What the Wright brothers created. Wright brothers plane. Mozhaisky's aircraft

Why don't people fly like birds? This question reflects man’s long-standing dream of the sky, of flight. To accomplish this, people made wings for themselves and tried to fly by flapping them. Most often, such experiments ended in the death of the daredevils. Let us only remember the ancient legend of Icarus...

The question of flight was of great interest to the brilliant artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, who studied the structure of birds and their wings. He tried to establish the features of their flight. He even drew up drawings of an aircraft - the prototype of a modern helicopter.

From the history of conquering the sky

First, a man managed to rise to the clouds in a hot air balloon. This happened on November 21, 1783. The hot air balloon invented by the Montgolfier brothers lifted two people to a height of about 1 km, and almost half an hour later they landed safely at a distance of 9 km.

In 1853, D. Cayley built the first simple glider, which managed to lift a man into the air. Since then, airframe designs have been constantly improved. At the same time, the range and duration of flights increased. This was a great achievement, because the glider is heavier than air. But the dream of a free flight, independent of the will of the winds, controlled by man himself, has not yet come true.

Only the Wright brothers were able to achieve this (1903), creating their first airplane. Their victory was determined by many factors, including personal qualities.

Wright Brothers: biography

Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright were born in the USA into the family of a clergyman. The values ​​of the Protestant church, which placed at the forefront of any success hard work, have been vaccinated by them since childhood. It was their ability to work that helped them achieve their goal and build the first one in the world with an engine. This was soon followed by a high point - the Wright brothers' first flight. But not only did they not have higher education, even high school they were unable to finish due to life circumstances. Wilbur was injured and was unable to attend Yale University. He had to work in Orville's publishing business. Then the first invention of the Wright brothers appeared - a printing press of their own design.

In 1892, the brothers opened a bicycle store, through a short time They created a repair workshop, and subsequently launched their production. But they devoted all their free time to flying. In the end, it was the income from the sale of bicycles that gave them the funds for numerous experiments to create the first aircraft.

Preparing for the first flight: ingenious techniques

The brothers became very seriously interested in the idea of ​​aeronautics. They studied all the literature on flight available at that time and experimented a lot. We built several gliders and flew them, achieving excellent results. In order to enlarge the wings, endless experiments were carried out in a self-created wind tunnel. Different configurations of the wing and propeller blades were tested.

As a result, they made clarifications to the formula for determining lift.

And finally, the lighter 12-horsepower gasoline engine for the airplane was also made by the Wright brothers themselves. How can we not again remember the great Leonardo, who was ahead of his time!

The Wright brothers' first plane

In the four years that have passed since the start of experiments with kites and gliders, the brothers have matured to build a controlled aircraft. The Wright brothers' first airplane was called the Flyer. The plane's frame was made of spruce, and the propeller was also carved from wood. Weighing 283 kg, the wingspan of the device was 12 m.

Taking into account the engine, which weighed 77 kg and was superior in efficiency to the analogues available at that time, the first aircraft cost its creators less than $1,000!

The Wright brothers' first flight

Testing of a fundamentally new aircraft was scheduled for December 1903. Both brothers naturally wanted to be the first. They solved this problem very simply - they tossed a coin. It fell to Wilbur to be the world's first pilot. But he was unlucky. The airplane was unable to fly because it crashed and was damaged immediately after takeoff.

Orville made the next attempt. On December 17, with a headwind of 43 km/h, he managed to lift the device into the air to a height of approximately 3 m and hold on for 12 seconds. The distance covered in flight was 36.5 m.

On this day, the brothers took turns making 4 flights. The last one, when the airplane was piloted by Wilbur, lasted almost a minute. And the distance was more than 250 m.

Oddly enough, the Wright brothers' first flight did not attract public attention, although five people witnessed it.

Was there a flight?

The day after the flight, small reports about it appeared in just a few newspapers, which were fraught with inaccuracies and went unnoticed. And in Dayton, the hometown of the first aviators, this essentially sensational event went unnoticed.

But it’s harder to explain that no one paid attention to the fact that over the next year, 105 flights were already made on the Flyer II airplane! The third Flyer, which the brothers also flew in the vicinity of Dayton, again did not receive the attention of the general public.

This was the last straw, which led to the decision to demonstrate to the world the possibility of controlled flights on a device that is heavier than air. And in 1908, the Wright brothers' airplane was transported across the Atlantic Ocean. They staged demonstration flights: Wilbur in Paris, and Orville in the USA.

The brothers even organized events to sell their invention, which turned out to be quite successful. In addition to the glory of aeronautics pioneers, they also received material satisfaction. The Wright brothers' first public flight was so convincing that the US government signed a contract with them, according to which an article was included in the country's budget for 1909 for the supply of aircraft for military needs. The production of several dozen airplanes was envisaged.

First plane crash

Unfortunately, the first public demonstrations of airplane flights were also marked by the first disaster.

This happened in September 1908. Orville Wright took off from Fort Myer in a Flyer III equipped with an extra seat. As a result of the failure of the right engine, the plane went into a dive and could not be leveled off. The passenger, Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, died as a result of a skull injury received upon impact with the ground. Orville himself escaped with broken hips and ribs.

Despite this, the contract with the military was concluded. And to the credit of the Wright brothers, it should be noted that this is the only serious accident that happened to them in all the years.

However, in 1909, during a test flight in the suburbs of Paris, the French pilot Lefebvre, a student of the Wright brothers, died in a crash. This was the reason why Russia, already ready to sign a contract for the supply of aircraft, refused them.

Aviation development

Like many of mankind's major discoveries, airplanes were first used for military purposes. Aviation was first used in the form of aerial reconnaissance in the First World War. During the course of it, it became clear that airplanes turn into a formidable force if they have weapons and bombs on them.

The first aerial ram was also carried out during World War I by Pyotr Nesterov.

After the war, airplanes began to be used to transport urgent goods, primarily mail. Subsequently, passenger planes appeared. The end of World War II and a calmer world situation led to the introduction of air travel for travelers.

Improvement eventually put many shipping and rail lines out of business. The main advantage of aviation was speed, especially with the advent of supersonic aircraft.

Orville Wright, who died at the age of 77 in 1948, was able to see how aviation was gaining wide application in the world. Wilbur Wright fell victim to typhus in 1912.

The Wright brothers' first airplane now occupies a place of honor in the US National. It is better known not as “Flyer I”, but as “Kitty Hawk” - after the name of the place where it first took to the air and thereby ushered in the era of the conquest of the air ocean.

Engine

The Wright brothers also needed an engine for their airplane. They wrote to several engine manufacturers, but none could meet their aircraft engine weight requirements. They turned to their shop's mechanic, Charlie Taylor, who built the engine in six weeks in constant consultation with the brothers. To keep the engine's weight low enough, its main parts were made of aluminum, which was rare at the time. The Wright-Taylor engine was a primitive version of modern fuel injection systems; it had neither a carburetor nor a fuel pump. Gasoline flowed under its own weight into the crankcase through a rubber tube from the fuel tank mounted on the wing strut.

Flying

Wilber made his first attempt to take off on an airplane on December 14, 1903, winning the right to take off first in a toss, but the plane crashed immediately after takeoff, and Flyer 1 was slightly damaged. In a letter to his family, Wilbur wrote that the test was “only a partial success,” stating that “the power is quite sufficient, and if it had not been for a trifling error and lack of experience with this machine and this method of starting, the machine would undoubtedly have flown beautifully.” After repairs, the Wright brothers finally took to the air on December 17, making two flights, each from ground level in a headwind of 43 km/h. The first flight was made by Orville, he flew 36.5 meters in 12 seconds, this flight was recorded in a famous photograph. The next flight was made by Wilber, staying in the air for 13 seconds and covering a distance of 53 meters. The third flight had a duration of 15 seconds and a range of 60.5 meters. The height of these flights was about 3 meters above ground level. Orville Wright's entry on the last flight of that day:

Just after noon, Will took off on his fourth and final flight. The car bounced up and down as before, but by the time it had gone 300 feet, Will felt that it handled much better and was moving remarkably smoothly. This happened until the device reached a small hillock, located at a distance of about 800 feet from the launch site. At this time, the pitching motion began again, and at one of the moments of the dive the car crashed into the ground. The distance traveled on this flight was 852 feet, and the flight time was 59 seconds. The front handlebar frame was badly damaged, but the main frame was not damaged at all. We estimate that the machine could be in satisfactory condition to fly again in a day or two.

Original text(English)

Wilbur started the fourth and last flight at just about 12 o"clock. The first few hundred feet were up and down, as before, but by the time three hundred feet had been covered, the machine was under much better control. The course for the next four or five hundred feet had but little undulation. However, when out about eight hundred feet the machine began pitching again, and, in one of its darts downward, struck the ground. The distance over the ground was measured to be 852 ft ; the time of the flight was 59 seconds. The frame supporting the front rudder was badly broken, but the main part of the machine was not injured at all. We estimated that the machine could be put in condition for flight again in about a day or two.

The flights were witnessed by five people: Adam Etheridge, John Daniels and Will Doug from the shore rescue team; area businessman W. S. Brinkley; and Johnny Moore, a country boy, making these flights the first public flights. The telegraph operator who transmitted the telegram to their father became the source of information leaked against the brothers' wishes, and highly inaccurate reports appeared in several newspapers the next day.

After the men towed the Flyer back from its fourth voyage, a powerful gust of wind capsized it several times, despite efforts to prevent it. Heavily damaged, the plane never took off again.

Publications in the press attracted the attention of famous businessmen brothers Godfrey and Samuel Cabot. Godfrey Cabot sent the Wright brothers congratulations and asked for a detailed description of the car. Having received the answer, Godfrey sent a message to his distant relative, the senator from the state. Massachusetts Henry Cabot Lodge, a close friend of President Theodore Roosevelt. Lodge, in turn, passed on information about the Wrights' car to the Ministry of Defense, but this had no effect.

The fate of the plane

IN this moment the aircraft is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. However, this was preceded by controversy and litigation between the Wright Brothers and the Smithsonian Institution due to the latter's refusal to recognize the priority of the first flight for the Wright Brothers.

Performance characteristics

Telegram to Father from Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, reporting four successful flights, December 17, 1903.

Specifications Flight characteristics

• Maximum speed: 48 km/h

Leonardo da Vinci thought about flying in the sky using a special device in the 16th century, but the first flight was officially registered at the beginning of the last century. There are still fierce debates about who we owe the opportunity for air travel, but the fact remains that the first flight was officially registered in 1903. The very first airplane in the world was invented by the Wright brothers.

Aviation history

The first attempts to build an aircraft capable of lifting a person into the air began at the end of the 18th century. The history of the invention of the aircraft begins in England, when Sir George Cayley took this issue seriously and published several scientific works in which he outlined in detail the principle of construction and operation of the prototype of a modern aircraft.

The inventor began his work by observing birds. The scientist devoted a long time to measuring the flight speed of birds and their wingspan. These data subsequently became the basis of several publications that laid the foundation for the development of aviation.

In his first sketches, Keighley imagined the plane as a boat with a tail at one end and a pair of oars at the bow. The structure was supposed to be propelled by oars, which would transmit rotation to a cross-shaped shaft at the end of the vessel. Thus, Keighley unmistakably depicted the main elements of the aircraft. It was the work of this scientist that laid the foundation for the development of aviation and became the impetus for the development of the aircraft concept.

The pioneer of aviation in its modern sense was another English inventor, William Henson. It was he who received the order to develop a design for an aircraft in 1842.

Henson's "steam aircrew" design described all the basic elements of a propeller-driven aircraft. The inventor proposed using a propeller as a device for moving the entire structure. Many of the ideas proposed by Henson were subsequently developed and began to be used in early aircraft models.

Russian inventor N.A. Teleshov patented a project for the construction of an “aeronautics system.” The aircraft concept was also based on steam engine and a propeller. A few years later, the scientist improved his project and was one of the first to propose the idea of ​​​​creating a jet aircraft.

A feature of Teleshov’s projects was the idea of ​​transporting passengers in a closed fuselage.

Who invented the airplane

Despite the fact that the development of the design of the aircraft was carried out by many scientists in the mid-19th century, the invention of the aircraft is attributed to the Wright brothers, whose airplane made a short flight in 1903.

Not everyone agrees that the Wright brothers were the first. Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont designed, built and personally tested the world's first prototype of an airship in 1901. It was then that it was proven that controlled flights were indeed possible.

According to another version, primacy in the invention of the first working aircraft should be assigned to the Russian inventor A.F. Mozhaisky, whose name will forever remain in the history of aviation. Thus, debates about who invented and who created the aircraft are still ongoing.

Interesting! Despite the fact that the invention of the airplane is officially awarded to the Wright brothers, all Brazilians are confident that the world's first airplane was invented by Santos Dumont. In Russia, it is believed that the first prototype of a modern aircraft was built by Mozhaisky.

Work of the Wright Brothers

The Wright brothers were not the first inventors of the airplane. Moreover, the first uncontrolled flight of a person also did not belong to them. However, the Wright brothers were able to prove the most important thing - that a person is able to control an aircraft.

It was Wilbur and Orville Wright who were the first to carry out controlled flight on an aircraft, thanks to which the idea of ​​​​the possibility of carrying out passenger transportation by air was further developed.

At a time when all scientists were puzzling over the possibility of installing more powerful engines to lift the aircraft into the air, the brothers focused on the issues of the ability to control the aircraft. The result was a series of wind tunnel experiments that served as the basis for the development of airplane wings and propellers.

The first powered glider built by the brothers was called Flyer 1. It was made of spruce, as this material is lightweight and reliable. The device was driven by a gasoline engine.

Interesting! The engine for the Flyer 1 was made by mechanic Charlie Taylor; a design feature was its low weight. To do this, the mechanic used duralumin, also called duralumin.

The first successful flight was made on December 17, 1903. The plane rose several meters and flew about 40 meters in 12 seconds. Then there were repeated tests, as a result of which the flight duration and altitude increased.

Santos Dumont and 14 bis

Alberto Santos-Dumont is known as an inventor balloons, he is also sometimes cited as the creator of the world's first controllable aircraft. He also invented airships that were controlled by an engine.

In 1906, his plane called “14 bis” took off and flew more than 60 meters. The height to which the inventor raised his aircraft was about 2.5 meters. A month later, Alberto Santos-Dumont made a 220-meter flight on the same plane, setting the first record for flight distance.

A special feature of “14 bis” was that the structure was able to take off on its own. The Wright brothers failed to achieve this, and their plane took off with outside help. It was this nuance that became fundamental in the debate about who should be considered the inventor of the first aircraft.

After 14 bis, the inventor seriously began developing a monoplane, and as a result, the world saw the Demoiselle.

Alberto Santos-Dumont never rested on his laurels and did not keep his inventions secret. The inventor willingly shared the designs of his aircraft with thematic publications.

Mozhaisky's aircraft

The scientist presented his aircraft project for consideration back in 1876. Mozhaisky encountered a lack of understanding from the officials of the War Ministry; as a result, he was not allocated funds to continue his research.

Despite this, the scientist continued development, investing his own funds, which is why the construction of the prototype of Mozhaisky’s aircraft was delayed for many years.

Mozhaisky's plane was built in 1882. The first tests of the aircraft ended in disaster, but witnesses claim that the aircraft did rise some distance from the ground before crashing.

Since there is no documentary evidence of the flight, Mozhaisky cannot be considered the first person to fly on an airplane. However, the scientist’s developments served as the basis for the development of aviation.

So who was first?

Despite numerous disputes about the year in which the aircraft was invented, the first officially registered flight belongs to the Wright brothers, so it is the Americans who are considered the “fathers” of the first aircraft.

It is inappropriate to compare the contributions to the development of aviation by the Wright brothers, Santos-Dumont and Mozhaisky. Despite the fact that Mozhaisky's first aircraft was built 20 years before the first controlled flight, the inventor used a different construction principle, so it is impossible to compare his aircraft with the Wright brothers' Flyer.

Santos-Dumont was not the first to fly, but the inventor used a fundamentally new approach to the construction of an aircraft, thanks to which his device took off independently.

In addition to the first controlled flight, the Wright brothers made a significant contribution to the development of aviation, being the first to propose a fundamentally new approach to the construction of an aircraft propeller and wings.

There is no point in arguing which of these scientists was the first, because they all made a huge contribution to the development of aviation. It was their work and research that became the basis for the invention of the prototype of a modern airliner.

The first military aircraft

Prototypes of the Wright brothers' Flyer and the Santos-Dumont aircraft were used for military purposes.

If the brothers initially pursued the goal of inventing technology that would give an advantage to the American army, then the Brazilian Santos-Dumont was against the use of aviation for military purposes. Despite this, his work served as a starting point for the creation of a number of aircraft that were later used during the war. Interestingly, Mozhaisky also initially pursued the construction of an aircraft that would be used for military purposes.

The first jet aircraft appeared at the height of World War II.

The first passenger planes

The first passenger aircraft appeared thanks to I.I. Sikorsky. The prototype of the modern airliner took off in 1914 with 12 passengers on board. In the same year, the Ilya Muromets airliner set a world record by making its first long-distance flight. It flew the distance from St. Petersburg to Kyiv, making one landing to refuel.

The airliner was also used to transport bombs during the First World War. The war forced Russian aviation freeze in development for some time.

In 1925, the first K-1 aircraft appeared, then the world saw Tupolev passenger airliners and aircraft developed by KhAI. Since that time, passenger aircraft have received more and more attention; they have acquired greater passenger capacity and the ability to fly long distances.

History of jet aircraft development

The Russian inventor Teleshov was the first to propose the idea of ​​a jet aircraft. An attempt to replace the propeller with a piston engine was made in 1910 by Romanian designer A. Coanda.

These attempts were unsuccessful, and the first successful test of a jet aircraft took place in 1939. The tests were carried out by the German company Heinkel, but several mistakes were made during the design of the model:

• incorrect choice of engine design;
• high fuel consumption;
• frequent need for refueling.

However, the first prototype of the jet was able to achieve a high rate of climb - more than 60 meters per second of flight.

Due to design errors, the jet aircraft could not travel more than 50 kilometers from the airfield due to the need for frequent refueling. Due to a number of shortcomings, the first successful model never entered mass production.

The first production aircraft was the Me-262 in 1944. This model was an improved version of the previous Heinkel model.

Then the development of jet aircraft was picked up by Japan and Great Britain.

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Thus, jet aircraft appeared in the midst of World War II. They have serious military victories, however, their losses are also very high. First of all, this is due to the fact that the pilots simply did not have time to undergo full training on how to control a fundamentally new aircraft. From the first successful flight to the advent of jet aircraft, only 30 years passed, during which a major breakthrough in aviation occurred.

A lot of people are always involved in the appearance of a grandiose invention. But history is always important to the name of the one who took the decisive step towards it. For global aviation, such personalities were the American brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, the creators of the first airplane.

Childhood

This joyful event in the large and friendly family of Susan Koerner and Milton Wright and fateful for all humanity occurred in 1867. At an interval of four years, first the boy Wilbur Wright was born, and then his brother Orville. From the first minutes of their lives, they did not feel lonely, since in addition to them, the family also included five friendly brothers and sisters.

Wilbur and Orville grew up as smart boys who carefully studied every toy for its internal structure. They became interested in the magic of air flight after their father’s gift was a toy helicopter copying the invention of the Frenchman Penod, one of the fathers of world aviation. The boys were crazy about the toy. When it broke, the brothers felt the spirit of designers in themselves and created a new model from scratch with their own hands. To do this, they were helped by a set of improvised means: bamboo, paper and a piece of rubber band that rotated the rotor. Whether this really happened or whether the famous aviators decided to mark the start of their “aerial” career this way - history is silent. But it is known for certain that in their youth, aviation and everything connected with it was just one of their many activities and hobbies.

First steps and success in business

Wilbur, who grew up as a cheerful and cheerful guy, was seriously crippled by a serious facial trauma, received in a hockey match. He received it at the age of eighteen. Over time, the physical pain subsided, but Wilber took a very long time to recover psychologically. He became a gloomy and unsociable person. I didn’t try to go to university, but decided to stay with my parents and help them. Orville also had great difficulties in school. They resulted in him even being left without a secondary education. But Orville did not grieve too much, but switched to business with his brother, who was gradually getting rid of the psychological consequences of the injury.

What were they doing? First there was the publishing business, and they created printing press to the envy of all professionals, which was an order of magnitude better than the factory one. But the first great success came in 1892. This was the time when the two-wheeled vehicle boom exploded on the American continent. They caught this “wave of success”, managing in time to open first a store selling bicycles, and then a workshop for repairing bicycles. Such an impressive marketing ploy allowed the brothers to seriously rise financially. They just had time to count cash flows, and this became the main source of income for realizing his main dream - creating an airplane.

When a dream takes on tangible forms

The brothers first came up with the idea of ​​​​creating an aerial vehicle four years before humanity entered the twentieth century - the century of grandiose discoveries. The impetus was a tragic event. From funds mass media It became known about the death of the German Otto Lilienthal during a test flight, when a sudden gust of wind turned and overturned the glider. The Wright brothers were known in their area as real kite wizards. But before that, they had never thought about the idea of ​​human flight on a similar, but larger vehicle. The brothers took the theoretical side of the issue seriously, realizing that without the basics of aeronautics, there was a high probability of another tragedy. A scrupulous and thoughtful analysis of all previous developments by specialists from the Old and New Worlds allowed them to formulate priority tasks. It was necessary to work out a radically different control system, simultaneously solving problems of sustainable balance.

Olympic cycle of glider creation

Yes, it took the Wright brothers exactly four years to demonstrate to humanity their glider, which became a grandiose breakthrough in the exploration of air, and then, of course, outer space. During these four years (1899 - 1902), the fraternal tandem achieved significant success in improving glider models.

Numerous experiments did not pass without a trace. They managed to achieve the seemingly impossible. They showed the world a fully controllable aircraft that was heavier than air. The control systems they modeled made it possible to control three axes at once: vertical (yaw), longitudinal (roll) and transverse (pitch). Thus, the brothers became the actual developers of the scheme that is still used today in the aircraft control system.

An airplane with a pleasant pine smell

Wilbur and Orville, having received positive emotions and encouraging results with gliders, presented the Flyer 1 aircraft to the world in 1903. It was equipped with a gasoline engine. Incredibly, it was built by a mechanic from the Wrights' bicycle shop. But they didn’t do much with the body, preferring a material that had proven excellent in previous models - spruce with a pleasant pine smell. The plane itself, with a wingspan of twelve meters, weighed almost three hundredweight. And the nine-horsepower engine weighed almost eighty kilograms. A very important advantage of this brainchild of the brothers was the price indicator. The cost of Flyer-1 did not exceed $1000. And this was an order of magnitude cheaper than numerous analogues of other conquerors of the skies.

Who will be first?

The question of who would become the number one tester was a sensitive one. They did a simple thing - they tossed a coin, and the choice fell on Wilbur. Seventeen days before the New Year of 1904, he attempted his first flight. It was unsuccessful, because the device crashed to the ground, barely rising. But neither he nor the pilot were injured. The brothers considered this technical embarrassment a misunderstanding and attributed it to their lack of experience.

Three days later, Flyer 1 was back on the launch pad. Now it was Orville Wright's turn to take the helm. The plane he piloted took off and flew thirty-six and a half meters, after which it carefully landed. This twelve-second flight was rightfully historic. On the same day, the brothers climbed up once more: Wilbur overcame 52 meters, and Orville - eight meters more, and both times the flight took place at a height of three meters. Eyewitnesses of these historical events only five people became, including a little village boy. The Wrights still had certain plans for Flyer 1, but gusts of strong wind during the next towing seriously shook it several times. And, alas, the aircraft’s flying “career” came to an end.

Invisible discovery

The Wright brothers' breakthrough went unnoticed for a long time. The brothers themselves did not particularly try to advertise their successes. Their goal was to obtain a patent for the invention with a profitable further sale of the entire aircraft. There were certain difficulties, because at that time many tried to become pioneers of the sky. It was extremely difficult to give priority to someone, especially when it came to individual components of the aircraft structure.

There is no limit to perfection

The brothers were thoroughly engaged in improving aircraft design until 1908, after which they gained worldwide recognition. They entered into lucrative contracts in the US with the Department of Defense and in France with private company. This was the peak of the Wright brothers' fame. They even organized an aircraft manufacturing company, but it did not last long.

The last years of the life of the famous brothers

Wilbur was the first to die. This happened in 1912. The cause is typhus. The younger Orville Wright outlived his brother by 36 years. Until his death, controversy continued over their right to be called “heavenly” pioneers. By the way, it was for this reason that only a year after Orville’s death “Flyer 1” appeared in the American National Museum conquering the heavenly distances. Justice for people who dedicated their entire lives to aviation (they were never even married) has triumphed!

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Technological progress moves in different ways. Sometimes a breakthrough idea comes from a lone genius who is ahead of his time. Sometimes it’s the other way around—all the conditions are ready for a breakthrough, and dozens, maybe hundreds of people are on the verge of a great invention. However, in history there always remains the one who was able to take the decisive, final step. For world aviation, the Americans have become such Wilbur And Orville Wright.

Bicycles provided money for flights

The brothers were born in big familyMilton Wright And Susan Katherine Koerner. Orville and Wilbur had five other siblings. Wilbur was born in 1867, Orville was four years younger than him.

Much later, the brothers said that they became interested in flying when their father gave them a toy helicopter, which was based on the invention of one of the pioneers of aviation, the Frenchman Alphonse Penaud. The boys enthusiastically played with it until it broke. Then they made a new model themselves!

Whether this really happened, or whether the brothers came up with this story when they were already at the zenith of fame, is now difficult to say. But aviation was definitely not Wilbur and Orville's main passion in their youth.

Wilbur, cheerful, cheerful, active, changed a lot after he suffered a severe facial injury during a hockey game at the age of 18. And although the physical pain passed, psychologically Wilbur became a different person. Gloomy and withdrawn, he did not go to university, but stayed to help his parents at home.

Orville, who had problems in school, never completed his secondary education and went into business. Wilber also began working with his brother, gradually recovering from the consequences of his injury.

At first, the brothers were involved in the publishing business, but real success came to them in 1892, when they opened a repair shop and a bicycle store. America was experiencing a “bicycle boom”, and money flowed to the Wright brothers like a river.

Photofact AiF

Management is the key to success

Being involved in a business related to advanced technology at that time, Wilbur and Orville were aware of all experiments and technical innovations. TO last decade In the 19th century, attempts to conquer the sky using a heavier-than-air craft were in full swing. Daredevils experimented with gliders and came up with new systems for controlling aircraft. Many died during testing. The Wright brothers got involved in this process by starting their experiments. At the same time, they corresponded with other inventors, trying to keep abreast of their successes and failures.

From 1899 to 1902, the brothers improved their glider models. In 1902, after much experimentation, they managed to do something that no one had managed before - create a heavier-than-air aircraft that was completely controllable. The control systems created by the Wright brothers made it possible to control the device along three axes: wing skew - roll (longitudinal axis), nose elevator - pitch (transverse axis) and tail rudder - yaw (vertical axis). In fact, the brothers were the first to develop a scheme that to this day underlies the control of aircraft.

That is why many aviation historians believe that it appeared precisely when the Wright brothers filed a patent application for this invention, and not at the time of its first flight.

Airplane with the scent of spruce

Having had success with gliders, the brothers built Flyer 1 in 1903, powered by a gasoline engine that was built by a mechanic at their own bicycle shop. The body, like all previous Wright brothers' models, was made of spruce.

Flyer 1 had a wingspan of 12 m, weighed 283 kg and was equipped with a 9 kW engine weighing 77 kg. The total cost of the aircraft did not exceed $1,000, which is several times cheaper than similar projects of other inventors.

Photofact AiF

When all preparatory activities were completed and the car was at the brothers' "test site" in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a delicate question arose: who would be the first to risk testing Flyer 1?

They decided to simply toss a coin, and it “chose” Wilbur. On December 14, 1903, Wilbur Wright attempted his first flight, but the plane crashed immediately after takeoff. Neither the pilot nor the aircraft were injured, and the brothers themselves considered the incident an unfortunate accident caused by a lack of experience.

On December 17, 1903, Flyer 1 was ready to fly again. This time Orville Wright took the helm. The plane piloted by him took off, flew 36.5 meters in 12 seconds and landed successfully. That day, the brothers flew twice more: Orville flew 60 meters, and Wilbur - 52. The flights took place at an altitude of about three meters.

Five people witnessed the success: Adam Etheridge, John Daniels And Will Doug from the coastal rescue team, businessman Brinkley and also a country boy Johnny Moore.

The Wright brothers had big plans for Flyer 1, but strong winds that arose during towing turned the car over several times, after which his aviation “career” ended.

Photofact AiF

Columbus Aviation

Unlike the first manned flight into space, the public knew nothing about the Wright brothers' aviation breakthrough for a long time. Not least because the brothers themselves did not want to divulge their secrets. For Wilbert and Orville, the “flying machine” was not just a romantic project to conquer the skies. They intended to secure a patent for the invention and then sell their aircraft at a profit. They managed to obtain a patent only in 1906, after they hired a prominent American lawyer Harry Toulmina. The difficulty was that at the same time as the Wright brothers, other sky pioneers were trying to patent similar projects, and sometimes it was difficult to give priority to anyone, especially when it came to individual design details.

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The brothers continued to improve the design of their aircraft until 1908, when they gained international recognition. To win contracts with the US Department of Defense and a private company in France, Wilbur conducted demonstration flights in France, and Orville in the USA. The success was complete - the audience was stunned by how the plane designed by the brothers obeyed the will of the pilot. If until this moment information about the achievements of the Wright brothers caused skepticism and doubts, now everyone admired them.

The years 1908-1909 were the peak of fame for Wilbur and Orville Wright. They started their own aircraft manufacturing company, but it was not a great financial success, and Orville Wright sold it in 1915. By that time, Wilbur had been dead for three years - in 1912, he, who spent a lot of time on court hearings in defense of his own copyrights, which took place in different cities, fell ill with typhus and died.

Orville Wright died in 1948 at the age of 76. Until his death, attempts continued to challenge the priority of the brothers as pioneers of the conquest of the sky. Because of these disputes, Flyer 1 appeared in the American Smithsonian Museum only a year after the death of its creator.

Probably, the debate about the priority of the Wright brothers will continue for a very long time. But it’s also a discovery Christopher Columbus America can also be considered a controversial achievement, given the visits there by the Vikings, possibly the Chinese, and the inhabitants of Africa and Oceania.

Hundreds of enthusiasts, dreamers, and inventors were preparing for man's breakthrough into the sky. Someone had to take the final step. Fate chose the Wright brothers.