ACTION
FOR
HONGKONGS
A
SPECIA
Orville (left) and Wil- bur Wright-first men to fly by power.
FEW
before days Christmas 1903 Orville Wright turned his cap back to front and placed himself face down on the lower wing of the primi- tive biplane. He called his machine The Flyer.
Its 12-horsepower motor roar-
ed away and two propellers
driven by bicycle chains thrashed the air.
:
the super men of the world
AIRBORNE
Wires, sticks
wore
-by.
HENRY
LEWIS
disappointed.. fly in
raised itself by its own power into the air in full fight, had sailed forward without reduc- tion of speed, and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which had started."
and Wilbur Orville Americans, descended from an English family that had lived at Kelvedon, Essex, in the 16th century.
As youths they had designed Wilbur, terribly
their own printing declared: Man won't and built
when bicycles be- 1,000 years!" press. And came popular after the inven- But the mood of depression Back they went to tion of the pneumatic tyre in passed.
mounted wings 1688 the two young men began Dayton again. to sell and repair, and later to on one of their bicycles and
rode around manufacture, bikes.
experimenting. Then they made a wind tunnel five feet long. It was a primi- Then the crazy-looking mass
tive thing by today's standards. 14, 1903. They tossed of canvas and spars rattled
fan made of for the honour of piloting. a In 1896, when Orville was 25 worked by along a rail, lifted 10ft. off the ground and flew 100ft. through and Wilbur 29, they read of the bicycle spokes. But in it they Wilbur called right. He lay position. The plane the air before touching
down death while gliding near Berlin tested 200 six-inch model wings down in
German air pioneer, in a month.
was mounted on a trolley with again among the sand dunes of the
Νο Lilienthal. And their
as wheels which and a friendly coastguard tried one had ever done so bicycle bubs fringing the Atlantic shore.
much research on flight before. ran along a mono rail across to hold the machine but slowly The flight had lasted exactly thoughts turned to the air.
Brothers' Then they built a third the sand. The wing tips were it toppled over and the wings Montgolfier The been wit-
had flown in glider with a 32ft. span. This supported by trestles.
and engine were damaged. nessed by only four men and hot-air balloon
in addition to elevators,
The Flyer never few again. The engine was a boy apart from Wilbur Wright, 1783. The first airship-made one.
started. Many people refused to believe "Crizy," Orville's brother and partner. by Henri Giffard-bad flown in also had a rudder.
ever flown. Now the aim was to fly They took it to Kitty Hawk Orville released the wire that it had
aircraft and it Only three newspapers thought 1852.
they called
But the Wrights. the event worth mentioning at with wings and to fly, not just and now Orville had his first tethered the
began to
Orville ran next year the brothers made a right wing crash. The glide.
and more. more alongside steadying a wing tip. new the above the left. The studied
powerful controls
machine in which they made birds on the Orville pulled at the
The aircraft lifted, headed
105 flights totalling some 45 that what the worse the situation became.
steeply upwards, then at the a system in Then the aircraft stalled at a
than 30ft. Progress was still hard. to the ground tail first.
12 seconds.
the time.
It had
Otto
.
The Wrights But it marked the beginning
movements of of the air age. .
test pilot wing and decided "It was
was needed was the
In the words of Orville's report:
rose
move.
a coin
The plane reached the end
of its guide rail then climbed.
first flight in history in which which the wing tips could be height of 30ft. and slid back end of the rail tipped forward minutes, none of them higher
a machine carrying a man had moved-elevators in fact. They
The 17-21
Club's
five rules
began by building a kite with a span of five feet on which the top plane could be moved for- ward by pulling a string.
The machine was damaged, but Orville escaped unhurt.
and drove into the sand break- ing its landing skid, and the front elevator.
It took them -two In a month or so the brothers flew 1,000 times. But the entire repair the damage.
hours steady the four
practice. turn. It learned morning they leading Nevertheless
By 1900 they had built a 1,000 glides equalled only about December man-carrying glider same lines. The four
оп
After six months studying Wilbur's turn
weather reports from Washing- ion they decided to test fly it
At the end of 1902 they felt at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they were ready to try flying a desolate region of sand dunes with an engine. They could not with only a coastguard station find one suitable for their nearby. There were
Membership in the 17-21|ing here. ·
School for pilots
days to Then on But in 1905 they reached a
then
Orville's distance of three miles,
the 11, then 15, then 24. They had into to fit a larger fuel tank. They
17 came
10.30 in was when he got corners of the wings were enough to improve the controls position. Their anemometer in- were gaining in experience all
could bank the dicated a 22 miles an hour head the time. joined by wires to sticks in the so that they
In 1908 they altered things hands of the operator. The wings, moving either wing tip wind. Orville took the elevator
control in his-left hand. The so
that the pilot could sit word pilot was not then in use. forwards or backwards.
engine warmed up and the upright; then they addci a Their plane cost them £4.
plane shook and the spars passenger seat. rattled. The Flyer began to They opened a flying school
.in France, more air-minded. move. It was 10.35 am.
The plane reached the end than America, and began to to 10ft, tram more pilots. A school in of the rail, climbed wavered, dipped, lifted again the States followed. Lhort Brothers began to mak: six always purposes light yet powerful and then came down.
Orville, noted in his report: Wright aircraft in Britain. reasonably strong winds blow- so they designed and made
"The course of the flight up Though the government; of their own. It had four water-
and down was exceedingly America, France and Britain cooled. cylinders giving 12 or
Erratic partly due to the were less than interested in the Club is open to all
13 h.p. at 1,200 revs.
irregularity of the air within that age group.
and flying machines, aeroplanes had They built a biplane' 21ft. partly to lack of experience in now come to stay. With the And so
to long with a 40ft. span. They handling this machine...
the 1914 they travelled
coming of Contributions and all ac-
from their cycle mounted their engine off-centre Kitty Hawk
changed it had flown. All the governments tivities of the Club will factory at Dayton, Ohio. First on the lower wing to counter- years of effort and research and view.
had been rewarded. Wibur died in 1916 be limited to members they flew the glider like a kite. balance the weight of the pilot. danger only.
Then the brothers tried it out They had nothing to guide them Orville Wright had become the typhoid fever, aged only 45. separately.
ex- first to fly a powered aeroplane. Orville lived
until 1948 But although their in making the propellers
Half an hour later Wilbur when he died aged 77. Contributions may consist craft made several glides of 15 cept the certainty that the types
ships were not right had his turn and flew one 20 seconds they could not used in
Today The Flyer has a placs of anything that is to
for the job. But they made two second less-11 seconds. Then of honour in a Washington articles, get the lift they had expected.
mounted them publishable
Back they went to Dayton and
the Orville flew 15 seconds.
Museum and there is a replica behind the letters, stories, photo-and built a new glider with a pushing position
in London's Kensington Science graphs, drawings, verses. span of 22ft. and a bigger wing wings. They were made to turn than any glider before. in opposite directions by chains But only the best will area
They got
this time from their bicycle factory. more lift be printed.
Their first attempt at powered but they found it unstable and almost impossible to control. flight was made on December machinę.
-
All contributions MUST be original.
1,000 glides
Written contributions TODAY
should not consist of more than 350 words, photographs and draw- ings will only be accept- ad in black-and-white.
in
But
At noon Wilbur tried again, flew 59 seconds, covering 800ft. before, trying to clear a dime, he dived and crashed.
on
war the
their
of
Museum.
But there is a better
memorial in the big passenger. A gust of wind tugged at the jet airliners that roar in and
Wilbur and Orville out of the world's airports.
IN SCIENCE - Jets mean comfort and speed
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