December 17 will mark the 120th anniversary of the first aircraft flight in history, a landmark achievement achieved by the Wright brothers in the aircraft they designed. As inventors themselves, they witnessed great technological discoveries at the turn of the 20th century, while also having other competitors involved. However, it was the Wright brothers who stood out by designing the world's first heavier-than-air unit with a power plant, which managed to achieve controlled flight. Not only did they become the first pilots of such installations, but on December 17, 1903, they made several flights over the dunes of Kitty Hawk (North Carolina, USA) in their own plane, which they called "The Flyer".
Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright are often described as savvy bicycle mechanics who somehow invented the airplane, according to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. However, in fact, it is wrong for them to be seen as a single entity. Wilbur and Orville are two different people, each bringing a unique perspective and talent to their collaboration.
Wilbur Wright was born into a family of evangelical bishops with two older brothers and a younger sister. Born in 1867, he was a well-read, well-read man with excellent academic performance and a love of sports. His original plan to attend Yale University and become a teacher was shattered by a serious sports injury: at the age of 18, the young man was hit in the face with a hockey stick. This leads to long-term depression and health problems. So instead of going to Yale, Wilbur immersed himself in reading (he had a well-stocked library at home) and became interested in writing. According to historians, it was he who began work on the study of aircraft.
On the contrary, Orville, who is four years younger than his younger brother, is energetic, impulsive, and curious, and shows an interest in science and technology at an early age. Orville was not inferior to Wilbur in his academic abilities, and he could be mischievous in class, but by high school he had come to his senses.
At that time, the family lived in Dayton (Ohio). In 1889, Wilbur finally got rid of his worries, and the brothers tried their hand at printing, and for a time they published two local newspapers. In 1892, the Wright brothers really started selling bicycles, which became fashionable, and then began to produce bicycles under their own brand, significantly improving the design.
The American historian David McCullough mentions in his book that the future designer had already developed a keen interest in aviation in childhood. According to their recollections, their father gave them a toy flying machine with a propeller driven by a rubber band. At school, the teacher noticed that Orville was making a model of a flying machine out of wooden blocks, and according to him, he explained that he and his brother hoped to one day be able to fly such a flying machine.
By the end of the 1890s, the Wright brothers had devoted themselves to the field of aeronautics, starting with the manufacture of kites. On these early flying machines, they practiced the principle of controlling flight by twisting the wings, which later became the basis of Wright's patents. To further their research, the brothers moved to Kitty Hawk in 1900. There, they experimented with gliders and took advantage of the constant high winds to fly over the vast sand dunes. Over time, the design of the glider was constantly improved in terms of aerodynamics and was equipped with elevators and rudders. For the first time, the Wright brothers achieved controllability on all three axes, a breakthrough that made it possible to fly heavier-than-air aircraft for long periods of time.
In addition, the Wright brothers tested various models through a homemade wind tunnel to determine the optimal wing shape. They also used the mechanics of the bicycle to build a lightweight 12-horsepower gasoline engine to power their glider. Experts believe that the Wright brothers' greatest contribution was their invention of the wooden propeller, which was extremely efficient at the time.
On December 14, 1903, the Wright brothers tossed a coin to decide who would make their first flight. Wilbur won the opportunity. However, he raised the nose of the aircraft too high during takeoff, causing the aircraft to immediately fall and damage the elevator. After several days of repairs and waiting for weather conditions suitable for flying, on December 17, 1903, Orville flew the aircraft on its first flight. The flight was at a distance of 36 meters and remained in the air for 12 seconds. In the days that followed, the Wright brothers took turns conducting flight tests in the presence of witnesses. One of the longest flights lasted almost a minute.
Orville and Wilbur's planes were not created out of thin air, but were based on the research and experiments of their predecessors. Before the Wright brothers decided to conduct aviation experiments, the idea of flying a larger-than-air vehicle had already been put to practical use. For example, before the tragic death of the German glider enthusiast Otto Lilienthal, who had made about 2,000 non-motorized flights of 100 meters, built 18 gliders, and tried to control the rudder, before his tragic death in 1896. His work largely determines the future of aviation.
The work of Lilinthal was outlined in the book The Flight of Birds as the Basis of Aviation, published in 1889. After Lilienthal's death, Wilbur developed an active interest in aviation issues. In May 1899, Wilbur Wright wrote to the Smithsonian Institution stating that he wanted to study the theory and practice of aeronautics. In response, he received a number of materials, including the book "The Progress of the Flying Machine" by aviation pioneer Octav Chanut – the first comprehensive body of knowledge on the subject at that time.
Chanut built gliders, and his biplane design (two wings, one on top of the other) influenced the Wright brothers. They borrowed some design elements from the Chanut aircraft to build the Flyer as a biplane. In 1896, a large model of an airfield made by Samuel Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, flew successfully. The longitudinal biplane, equipped with a steam engine, flew about a kilometer. Langley also developed a manned full-scale version of the device, but the tests ended in failure - when launched from a catapult located on the ship, the airfield with the pilot fell into the water after launch.
If we push the time back a little earlier, then at the beginning of the 19th century, George Kelley, a British aviation theorist and practitioner, published the book "On Air Navigation", summarizing his research results and laying the foundation for later aviation scientific research. Aerodynamics. Keighley also built full-size gliders. In the middle of the last century, the British engineer William Hansen patented the "flying steam carriage", and his device contained all the modern features of the aircraft - the wing, the controlled tail device, the engine that drove the propeller, the fuselage and the landing gear. Many inventors have built and tested models of airplanes of various sizes with springs, steam, and even rocket engines with varying degrees of success. The plane with a steam engine was built by the designer of the famous machine gun, Hiram Maxim - his invention even managed to take off, but due to imperfect aerodynamics, it was not possible to make long flights.
Alexander Mozhalsky is one of the pioneers in the field of Russian aviation. He has a deep technical background and extensive knowledge, and he is well funded for his experiments. Starting by observing birds flying and experimenting with kites, he succeeded in building flying model airplanes with springs and twisted rubber band engines. In 1877, Mozhardy submitted an application to the Russian Imperial War Ministry for the construction of manned aircraft and received funding for research. In 1881, he received a patent for the "Aviation Projectile", the first aviation patent in Russia.
Despite not receiving financial support for the construction of the prototype, Mozartsky decided to continue the construction of his aircraft with his own funds and private donations. According to experts, Mozhardy's aviation bomb is a monoplane with a wingspan of 23m and a mass of about a ton, with a fuselage with four-wheeled landing gear, a tail section that can be deflected to control flight, two steam engines with a power of 10-20 horsepower driving three four-meter long wooden propellers.
According to the results of modern research, the thrust-to-weight ratio of the Mozhardy aircraft was not enough to support its flight, but its design had all the essential elements of a modern aircraft. The aircraft became the first real aircraft project in the history of Russia, the prototype of which was built and tested.
However, due to lack of funding, further research on the device was discontinued. Nevertheless, Mozhasky's aircraft remained an important milestone in the history of Russian aviation, laying the foundation for later aviation development.
After the aircraft's first flight, the Wright brothers continued to improve its design, and in 1906 succeeded in obtaining a patent for a system for controlling the aircraft by twisting the wings. Not only did the Wright company produce and sell aircraft, but the brothers personally demonstrated the aircraft for many years and flew it themselves during the demonstrations. In addition, they have set up flight schools.
According to Crouch in his book The First Flight, the Wright brothers devoted a lot of energy to a series of international lawsuits against aircraft manufacturers and pilots. They believe that these people are infringing on their patents and profiting from them. In early 1910, Wilbur filed a major lawsuit against another American aircraft manufacturer, Herring-Curtiss. Although the court ruled in favor of the Wright brothers, the opposing party's attorneys succeeded in delaying the execution of the judgment until 1917, after which Wright's patent was purchased. In addition, during the years of rapid development of aviation, the Wright brothers and other pioneers filed lawsuits against their German and French counterparts, with varying degrees of success. However, Wilbur Wright died in 1912 at the age of 45 after contracting typhus and being exhausted by litigation.
Over the years, Orville Wright has been a staunch defender of the brothers' priority in aviation. According to aviation historians, in 1914, the Smithsonian Institution handed over the wreckage of Langley Airport to aircraft designer Glenn Curtis, who was also the Wright brothers' opponent in the patent war. Curtis made repairs and major improvements to the aircraft, adjusting the size and shape of the wings, mounting it on buoys, and making several short flights over the water. This was enough for the Aerodrome to be exhibited at the exposition of the institute with a logo indicating that it was the first device "capable of flying". This statement was widely disseminated in textbooks and literature.
Orville made several attempts to settle the dispute with the institute, but to no avail. As a result, Wright donated his leaflet to the Science Museum in London in 1928 and decided to leave it there until the Smithsonian Institution issued a report on major changes to the airport before retesting. In 1942, the request was granted, and the Wright brothers' plane returned to the Smithsonian Institution, where it is still on display today.
In 1915, Orville took his stake in the company, but continued to serve as a technical advisor to the merged Dayton-Wright Company, which produced military aircraft. Since 1920, the second of the famous inventors worked for the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and although he remained one of the most famous figures of the era, he avoided public appearances. Orville Wright died in 1948.
In his book, McCullough quotes Orville in an interview at the height of World War II as saying, "We dare to wish that we had invented something that would bring lasting peace to the planet." However, we were wrong. I don't regret my role in this invention at all. Regarding the aircraft, he said, "While I regret the damage it has caused like everyone else, I believe that the people who have learned how to use it have benefited humanity, which has learned to use the aircraft for a thousand other purposes." ”