and gliders, built their own wind tunnel and even recalculated long-accepted physics equations. Four years later on a blustery North Carolina beach, they succeeded where all others had failed. The longest flight was only a minute, but a new era had begun.

    1 Lift
    WINGS
    Other inventors had discovered that curved wings reduce air pressure above and increase it below, resulting in an upward push, or lift. While most used a perfect-arc design, the Wrights put the high point of the arc nearer the leading edge. They believed this would increase the Flyer's stability by keeping the wings balanced over the center of pressure, where lift is focused, as the plane moved up and down during flight


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    2 Propulsion
    PROPELLERS
    Unlike their predecessors who copied boat propellers, the Wrights realized that a propeller works like a rotating wing. The same forces that create lift could generate thrust. The Wright Flyer had two propellers, which moved in opposite directions

    ENGINE
    The Wrights couldn't find an engine that met their needs, so they had one built from lightweight aluminum. Propellers were connected to the engine by a chain-and-sprocket transmission that resembled a bicycle's

    3 Control
    STEERING
    The brothers' most important achievement was their three-dimensional control system: it's why their Flyer worked when other planes didn't. The Wrights realized a plane could not be turned with just a rudder, like a boat; it had to bank into turns to stay under control

    For directional control, the Wrights created wing warping — twisting the wings to facilitate turning. The pilot's torso rests in a wooden hip cradle that is connected by wires to both wings' rear corners and to the rear rudder

    By shifting his hips to one side, the pilot pulls the opposite wing tip down, while the other automatically twists up. The side with the trailing edge down experiences more lift

    The increased lift causes the Flyer to bank into a turn. The rudder keeps the turn under control

    ELEVATION AND DESCENT
    For vertical control, a wooden hand lever was connected by a chain and pulley to an elevator in the front. By pulling the hand lever back, the pilot rotated the elevator, causing the plane to rise. Pushing the hand lever forward would cause the plane to descend

    FIRST FLIGHTS
    On Dec. 17, 1903, the Wrights made four flights, each progressively farther:

    Flight 1
    120 ft. (37 m), 12 sec., Orville flying

    Flight 2
    175 ft. (53 m), 12 sec., Wilbur flying

    Flight 3
    200 ft. (61 m), 15 sec., Orville flying

    Flight 4
    852 ft. (260 m), 59 sec., Wilbur flying

    MILESTONES OF AVIATION
    In less than a century after Kitty Hawk, pilots were flying across the oceans, around the world and into space

    1900s

    Dec. 17, 1903
    Wright brothers' flights at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

    1910s

    Jan. 15, 1914
    First scheduled airline service flies across Tampa Bay, Fla.

    1920s

    May 2-3, 1923
    First nonstop flight across North America takes 26 hr., 50 min.

    May 21, 1927
    Charles Lindbergh completes solo flight across the Atlantic

    1940s

    Oct. 14, 1947
    Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier

    1960s

    July 20, 1969
    Apollo 11 lands two men on the moon

    1970s

    Jan. 21, 1976
    British Airways and Air France begin supersonic passenger flights

    1980s

    April 12-14, 1981
    First space shuttle launched into orbit and returns to Earth

    2000s

    By 2005
    Airbus is building the A380; it could seat more than 800

    Sources: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution; National Park Service; NASA; How We Invented the Airplane, by Orville Wright, 1988 edition (Dover); First Flight, by T.A. Heppenheimer, 2003 (Wiley); On Great White Wings, by Fred E.C. Culick and Spencer Dunmore, 2001 (Hyperion)