A Happy 108th Anniversary of why we're all on this forum

[The Inspector]

Time for the annual reassessment of, and blame spreading as to why we are all addicted to this forum and avocation.
I've wondered off and on over the last year or so about what would the world be like if the Wrights had decided to go into powered bicycles/motorcycles or just decided the whole idea was nuts and no one else tried-what is your input?

[Steve Nelson]

I think at some point someone would have figured it out. The Wrights were the first to succeed, but far from the only guys working on powered flight at the time. Certainly within another two or three years at most someone would have gotten into the air.

SN

[Jerry O'Neill]

Gustave Whitehead got it 90% right, but I've always said, everyone was trying to fly, so somebody was going to do it. The Wright's were just very methodical and figured more stuff out sooner!!!

[Jerry O'Neill]

BTW, the Col. says, "Whitehead flew first"!

[Baldeagle]

Somebody would've figured it out eventually, but the Wrights were way ahead of everybody else in 1903. Consider that some of the greatest minds of the times, Langley in the US, Maxim in England, and Ader in France, had spent years and huge amounts of money on glorious failures. Those three are said to have spent in the range of $100,000 each in 1900 money, and failed. The Wrights went from idea to flight in 4 years and spent less than $5,000 on their experiments to that point. They had an intuitive genius, and with the two of them one plus one was more than two. I sometimes think they were like the Lennon/McCartney of aviation.

Many of those who later succeeded did so partly by copying some of their ideas, particularly the Pratt Truss system of wing bracing (which they of course got from Octave Chanute), later used by Curtiss and Voisin and others to great effect.

I get a laugh sometimes from the provinciality (I think that's the right word) in the aviation community, if you go to Dayton the Wrights did everything important, if you go to Hammondsport it was Curtiss, in Brazil it's Santos Dumont, and I love all the great characters from that period in aviation, many of whom made very important contributions to aviation, but the Wrights were way ahead of the rest in the science of flying until about 1909. Then the stubbornness and drive that helped them succeed held them back from accepting new ideas, and the influence of their litigious father let them to the legal battles that damaged their reputation.

Lots of great stories from that time, but today is their day-



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[Kyleb]

Gustave Whitehead got it 90% right, but I've always said, everyone was trying to fly, so somebody was going to do it. The Wright's were just very methodical and figured more stuff out sooner!!!

Did Whitehead even think about the ability to control an aircraft once it was off the ground? I think that was the failing of a lot of inventors, even beginning with Maxim and Adler, both of who developed machines which could lift their own weight, but lacked any real method to control the craft in flight.

[cooper9411]

Hers one for Orville , and heres one for Wilbur

[Warbird Kid]

BTW, the Col. says, "Whitehead flew first"!

And me too!!

[Pogo]

Baldeagle, that was beautiful! Three cheers for the Wrights, the coolest aerospace engineers of all time!!

[BK]

BTW, the Col. says, "Whitehead flew first"!

So I wasn't they only one who got that posted to my FB page.
I must have missed it, could someone please repost the photos of Whitehead flying in 1899, 1901, or 1902? With multiple flights over several years I'm sure there are plenty of them.

[DaveM2]

Richard Pearse here in NZ got his off the ground before the Wrights also-but never had control. So it was certain some one, some where would have nailed it around that time in history, and caused us to be on here 100+ years later.

Dave

[cooper9411]

Does not matter who did what first or when, they all took part in getting us where we are today!

[Cherrybomber13]

Yea Whiteheads design didn't work, there was no way he could have flown first...

Oh but then that happened...

Gustave

Platt Technical School in Connecticut, under guidance of Andy Kosch, is currently rebuilding an engine designed by whiteheads drawings. It Should run by the end of summer 2012. Kosch flew his replica of Whiteheads #21 in 1986 at Sikorsky Memorial Airport as well as a group from Germany. Whitehead flew first, if you are from Connecticut, Represent!

Seriously I understand and explain the argument at the museum. It's just a shame the Smithsonian gave up the right to free speech on the subject, and to this day refused to acknowledge Whitehead. No one including the CASC denies that the Wright Brothers perfected 3 axis flight. We just say He was in the air first with a heavier than air plane. Either way they were both flying on ground effect.

Whitehead

Last edited by Cherrybomber13 on Sun Dec 18, 2011 12:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Baldeagle]

BTW, the Col. says, "Whitehead flew first"!

So I wasn't they only one who got that posted to my FB page.
I must have missed it, could someone please repost the photos of Whitehead flying in 1899, 1901, or 1902? With multiple flights over several years I'm sure there are plenty of them.

Same thing for Pearse.....

If somebody has proof of either one I'd like to see it, and loosely defined "re-enactments" don't prove anything. Interesting characters and part of history both, but very doubtful on their claims. Odd that if they had succeeded that they would just then give up, when others were making fortunes in the airplane business.

I don't think the Smithsonian "gave up the right to free speech", they just want actual proof, and is flying in ground effect not flying? Sounds a bit like the Brazillian argument that because they didn't use wheels they weren't flying (have actually heard that one many times)-



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[Steve Nelson]

I have alwayrs read that the Wright's biggest advantage was their methodical, scientific approach. Most of those working on "flying machines" at the time focused on one particular concept or idea at the expense of others. The Wrights were the first to really study and integrate everything..airframe, powerplant, and control systems. They were also among the first to really tackle propeller design..most others of the time period simply built flat. paddle blade "airscrews." The Wrights realized that the blade neeed to actually generate lift in the horizontal plane, and therefore needed and airfoil section. Around the centennial of the Wrights' acheivement, PBS did a show analyzing their machine. Using an original as a guide, a craftsman duplicated a Wright prop, down to the tool marks on the back of the blades. When it was tested in a wind tunnel, engineers were surprised to find that it was nearly as effeicient as a modern propeller.

SN