Introduction (from Wikipedia):
The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two Americans credited[1][2][3] with inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. In the two years afterward, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.
The brothers’ fundamental breakthrough was their invention of three-axis control, which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium.[4] This method became standard and remains standard on fixed-wing aircraft of all kinds.[5][6] From the beginning of their aeronautical work, the Wright brothers focused on developing a reliable method of pilot control as the key to solving “the flying problem”. This approach differed significantly from other experimenters of the time who put more emphasis on developing powerful engines.[7] Using a small homebuilt wind tunnel, the Wrights also collected more accurate data than any before, enabling them to design and build wings and propellers that were more efficient than any before.[8][9] Their first U.S. patent, 821,393, did not claim invention of a flying machine, but rather, the invention of a system of aerodynamic control that manipulated a flying machine’s surfaces.[10]
They gained the mechanical skills essential for their success by working for years in their shop with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and other machinery. Their work with bicycles in particular influenced their belief that an unstable vehicle like a flying machine could be controlled and balanced with practice.[11] From 1900 until their first powered flights in late 1903, they conducted extensive glider tests that also developed their skills as pilots. Their bicycle shop employee Charlie Taylor became an important part of the team, building their first aircraft engine in close collaboration with the brothers.
Acts of Providence:
The following acts of providence allowed for the Wrights successful invention and for them to be given sufficient credence for their ideas to be used worldwide:
- Wilbur’s accident that changed his focus in life. In late 1885 or early 1886 Wilbur was struck in the face by a hockey stick while playing an ice-skating game with friends, resulting in the loss of his front teeth. He had been vigorous and athletic until then, and although his injuries did not appear especially severe, he became withdrawn. He had planned to attend Yale. Instead, he spent the next few years largely housebound. During this time, he read extensively in his father’s library. He also expressed unease over his own lack of ambition.[25]
- The toy helicopter based on a French invention: In 1878 when the family lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, their father brought home a toy helicopter for his two younger sons. The device was based on an invention of French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Pénaud. Made of paper, bamboo and cork with a rubber band to twirl its rotor, it was about a foot long. Wilbur and Orville played with it until it broke, and then built their own.[21] In later years, they pointed to their experience with the toy as the spark of their interest in flying.[22]
- The fact that Wilbur had a brother to fully support him throughout the long process of research and testing. The Wright brothers always presented a unified image to the public, sharing equally in the credit for their invention. Biographers note, however, that Wilbur took the initiative in 1899–1900, writing of “my” machine and “my” plans before Orville became deeply involved when the first person singular became the plural “we” and “our”. Author James Tobin asserts, “it is impossible to imagine Orville, bright as he was, supplying the driving force that started their work and kept it going from the back room of a store in Ohio to conferences with capitalists, presidents, and kings. Will did that. He was the leader, from the beginning to the end.”[32] Nevertheless, Wilbur had the full support of his brother and their togetherness throughout the entire process effectively supercharged Wilbur to be able to do all that he did.
- The work and sudden death of Otto Lilienthal in a gliding accident: In the early or mid-1890s they saw newspaper or magazine articles and probably photographs of the dramatic glides by Otto Lilienthal in Germany. 1896 brought three important aeronautical events. In May, Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Langley successfully flew an unmanned steam-powered fixed-wing model aircraft. In mid-year, Chicago engineer and aviation authority Octave Chanute brought together several men who tested various types of gliders over the sand dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan. In August, Lilienthal was killed in the plunge of his glider.[28] These events lodged in the minds of the brothers, especially Lilienthal’s death. The Wright brothers later cited his death as the point when their serious interest in flight research began.[29] Wilbur said, “Lilienthal was without question the greatest of the precursors, and the world owes to him a great debt.”[29]
- The bicycle craze. Capitalizing on the national bicycle craze (spurred by the invention of the safety bicycle and its substantial advantages over the penny-farthing design), in December 1892 the brothers opened a repair and sales shop (the Wright Cycle Exchange, later the Wright Cycle Company) and in 1896 began manufacturing their own brand.[27] It was the familiarity with the manufacturing of the bicycle that provided the knowledge they used to built the necessary controls for the airplane. At the outset of their experiments they regarded control as the unsolved third part of “the flying problem”. They believed sufficiently promising knowledge of the other two issues—wings and engines—already existed.[33] The Wright brothers thus differed sharply from more experienced practitioners of the day, notably Clément Ader, Maximand Langley who built powerful engines, attached them to airframes equipped with unproven control devices, and expected to take to the air with no previous flying experience. Wilbur observed that birds changed the angle of the ends of their wings to make their bodies roll right or left.[35]The brothers decided that the flying machine should be able to turn like a bird —and just like a person riding a bicycle. Additionally, the brothers used the bicycle to obtain necessary data for the building of the airplane. To learn whether errors existed in Lilienthal’s data tables, the brothers used a bicycle for a new type of experiment. They made a model-size airfoil and a counter-acting flat plate, both according to dimensions Lilienthal had specified, and attached them to an extra bicycle wheel, which they mounted horizontally in front of the handlebars. Pedaling strenuously on a local street to create airflow over the apparatus, they observed that the third wheel rotated against the airfoil instead of remaining motionless as Lilienthal’s formula predicted. The experiment confirmed their suspicion that either the standard Smeaton coefficient or Lilienthal’s coefficients of lift and drag–or all of them–were in error.[53][54]
- The incredibly successful show put on by Wilbur in France. The brothers’ contracts with the U.S. Army and a French syndicate depended on successful public flight demonstrations that met certain conditions. The brothers had to divide their efforts. Wilbur sailed for Europe; Orville would fly near Washington, D.C. Facing much skepticism in the French aeronautical community and outright scorn by some newspapers that called him a “bluffeur”, Wilbur began official public demonstrations on August 8, 1908, at the Hunaudières horse racing track near the town of Le Mans, France. His first flight lasted only one minute 45 seconds, but his ability to effortlessly make banking turns and fly a circle amazed and stunned onlookers, including several pioneer French aviators, among them Louis Blériot. In the following days, Wilbur made a series of technically challenging flights, including figure-eights, demonstrating his skills as a pilot and the capability of his flying machine, which far surpassed those of all other pioneering aircraft and pilots of the day.[102][103] The French public was thrilled by Wilbur’s feats and flocked to the field by the thousands, and the Wright brothers instantly became world-famous. Former doubters issued apologies and effusive praise. L’Aérophile editor Georges Besançon wrote that the flights “have completely dissipated all doubts. Not one of the former detractors of the Wrights dare question, today, the previous experiments of the men who were truly the first to fly …”[104] Leading French aviation promoter Ernest Archdeacon wrote, “For a long time, the Wright brothers have been accused in Europe of bluff … They are today hallowed in France, and I feel an intense pleasure … to make amends.”[105]
However, had something gone wrong on that crucial flight demonstration – and there was in fact much that could go wrong as had happened many times in the past, and happened with Orville a few days later ( On September 17, Army lieutenant Thomas Selfridge rode along as his passenger, serving as an official observer. A few minutes into the flight at an altitude of about 100 feet (30 m), a propeller split and shattered, sending the Flyer out of control. Selfridge suffered a fractured skull in the crash and died that evening in the nearby Army hospital, becoming the first airplane crash fatality. Orville was badly injured, suffering a broken left leg and four broken ribs.) – it is quite possible that all of the work of the Wrights would have been relegated to oblivion.
The reader here is pointed to other posts where the French played an important role in history (e.g. Napoleonic wars, the American revolution). It is interesting to note that while in all the cases discussed, the French were crucial participants; history and even the French themselves view their participation as simply a tidbit of history, instead of the cause of actual result that it really was. See also #1 above where it was a French invention that sparked the Wrights’ interest in flying.
