The Wright Brothers and the Invention Airplane o/7/*e FEDERAL PUBLICATfOM 1 Back cover, top: Monumentat WrightBrothersNational Memorial, KillDevilHills, North Carolina Back cover, bottom: 1905 WrightFlyerIIIin WrightBrothers Aviation CenteratCarillon HistoricalPark, Dayton, Ohio First Flight The Wright Brothers and the Invention ofthe Airplane Tom D. Crouch Foreword by John Glenn Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park Ohio Wright Brothers National Memorial North Carolina Produced by the Division of Publications Harpers Ferry Center National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. NationalParkHandbookssupportmanagementpro- gramsandpromotetheunderstandingandenjoymei themorethan380parksintheNationalParkSystem. TheNationalParkServicecaresforthesespecialplaces savedbytheAmericanpeoplesothatallmayenjoyou" heritage.Handbooksaresoldatparksandcanbepur- chasedbymailfromtheSuperintendentofDocumei U.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice,StopSSOP,Wash- DC ington, 20402-0001,orthroughtheInternetat http://bookstore.gpo.gov.Thisishandbooknumber159. Foreword 4 byJohn Glenn A World Transformed 5 Introduction: At Home in theAir 6 Aviation Chronology: Dreams ofFlying 8 ACenturyofFlight 10 Opening the Skies 13 by TomD. Crouch Chapter 1 The Wright Family ofDayton 14 Chapter 2 Learningto Fly 26 Chapter 3 PerfectingtheAirplane 72 Related Sites 112 Further Reading 113 Index 114 h,thatviewistremendous!" Onlookingbackat . EarthasIorbitedioomilesaboveitssurface, Iwas elated,awestruck.Thefullspectrumofcolorswasvisi- bleinthesunrisesandsunsetsshiningthroughthe atmosphere'sprism.Theywerespectacularinaway thatfilmcan'tcapture.Butmorethanthat,mynewper spectiveonourhomeforeverchangedthewayI thoughtaboutit.Thehuman-madeproblemsofour troubledworldseemedoutofkeepingwithanEarth thatappearedpeacefulandbeautifulinthedarkness — ofspace.Onthehorizonglowedaverythinfilm the — airthatsustainsus andIwasstruckbyitsfragility. Myprivilegedviewofourplanetin1962canbe traceddirectlybacktoOrvilleandWilburWright, whojust59yearsearliermadetheworld'sfirstpow- ered,controlledflightinaheavier-than-airmachine. Foranaviatoravisittotheplaacceesswwhheerreethevinvented flightis apowerful experience. WrightBrothers NationalMemorialpresi sthesiteswheretheycon- ductedtheirglidingexp< Lentsandmadetheirpow- eredflightsin1903.Dayt HistoricalParkpreserve: 'rairieFlvinsF wneretneydevelopedapracticalairplane—-ttnhee11990055 WrightFlyerIII—andlearnedtofullycontrolitinsus- tainedflight.TheparkalsopreservestheFlyeritself andsitesassociatedwiththebrothers' earlyyears. TheWrightswerethefirs»ttaassttrroonnaauutls.Theirinitial shortflightopenedourquesttoreachbeyondthe worldweknow.Theywerethefirsttestpilots. Com- biningsciencewithdesignintuition,theysoughttogo "faster,higher,farther," andafterthemtheworld wouldneverbethesame.Aviationwasthedefining technologyofthe20thcentury,alteringinternational relations,quickeningcommerce,changingthefaceof war.WhenIflyonanairliner,Iamcoveringadistance insecondsthatwouldhavetakenadaybyhorseand ;on.AndIstilltrytogetawindowseat,becauseI haveneverlostmysenseofwonderatlookingdown atourworldfromabove. A World Transformed Home At in the Air Theyalwayswaved. InphotographsoftheWright brothers'firstpublicflightsin1908and1909,menand womenlookupandwavetheirhandkerchiefs,wave theirhats,atthepilotofthegreatnoisymachineflying overhead.Theywantedtheirfellowhumanbeing,hav- ingmadehiswayintothesky,tocatchsightofthem below.Thesewerenotpassivewatchers;theytookpart intheevent,bearingwitnesstooneofthemomentson whichhistoryturns. Howastoundingitmusthavebeen. "Exhilaration," — "elation" thesewerethewordspeopleusedinrecall- ingtheirreaction.Somehadseenflightbyotherexper- imenters,butitwasragged,tentative,basicallyextend- edhopswiththepilothangingontoanalienthing alwaysonthebrinkofdisaster.Thisgracefulmachine, though,wasathomeintheair. Itflewsmoothly,bank- ingeffortlesslyintoturns,wonderfullyresponsiveto thewillofthepilot. Untilthenmostpeoplehadconsideredtheideaof humanflightslightlyridiculous,onalevelwiththe questforaperpetualmotionmachine,orworse,a pridefulambitiontointrudeonarealmreservedfor birdsandgods. ButafterseeingtheWrightsfly,they feltliberated—thehumanexperiencehadbeengiven anewdimension. Intheinfancyofhumanflight,theWrights'genius wastounderstandtwothingsthatnooneelse did. Theyhadtoteachthemselvestobesuperbpilots,to controlaninherentlyunstablemachineinmuchthe samewaythatachildlearnstorideabicycle.Andthey hadtobuildamachinethatcouldbecontrolled.They knewthatrudderandelevatoralonewerenotenough; somethingwasneededtoallowthepilottorolltheair- craft'swings.Theirsolutionwassimple,elegant,and — revolutionary,awing-warpingsystem theforerunner ofailerons.Airplanesnowofcourselookverydifferent fromthatfirstFlyer,buttheirpilotscontrolthemin essentiallythesameway. Frenchspectatorshail Dayton,Ohio,andNorthCarolina'sOuterBanksare Wilbur Wrightashe flies thesettingsfortheWrightstory,vividlyrecountedby overa racetracknear notedaeronauticalhistorianandWrightbiographer LeMans, France, in 1908. TomD.Crouch.Dayton,hometowntothetwobicycle shopowners,wasthesupportiveenvironmentneeded forresearch,buildingcomponentsoftheglidersand poweredflyers,andin1904-05perfectingtheflyersin flightsovernearbyHuffmanPrairie. OntheOuter Bankstheyassembledthecomponentsandlaunched theglidersagainandagainoffthe dunescalledKill DevilHills,tuningthemachines,learningtofly,and finallymakingthefirstpoweredflightin1903.Their achievementlinkeddisciplinedimmersionintheoret- icalandmechanicalproblemswithpureadventure- lyingdownonawingtosailoverthebrightsand,the Atlanticbreakersahead,ridingthewindwiththegulls. Itisameasureofhumaningenuitythatjust24years afterthefirstflight,CharlesLindberghcouldcrossthe Atlantic.TothisheroicmantheWrightswereheroes. Hesaidofthem: "Theirintellectsandsensesworkedin mutualsupport.Theyrepresentedmaninbalance.And fromthatbalancecamewingstoliftaworld." Break me my bounds, andletmefly To regions vastofboundless sky PUBLIC DOCUMENT I iUr^nce Dunbar CL 1 *mH^ Dreams of Flying & From mythicqueststofollowbirdsintothesky tothefirst humanfootstepsonthe moon, we havealways reached higher, alwayssought ""^^ toescapegravity's bounds. Icarusfalling from thesky 1499 Giovanni Battista Dantiattemptstoflywitha setofwingsfromatower. He 1000B.C.E. Firstknown fails. kite, inChina (earlyChinese kiteshownabove). 1648 JohnWilkinstheorizes aboutfixed-wingflight. 1232 Chinese military rockets. 1680 Giovanni Borelli concludesthathuman muscle 1250 RogerBacontheorizes powerisinadequatefor abouthuman-propelled flight. flight. Heassumesthepilot mustflapthewings. 1783 Montgolfierbrothers send alofta hot-a—irballoon 1485-1500 Leonardoda with a passenger thefirst Vincidesignsflyingmachines human aerialvoyage (right). (below).