Week 180 - Wright Brothers Photo Collection - 01-24-2010

Straighten up and fly Wright!

We visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk, on The Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is the sight of first flights by the Wright Brothers of both gliders and powered aircraft. The area is well preserved to closely resemble the original environment of their flights.

Orville and Wilbur Wright, while not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, are credited for inventing the aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible. They were two of seven Wright children living in Dayton, Ohio. Their father gave them a toy helicopter based on an invention of Frenchman Alphonse Penaud. They played with the toy until it broke and then created their own versions. This began their lifelong interest in "flying machines".

Wilbur, on the left, was born in 1867. Orville was born four years later. Wilbur finished high school but because of a family move did not receive his diploma. Orville dropped out after his junior year, designed and built his own printing press and started a printing business and was joined by Wilbur. They were involved in printing various newspapers and joined the national bicycle craze in 1892 by opening a bicycle sales and repair shop. They continued by creating their own brand of bicycles. As their interest in aeronautics grew they began in 1900 to perform glider tests that lead to their creation of powered flight in 1903.

After 3 years of gliders tests, the results of their first four flights in the Wright Flyer I, powered aircraft, were sent out by telegram.

The glider tests were first made unmanned, and later Wilbur climbed on board as the gliders were flown as you would a kite, with men holding the tether ropes and flying a little above ground level. The Wright Brother made extensive use of wind tunnel testing and continued to improve their gliders and controls. They tested 200 different wing designs in the wind tunnels to come up with the designs for the craft they built. In 1902 they conducted unmanned and manned glider flights.

This outdoor model shows the flyer being prepared for take off.

These buildings are replicas of the shops at Kill Devils Hills where their flights took place.

Their memorial stands atop Big Kill Devil Hill.

The three-sided memorial is inscribed "In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conceived by genius achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith."

The memorial was dedicated in 1932 and attended by special guest, Orville Wright. Wilbur had passed away in 1912, only nine years after their historic flights. In 1912 Orville convinced the US military of the value of airplanes and received a contract to build the first planes. Orville lived until 1947 and obviously saw the tremendous advancements of his invention.

The Atlantic Ocean can be viewed from the memorial. While quite a distance from Dayton, Ohio, Kill Devil Hills was selected as the test site. They desired the lift that could be obtained from the winds from the Atlantic and the soft sand landing. Today, the sand is covered with natural grass.

This outdoor model is of the 1903 Wright Flyer I. As can be seen here, there are no wheels with tires on the flyer. It rested on rollers riding on a rail that was secured to the ground. The balance required to keep the flyer upright during take up was not unlike what is needed when you learn to ride a bicycle. Knowing that people can learn this balancing was part of what inspired the brother to believe that flying would be a similar experience.

Right alongside the memorial is a small landing strip allowing avid pilots easy access to the park.

The museum is full full of photos, stories and Wright Flyer replicas.

We saw the original 1903 Wright Flyer I which resides in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

Until next week, love, Pete and Ellen

[Some of the text in this collection was quoted directly or paraphrased from Wikipedia.com]

Photos from Jun 2007