Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Introduction2

Development in Aviation4

Business of Wright Brothers7

The Wright Brothers' Predecessors11

Precedents of the Late Nineteenth Century12

Learning to fly17

Conclusion21

References22

Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk

Abstract

Wilbur and Orville Wright often recalled that they had been intrigued by the possibility of flying ever since their father bought them a toy helicopter. As successful bicycle manufacturers, they had enough tools, skills, and income to pursue their fascination with inventing, and in the late 1890s began corresponding with experts at the Smithsonian Institution and with the famous engineer, Octave Chanute. The brothers carefully studied the problems encountered by those who had earlier tried to perfect flying machines and gliders, and eventually came up with breakthroughs that worked to power and maintain the balance of the aero plane. After their first successful flight in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wrights focused attention on developing aero plane technology for the military. After several times being refused research funds by the US government, they finally contracted, with the help of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, to produce a machine suitable for scouting missions. In 1908, they successfully completed a test flight of their product in Fort Myer, Virginia. In this a magazine article from 1908, Octave Chanute described the years of experimentation and hard work that finally led to the Wright brothers' triumph.

Introduction

The airplane era in the United States began on December 17, 1903, when the Wright brothers made their first successful flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Two years later they made a record flight of 24.25 miles; by 1910, Glenn H. Curtiss flew 142.5 miles between Albany and New York to set a new distance record. Curtiss had already established a speed record of almost 47 miles an hour. In 1911 Calbraith P. Rodgers made the first transcontinental flight from New York to Pasadena, California, a distance of 3,390 miles, in 49 days. His flying time was 82 hours, 4 minutes. By 1914 a plane had also flown over Mt. Whitney, in California, attaining an altitude of 16,000 feet.

As early as 1908 the U.S. Army ordered its first plane from the Wright brothers. Aviation played a significant role in World War I. General Billy Mitchell, the first army officer to fly over enemy lines, and Eddie Rickenbacker, an “ace” pilot, became national heroes. When the war came to an end, the army and navy had more than 6,000 planes and as many pilots who were eager to continue flying. In 1918 the Post Office Department inaugurated the first air mail service between New York and Washington. At first, army pilots flew the planes, but soon the Post Office Department hired civilian pilots. By 1921 the first transcontinental air mail service had evolved on a route from New York to Chicago, west to Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Elko, and Reno, into San Francisco, thus selecting the lowest crossing of the Continental Divide. In the beginning flights were restricted to daylight hours. For the first night flight, obliging farmers lit bonfires ...