Brothers in Flight

The Wright Brothers

The Airplane

Two Brothers by the last name of Wright, a name that will rest in the history books of time forever. Orville and Wilbur Wright specialized in the development of aeronautics in its early stages. The two brothers are known for inventing and flying the first practical airplane.

These American aviators Orville and Wilbur Wright of Dayton, Ohio are to this day considered the inventors of the first successful, manned flying machine. The first successful flight took place in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903; Orville Wright traveled a distance of about 37-m (120 ft) in a craft called the Flyer.

However this flight was not the first try there where many attempts before hand that turned out to be unsuccessful or not to there expectations.

The Flyer consisted of a four cylinder water-cooled engine that weighed no more than 200 pounds; and two propellers rotating in opposite directions created the propulsion. These two propellers where hooked up to the 12 horsepower engine by bicycle chains over sprockets, exactly as on a bike. The flyers total weight was 750 lbs.

Well that was what put the Wright Brothers down in the history books. However, who where these two men. Not just two brothers off the street, they owned a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio.

Wilbur Wright the older of the two brothers born in 1867, admired a 19th century German Engineer Otto Lilenthal and an American Engineer Ovtave Chanute, both of whom experimented with gliders. This is where the Brothers got a lot of their Ideas. He also signed a contract with the United States Army Signal Corps to build a plane that could fly for 10 minutes at a speed of 64 km/h (40 mph).

Orville Wright the younger of the brothers born in 1871, was the first one to develop the wind tunnel. He also figured out that substituting a movable tail for a stationary one could eliminate tailspins in airplanes. He was also the first one to fly the first successful flight. He also flew the first Wright plane, under contract by the government for 62 minutes, completing 57 circles at an altitude of 36.6-m (120 feet).

Works Cited

1. Encarta Concise Encyclopedia

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2. "IMMORTALS OF SCIENCE"

The Wright Brothers

Pioneers of power flight

By: Carol V. Glines

Franklin Watts, INC.

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