Dec 17th

[Glenn]

It's funny, with a site like this one, but there was no mention of the events at Kittyhawk, 100 years ago. I expected to see a flyer in USAF markings, or with twin jets or even being launched from the deck of The Big E, but no! Is is that no body thought of it, or, like me, some things are sacred?

[John Howling Mouse]

It's funny, with a site like this one, but there was no mention of the events at Kittyhawk, 100 years ago. I expected to see a flyer in USAF markings, or with twin jets or even being launched from the deck of The Big E, but no! Is is that no body thought of it, or, like me, some things are sacred?

I've had the Big Day marked on my calendar for months in advance and am watching every pseudo-documentary about the Wright Brothers that I can find.

Everytime I've gone to Wal*Mart in the past few months, I've picked up the re-release of Monogram's old 1:39 Wright Flyer model, turned it over a few times in my hands, and put it back on the shelf.

Weird, eh?  Maybe others felt the same way???

I've heard that some Canadian supposedly flew a powered/manned heavier-than-air aircraft a week or two before Dec. 17, 1903 but can't find much hard historical evidence to back up the claim.

I'm sure there are likely similar stories in France and elsewhere in Europe, too.

[Alvis]

Shhhh! You'll spoil the surprise....
JHM, you HAVE to get the Flyer kit...It's not a bad model, it's got WI potential, and besides, they redid the figures for the reissue....come on...ya gotta get it!!!!


Alvis
Owner of 5 Flyers...2 built, 3 unbuilt...and wait a couple weeks dude, just wait a couple weeks....
 

[Shasper]

Had it all planned out, get off of work at noon, take the 152 out for a few hours and just enjoy the day.......................... all was set untill Mom called me while I was eating lunch    

Tried again a few hrs later, but someone stole the battery out of the plane  


Made for it after church, stole grandma's car and blasted off to BR helicopters and went for a ride w/ my old man  


Ves

[Ollie]

Lucky you Shasper!  Here we had freezing rain, then rain and after that snow!!!

         

[elmayerle]

Well, someone celebrated in a different way yesterday.  Burt Rutan and company flew the first powered flight of Spaceship One and went above Mach 1 and achieved over 68 Kft.

[John Howling Mouse]

Coooooooooooool.  How long 'til they actually earn the X-prize?

http://www.scaled.com/news/news.htm

[lancer]

They ain't JHM, our boys at Starchaser are gonna win it.  

[John Howling Mouse]

They might wind up being first...
But getting there in the meanwhile with just a capsule being dropped from an old Casa 212 prop-plane?
Where's the sense of style in that???



Then again, with all the "cheesecake" pin-up photos of Michelle Marsh "riding" the rocket tube, maybe they do have a style of their own (sure ain't no NASA doing photos like that!).  Who is this "Michelle Marsh" anyhow?

http://www.starchaser.co.uk/latest_news/archives.asp

[Tophe]

Thanks JHM for the Rutan post (double twin-boomer composite that I love).
To Glenn-Lyn initial question : I am not completely sure the Kittyhawk date is very important. I have read (in a jealous French article ?) that this very first "powered flight" occured with a violent wind providing enough airflow to have lift without propeller. So an airscrew was turning on this previously-successful-glider, simply. Some can celebrate the day, but this was probably not a genius invention changing a World that would have see no airliner if ever the Wright Brothers had not existed... Among technicians improving here and there, this was just one step, maybe.

[Joe C-P]

To Glenn-Lyn initial question : I am not completely sure the Kittyhawk date is very important. I have read (in a jealous French article ?) that this very first "powered flight" occured with a violent wind providing enough airflow to have lift without propeller. So an airscrew was turning on this previously-successful-glider, simply. Some can celebrate the day, but this was probably not a genius invention changing a World that would have see no airliner if ever the Wright Brothers had not existed... Among technicians improving here and there, this was just one step, maybe.

The Wright brothers made four powered, controlled flights that day, the final one lasting 59 seconds. They would have continued, but the plane was damaged by a strong gust of wind. I'm certain they would have attempted more altitude and turns on subsequent flights. Upon returning home they built new aircraft and continued their testing for some time before _anyone_ else managed to get an airplane working.

They were learning, quite literally, how to fly a powered, heavier-than-air, man-capable machine. Lighter-than-air craft had been making controlled flights with people aboard for years, while smaller models with engines had demonstrated that heavier-than-air craft were possible. It was the combination that was unique and significant. They showed it _could_ be done at a time when people weren't certain it would be possible for many years; even the Wrights had their doubts about their work succeeding any time soon.

The genius of the Wrights was their scientific approach. They built models, a wind tunnel to test airfoils, a series of full size gliders to learn how to fly, and an impressively lightweight engine. That's why they were first - they figured out all the parts first, then put them together correctly.

To state that this was not significant just because they didn't fly across the ocean or up to the stratosphere is petty. Yes, someone would have been first in flight, and it was the Wright brothers. Planes that followed would go faster and faster - was it insigificant when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier? Was it insignificant when Yuri Gagarin achieved orbit? When the first astronauts broke orbit for another celestial body? All they needed to do was fly fast enough in the right direction, just another technical advance over previous flying craft.

[Tophe]

Sorry, please accept my apologies...    I was not insulting the Whright brothers, I just think this was a great technical achievement, not a revolutionary invention.

[Captain Canada]

I still think the first 'flyers' were drunken French-Canadian lumberjacks, on board a specially rigged canoe, the Chasse-Galerie, that flew them home for a big New Years Eve bash back in the 1700s !

Maudite !

Bonne Annee !

[Ollie]

Way to go Toad!  That's my favorite folk legend!

 

[Joe C-P]

Sorry, please accept my apologies...    I was not insulting the Wright brothers, I just think this was a great technical achievement, not a revolutionary invention.

Oh, fuffle, Tophe, you don't really need to apologize.    I went on a rant because I'm tired of all the other claims that someone or another "flew first", though they were all one-shots, unwitnessed, and/or several years after. You just happened to be in the line of fire.  :dum:

Yes, the Wrights' was a technical achievement more than an inventive one. They were the first to put all the parts together in the right way, because of their scientific approach to the problem. This should be celebrated as much as the actual flight itself.
For as Edison (supposedly) said, "Invention is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration."

Cheers to the Wrights!  
And cheers to Maudite, the better way to fly! (I've had some, and am quite proud of my French-Canadian ancestors.)