This Date in Aviation History: December 17, 1903

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 12/17/2018 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, planelopnik history, Planelopnik

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With Orville Wright lying prone at the controls, and his brother Wilbur running alongside, the Wright Flyer makes its first controlled flight from the dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. (US Library of Congress)

From the earliest days, earthbound humans have envied the birds and their effortless flight. Likely even before the work of 15th-centrury polymath !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , scientists and engineers searched for a way to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and soar with the birds. Many tried—and many died. Humans first left the ground in 1783, when the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! took to the air in their hot air balloon. And while that flight, along with future balloon advancements, got aeronauts into the sky, they were still bound to the wind currents, and were unable to turn and soar or control their flight. Other inventors, like !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , pioneered gliders that could carry a man from a height, but powered flight was still just a dream. It wasn’t until 400 years after Leonardo that two bicycle builders from Ohio would build and fly the world’s first heavier-than-air, powered, and controllable aircraft. Though they weren’t the first to build and fly an airplane, theirs was the first that could be fully controlled.

Orville and Wilbur Wright, photographed in 1905 (US Library of Congress)

Following in the footsteps of Lillienthal, Wilbur and Orville Wright began with detailed studies involving gliders. They believed that the problems of aerodynamic wings and sufficiently powerful engines were surmountable or even already solved, and they focused on developing a system of control that would govern movement of the airplane in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! : roll, pitch and yaw. Piggybacking on the work of other designers, the Wrights built ever more complex kites and gliders. Beginning in 1900, they carried out their experiments at Kitty Hawk, on the coast of North Carolina, where they could take advantage of the ocean breezes and use the tall sand dunes as a launching point. The relatively remote location was also far away from prying eyes. The gliders used two wings, which the Brothers called “double decker,” and a single forward control surface for pitch.

A comparison of the two gliders. At left is the rudderless 1901 glider. Note the high angle of attack, which comes from poor lift and high drag. Compare that with the 1902 glider on the right, which shows a flatter flying angle. Note that the tether lines are nearly vertical, showing a greatly improved lift-to-drag ratio. (US Library of Congress)

Based on observations of birds, the brothers developed a system of warping the wingtips of their flyer to induce roll, a precursor to the modern aileron. At first, they didn’t feel that a rudder was necessary, that the wing warping would provide sufficient directional control. However, they soon found that this arrangement was not sufficient, and by 1902 they added a steerable rudder behind the pilot to control yaw. In over 700 test flights in September and October of 1902, the brothers developed their wing warping technique and performed longer and longer flights, with the longest lasting 26 seconds and covering 622 feet. A significant breakthrough came with their understanding of how the rudder acts to control the aircraft in a turn. Rather than initiating the turn as one might imagine it would on a boat, the rudder helps aim the aircraft while it is already turning, countering the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! caused by the lifting wing. With this problem solved, it was time to add an engine.

Charlie Taylor, and the four-cylinder aircraft engine he built from scratch for the Wright Brothers. (Smithsonian Institution)

Since no suitably light powerplant could be found, the Wright Brothers decided to build their own. They called on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a mechanic in their Ohio bicycle shop. Based on drawings provided by the Wrights, Taylor constructed a simple, four-cylinder engine in just six weeks, with a block cast from aluminum to save weight, and with a rudimentary gravity-fed carburetor. The diminutive engine produced 12 horsepower and weighed 180 pounds, and turned the flyer’s two propellers through heavy-duty automobile chains. With a plane and and engine, what the brothers now needed was a propeller. Common sense dictated a design similar to a boat propeller. After all, air and water are both fluid mediums. But there was no data to support whether or not such a design would work. And here, the Wrights had another important inspiration: rather than build a propeller like one for a boat that pushes water backwards for propulsion, they constructed the propeller as a rotating wing, one that would push (or pull) the airplane through the air. Their first propellers were eight-feet in diameter, carved from wood, and would be mounted behind the pilot. Fully built, the entire Flyer weighed 605 pounds and cost less than $1,000 to build.

Wilbur Wright at the controls of the damaged Flyer after the first unsuccessful attempt at flight on December 14, 1903. (US Library of Congress)

The brothers flipped a coin to see which would be the first to pilot the Flyer. Wilbur won. The first attempt at flight was made on December 14, but lasted only three seconds before the Flyer landed hard on the ground, causing minor damage. After repairs, and observing a day of rest on Sunday, they made another attempt on December 17, this time with Orville at the controls. At 10:35 am, Orville rode the flyer off of its catapult rails and into a frigid 27 mph headwind, with Wilbur running alonside. The Flyer covered a distance of 120 feet in 12 seconds. Two more flights that day covered ever increasing distances, the third approximately 200 feet. Modern aviation was born.

Orville pilots the Wright Flyer II over the Huffman Prairie in 1904 (US Library of Congress)

The first Flyer was destroyed soon after the first flight when it was flipped by a gust of wind, and the brothers returned to Ohio to continue their experiments at Huffman Prairie outside of Dayton. Their original aircraft was refined into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with a redesigned wing and a more powerful engine. With this aircraft, the brothers were able to complete full circle flights that demonstrated the success of their control system. In 1909, they provided the US Army with their first aircraft, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which was designated “Signal Corps (S.C.) No. 1.” And the refinement and development of the airplane continues to this day at an astonishing pace. Consider this: In 1903, Orville Wright flew at 27 mph about 10 feet off the ground. A mere 44 years later, on October 14, 1947, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! broke the sound barrier, flying the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at Mach 1.07 (about 660 mph) at an altitude of 45,000 feet. Amazingly, Orville Wright was still alive (Wilbur had died of typhoid fever in 1912). The world had gone from the first hesitant leap into the air to beyond the speed of sound in the span of one man’s lifetime.

Orville Wright demonstrating the Flyer at Fort Myer, Virginia in September 1908 (US Air Force)

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For Sweden > ttyymmnn 12/17/2018 at 12:37

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Ah, the last good thing to come out of Ohio.

Jayhawk Jake > ttyymmnn 12/17/2018 at 12:48

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It’s such a shame the Wrights became somewhat blinded by greed and spent most of the early days of aviation in a legal battle with Curtiss. They were brilliant inventors but didn’t push the technology very far, certainly not as far as Curtiss and others.

The pace of advancement was always such a draw for me, insane that in 60 years since the first flight mankind was walking on another celestial body, yet somehow disappointing that in the 50 years since it seems progress has largely slowed. While there’s something to be said for the advancement that benefits the common person, it’s a shame we haven’t seen quite a robust growth in the extreme as there was while Orville was still alive. 

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > For Sweden 12/17/2018 at 12:52

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Neil Armstrong would take umbrage at that.

Also, fuck your state too, since we’re going to start with the childish insults.

For Sweden > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 12/17/2018 at 12:56

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Neil Armstrong left for Indiana, and he still couldn’t beat Steph Curry at threes.

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > For Sweden 12/17/2018 at 12:56

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Being a fast way to leave Ohio?

ttyymmnn > Jayhawk Jake 12/17/2018 at 13:02

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somehow disappointing that in the 50 years since it seems progress has largely slowed.

It seems like now all of the work is being done to improve efficiency, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But the national will to do great things has gone. In the Wright’s day it was a time of relative prosperity and growth, then the urgency of war, then the Golden Age, the urgency of a second war, the quest for the sound barrier, the Space Race and the leadership of JFK. Tens of thousands turned out to welcome Lindbergh, but the world barely noticed when Rutan and Yeager flew around the world on a single tank of gas. Different times, to be sure.

Berang > ttyymmnn 12/17/2018 at 13:33

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We all know the first successful manned flight of a heavier than air powered aircraft took place more than ten years after the Wrights’ flight, for patent troll reasons.

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 12/17/2018 at 13:46

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The world is much more jaded these days due to the proliferation of information. With so many amazing things happening, it’s hard to be amazed at any particular thing any more.

As was said...

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 12/17/2018 at 13:54

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We often talk about the pace of advancement only in terms of the Microprocessor era (roughly 1970 onward) and it sort of desensitizes us to other forms of advancement.

Aviation and aerospace will still stand out, at least in my mind, as about the furthest you can take the same basic technology in just over a century. And even the microprocessor only moved it along incrementally, not disruptively. And we’re still going.

wkiernan > For Sweden 12/17/2018 at 14:07

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What did you just say about my mother ? Oooh, y ou better look out; I’m coming to Sweden to kick your ass, boy !

Kiltedpadre > ttyymmnn 12/17/2018 at 14:37

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I’ve posted this before but it seems appropriate to reshare here.

A foggy morning at Huffman Field near Wright Patterson where the Wright brothers did the majority of their testing.

ttyymmnn > Kiltedpadre 12/17/2018 at 14:59

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That’s neat. I’d like to go there some time.

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck 12/17/2018 at 15:00

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I used that quote just the other day. It’s a good one.

Jayhawk Jake > ttyymmnn 12/17/2018 at 15:14

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From my perspective in industry there’s little innovative work being done. Gone are the days of the X-Plane. While there’s definitely been progress, it’s been incremental and mostly shareholder safe - a little better wing design here, new winglets there, with a sprinkling of manufacturing improvements to drive lighter weight and better cost.

Kiltedpadre > ttyymmnn 12/17/2018 at 15:39

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If you do let me know; I’m nearby.

Hopefully you’ll have plenty of time when you do. In addition to the field, the Wright brothers memorial, and the Air Force Museum you won’t be  far from the Wright Brother’s bicycle shop and a really nice Packard museum.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Jayhawk Jake 12/17/2018 at 15:40

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The aerospace industry has gone from a new thing with lots of room to innovate and grow into a mature industry. We’ve explored enough of the aerodynamic flight regime to discover that the most cost effective, efficient and safest speed to fly is subsonically up to about the transsonic regime.  I don’t think we’ll see any great leaps in the aerospace industry until / if manned interplanetary travel becomes a thing.

ttyymmnn > Kiltedpadre 12/17/2018 at 15:42

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My son and I spent an entire day at the AF museum two summers ago  on our Midwest vacation. Huffman Prairie never occurred to me. I’ll get there one day!