thefirstflight

The First Flight

On December 17th, 1903, the Wright Flyer took off with Orville Wright at the controls. The Wright Flyer was the first successful heavier-than-air-powered flying machine. That ceremonious first flight lasted 12 seconds and flew about 120 feet. The Wright Flyer flew through freezing temperatures and 25 mph wind. December 17th was the last day they had in Kitty Hawk before returning to Ohio for the winter. This was a turning point because of the opportunity it allowed.

"At just 12 o'clock Will started on the fourth and last trip. The machine started off with its ups and downs as it had before, but by the time he had gone over three or four hundred feet he had it under much better control, and was traveling on a fairly even course... The front rudder frame was badly broken up, but the main frame suffered none at all. The distance over the ground was 852 feet in 59 seconds."
~ Orville Wright in his December 17th, 1903 diary entry

"Wright flyer flies for the first time with Orville Wright at the controls, 1903, National Air and Space Museum"

The machine lifted from the truck just as it was entering on the fourth rail. Mr. Daniels took a picture just as it left the tracks. I found the control of the front rudder quite difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center and thus had a tendency to turn itself when started so that the rudder was turned too far on one side and then too far on the other. As a result the machine would rise suddenly to about 10 ft. and then as suddenly, on turning the rudder, dart for the ground. A sudden dart when out about 100 feet from the end of the tracks ended the flight. ~ Orville Wright in his December 17th, 1903 diary entry

"Wright Brother's Patent, 1906, Library of Congress"

The Plane

The Wright Brothers filed a patent on the many innovative designs they included in their gliders and planes. One of the designs patented was used in their third and final glider, a mechanism that uses a rudder instead of weight distribution. It's a biplane with two wings connected by wood poles with a thick canvas covering each wing. This design was a very major turning point in technology because this design had never before been tried and made flight possible.

"To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. But to fly is everything." ~ Orville Wright, bookey.app