Title: An Event at Kitty Hawk
1An Event at Kitty Hawk
2Objectives
- Know how the Wright brothers succeeded in the
first flight - Know the anatomy of the Wright Flyer
- Know the principles of airplane flight
- Know the history of the Wright brothers
involvement with the US Army
3The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
4The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 1 Build a Test Model
- The Wrights chose a glider as their starting
point - They could focus first on balancing and
controlling the aircraft - They discovered that they didnt need to tilt an
entire wing to turn the craft only the ends of
the wings (wing warping ailerons) - Engine power could come later
5 ft Wingspan Similar to Power Model
5The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 2 Build a Manned Glider
- Between 1900 and 1902, the brothers built three
gliders - Before putting a man aboard, they flew each
glider like a kite - They wanted to test it for control and lift
- Only after doing this would they put a man aboard
6The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 2 Build a Manned Glider
- The early glider experiments taught the brothers
three important things - How to control climb and descent
- The best design for the shape of the wing
- How large the wing area had to be to sustain lift
7The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 2 Build a Manned Glider The1900 Glider
- The brothers test-flew their glider at Kill Devil
Hills in 1900 - It didnt crash, but clearly improvements were
necessary - The Wrights headed back to Ohio to build the next
version
8The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 2 Build a Manned Glider The1901 Glider
- For the 1901 glider, the brothers increased the
wing area to 290 square feet - This glider was also a big disappointmentthey
couldnt control it well when they tested it at
Kill Devil Hills - It flew less than 300 feettime to return to
Dayton!
9The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 2 Build a Manned Glider Wind Tunnel
- The brothers built a wind tunnel in their bicycle
shop to test model-size wings - Made them of sheet steel
- Cut more than 200 model wings of different shapes
10The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 2 Build a Manned Glider The1902 Glider
- This glider had two fixed, vertical rudders
behind the wings - Test flights showed that this resulted in erratic
behavior during turns - So the Wrights tried a single, movable, vertical
rudder which greatly improved control - The brothers took to the air in the North
Carolina dunes more than 700 times in the fall of
1902
11The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 3 Build an Engine
- The brothers set out to fit their plane with an
engine - They tried to buy one ready made, but no one met
their needs or price - So they had their bicycle mechanic, Charles E.
Taylor, build them a four-cylinder, 12-horsepower
engine
12The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 4 Test Flight
- In September 1903 they returned to Kitty Hawk and
Kill Devil Hills - They built a trolley track to give their powered
aircraft a running start - Bad weather also caused delays
- The brothers tossed a coin, and Wilbur won
- However, on the first test flight of the Wright
Flyer, he crashed it - It took three days to repair the damaged craft
13The Wright Brothers Flight Checklist
Step 5 Success
- On 17 December, Orville took the controls
- The Flyer stayed aloft for 12 seconds and
traveled 120 feet - Orville had made the first controlled, sustained,
heavier-than-air human flight with a powered
aircraft - The brothers took turns piloting the Flyer for
three more flights - The fourth and final launch lasted 59 seconds,
and the craft traveled 852 feet
14 Anatomy of the Wright Flyer
Biplane with wingspan of 40 feet, four inches,
and a wing area of 510 square feet
15Wright Brothers Involvement With the US Army
- The Wright brothers continued refining their
airplane - In January 1905, they had contacted their
representative in Congress (R. M. Nevin) and
tried to interest the US government in buying
their airplane - Their offer was turned down
- The British and French governments were
interested in buying the Flyer - But the brothers wanted the US government to have
the first crack at owning a Wright Flyer - On 22 May 1906 they received a government patent
for their invention
16Ways the Wright Brothers Contributed to Army
Aviation
- Orville spent much of 1908 and 1909 improving the
Flyer - He made more test flights and took up military
passengers - One such flight tragically ended in a crash that
seriously injured Orville and killed 1st Lt
Thomas Selfridge the first US military aviation
casualty - The Wrights continued working with the Army as
flight instructors
17Army Airplanes
- It took a while for the Army to decide how to use
airplanes during war - At first, the Army thought that airplanes would
be useful only for aerial reconnaissance - World War I brought about a change in strategy
- But before that could happen, airplanes needed
improvements to make them faster, sturdier, and
more reliable
18Objectives
- Know how the Wright brothers succeeded in the
first flight - Know the anatomy of the Wright Flyer
- Know the principles of airplane flight
- Know the history of the Wright brothers
involvement with the US Army