AVIATION
AUGUST 6, 2021
the story of the wright brothers
The story of the Wright brothers has inspired mankind to fly farther and higher for over a century. They are American brothers who achieved the first airplane flight (1903). Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867—May 30, 1912) and his younger brother, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871—January 30, 1948) also built and flew the first fully practical airplane in 1905.
Wilbur and Orville were the sons of Milton Wright and Susan Catherine Koerner Wright. In 1878, when they were 11 and 7 years old, their father gave them a helicopter toy. It was made of paper, bamboo and cork with a rubber band to move the motor. That toy was the beginning of an obsession with flying machines as the brothers later said.
Despite owning a bicycle shop where they designed bikes themselves, the brothers’ interest in aviation grew stronger. The brothers were inspired by Otto Lilienthal, a German aviator who worked with gliders, and soon they began developing flight technology. In 1900, they started experimenting with different wing designs and rudders and conducted flight tests with their own designed gliders.
In 1903 the Wright brothers achieved the first modern airplane flight condition. Orville & Wilbur decided who would fly first with a coin toss. Wilbur won it, but his first attempt failed. Orville went second and made the famous first flight, being able to managed to fly for 12 seconds and flew for 120 feet. Later that day Wilbur flew their plane for 59 seconds, over a distance of 852 feet.
Their first flight took place at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. Kitty Hawk was chosen because it had a hill, good wind and covered with sand which would help soften the landings surface in case of any emergency landing. Each of them made additional flights that day that were slightly longer.
The Wright Brothers also established the world’s first test flight facilities in Dayton. Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton and the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park are some of the Wright brothers continuing legacies in aviation world.
In 1904, they built a hangar near Dayton, Ohio, at a location called Huffman Prairie. They constructed a 1904 Flyer which later followed by a 1905 Flyer model. With the latter Flyer, Wilbur was able to fly for a longer period, lasting about 39 minutes. He traveled a total of 24,5 miles by flying over the field for 30 times.
On May 30, 1912, Wilbur Wright died of typhoid. The daily running of the Wright Company fell to Orville after that. But three years later, Orville retired and sold the company.
The next year, he also sold the family bicycle shop. He went on to work with some private companies and the government as a consultant and served on committees and advisory boards. He lived to the age of 76, dying on Jan. 27, 1948, of a heart attack.
Interestingly, the first airplane they built are not just flew on Earth, a piece of the Wright brothers’ first airplane is on Mars. The Wrights’ hometown, The Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio, donated the postage-stamp-size piece of muslin taken from the plane’s bottom left wing at NASA’s request.
Not just that, a part of Wright Flyer wood and fabric also flew to the moon with Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong in 1969. Astronaut John Glenn also had a swatch into orbit aboard space shuttle Discovery in 1998. Both of the astronauts were from Ohio. The story of the Wright brothers continues to inspire mankind to discover more and finding things on journeys like never before..
related post