100 years of powered flight

[Winters 1]

Seeing how today is the 100th anniversary of powered flight i thought i would open up this topic to discuss all the leaps made in aviation and to invite others to share a story about an experience you may have had while flying or to show off some funky pics and airplanes.

And seeing how these guys started it all here is some info on the 2 pioneers of aviation:

Wright Brothers

[m21man 0]

My question is: Who first came up with the idea of in-flight "snacks" ?

[Scorpio 0]

Cheers.

[der bastler 0]

I'd like to mention Karl Jatho, who did a motorised flight on August 18th 1903...

http://217.6.173.52/wissenswertes/jatho.html (german)

[Baron Hurlothrumbo IIX 0]

Yea there were lots of people experimenting with powered flight around the 1900s, to say that its all due to the Wright brothers is a bit OTT IMO.

[iNeo 0]

[Winters 1]

Yea there were lots of people experimenting with powered flight around the 1900s, to say that its all due to the Wright brothers is a bit OTT IMO.

Its not all because of them, not by a longshot. But, they were the first to achieve powered flight.

[FW200 0]

It's amazing what we ("humanity") did since that first flight.. but we must not only look into the past.. but also into the bright future

[ralphwiggum 6]

they gave birth to phrase 'Mile High Club'.

[Winters 1]

they gave birth to phrase 'Mile High Club'.

speaking of which (i promise its not prOn):

Mile High Club

[Tovarish 0]

Yea there were lots of people experimenting with powered flight around the 1900s, to say that its all due to the Wright brothers is a bit OTT IMO.

Its not all because of them, not by a longshot. But, they were the first to achieve powered flight.

Believe it or not, that amongst other things is debatable

Is that a fact? Does everyone credited with a historic accomplishment deserve their fame? Some historians would reply with a 'No!'

Quote[/b] ]

...

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Americans are gearing up to celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C. On Dec.17, 1903, with Orville Wright at the controls, a heavier-than-air machine flew a distance of 120 feet over the sands of Kitty Hawk.

The flight lasted 12 seconds.

New Zealanders have already celebrated the 100th anniversary of powered flight. Their claim is that their countryman, Richard Pearse, beat the Wright brothers in the air by nine months.

New Zealand historians are convinced that Richard Pearse flew a plane with a two-cylinder, two-stroke engine at Waitohi in South Canterbury on March 31, 1903. Was Richard Pearse then a victim of New Zealand's "tall poppy" attitude of cutting down anyone who stood out or did well?

Was Wilhelm Kress' Daimler-engine powered float plane aloft when it skimmed across Lake Tullnerbach, Austria, in October, 1901?

Was Gustave Abin Weisskopf, a.k.a. Gustav Whitehead, the very first man in flight on Aug. 14, 1901? Eyewitness and newspaper reports record that he flew at 200 feet off a Connecticut beach for 11/2 miles and the flight lasted four minutes.

It was Washington's Smithsonian Institution that ordered the stone cutters to chisel the Wright brothers' names as "First in Flight." It was a quid pro quo the Smithsonian arranged with the Wrights. The two brothers demanded they be recognized as the fathers of powered flight before they would bring their plane back from France for display in the Smithsonian.

...

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Does it matter?

[Tovarish 0]

not really . Other than perhaps, all the pioneers who tried should be celebrated, not just the few who were recognized by the world media as a success.

[Supah 0]

@ Dec. 17 2003,02:43)]Does it matter?

I think it does How would you feel if you made the first airplane ever and flew it only to have your credit stolen by some bike building bunch of guys just because they were more attractive and marketable (Could happen nowadays! "And the nobel prize for inventing the A-bomb goes to ......... *drumroll* BRITNEY SPEARS!!!!!)

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]"And the nobel prize for inventing the A-bomb goes to ......... *drumroll* BRITNEY SPEARS!!!!!)

That would be Betty Grable (Think I spelled that right ).

[Tex -USMC- 0]

@ Dec. 17 2003,02:43)]Does it matter?

I think it does How would you feel if you made the first airplane ever and flew it only to have your credit stolen by some bike building bunch of guys just because they were more attractive and marketable (Could happen nowadays! "And the nobel prize for inventing the A-bomb goes to ......... *drumroll* BRITNEY SPEARS!!!!!)

Except everyone directly involved with these other projects is dead. Seems to me more like a badly misplaced sense of nationalistic pride more than anything- you ought to put those feelings to use in more constructive areas, like aggressive expansionist policy or xenophobic persecution of immigrants

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]Seems to me more like a badly misplaced sense of nationalistic pride more than anything- you ought to put those feelings to use in more constructive areas, like aggressive expansionist policy or xenophobic persecution of immigrants

And which country might we be talking about ?

[Col. Kurtz 0]

Just as an interesting fact, I live around 5km south from where Ricahrd Pearse was supposed to have made his famous flight. I personally believe he did fly before the Wright Brothers, but hey, for today who cares.

We should focues more on how far powered flight has come in the last hundred years. From flimsy slow contraptions to sleek beasts cabable of flying at a speed of a few thousand km a hour and the ability to bomb places we have never heard of with a devestating arsenal of weaponary.

Then theres the bright side like the fact that any one point in the one is less than 48hours flight from another.

[Assault (CAN) 1]

Happy 100th (or 102nd, or whatever) birthday, flight!

[ozanzac 0]

Quote[/b] ]The Advertiser: When I woke up

Oh well, perhaps we can try at the bicentenary

By JON HILKEVITCH and MICHAEL KILIAN in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina

19dec03

THE spirit was willing but the winds were not.

The climax of the week-long commemoration of the Wright brothers' first flight here 100 years ago was to have been a re-enactment of that epochal achievement by an exact replica of their aircraft.

President George W. Bush arrived during a thunderous downpour and was also expected to jump-start the next 100 years of flight with a vow to revive the US manned space program.

There were disappointments on both counts.

Heavy rain and poor winds combined to prevent the replica from taking off.

In a short speech at the height of the deluge, Mr Bush promised that the US would lead the world in aerospace – but did not promise further exploration of the moon and the solar system.

The $1.6 million Wright Flyer replica had been set to take off at 10.35am yesterday, as the original 1903 Flyer had a century earlier. Because of the rain, the effort was postponed until 12.30pm when the primitive flying machine was wheeled to the launching rail.

As pilot Kevin Kochersberger lay on his stomach in the flyer's hip cradle on the bottom wing – and crew members pulled the flyer along the guide rail – the wind died down to as little as 3km/h, dooming the take-off.

The aircraft travelled on a 60m wooden guide rail and, failing to gain enough speed to become airborne, dropped into a mud puddle on the sands of the Wright Brothers National Memorial, near where the Wrights' machine had become airborne.

Though the front of the 12-horsepower flying machine may have achieved lift for a split-second, the tail never did – despite cheers from more than 30,000 eager spectators, two descendants of Orville and Wilbur Wright and the grandson of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh.

"We needed more wind and we needed the engine going at maximum power," said Ken Hyde, founder of the Wright Experience organisation, which built the plane. Mr Bush – who inexplicably left before the take-off attempt – hailed the Wright brothers for changing the world with their invention and their character.

"The Wright brothers' invention belongs to the world but the Wright brothers belong to America," he said.

"We take special pride in their qualities of discipline and persistence, optimism and imagination of people like them. On the day they did fly, just like today, the conditions were not ideal.

"Nevertheless, they pressed on, believing in the great work they had begun. We would not know their names today if they had been pessimists."

The Wright Swimmer Replica perhaps?

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]From flimsy slow contraptions to sleek beasts cabable of flying at a speed of a few thousand km a hour and the ability to bomb places we have never heard of with a devestating arsenal of weaponary.

We've progressed so much since the time when we could only bomb places that we'd heard of .

[ozanzac 0]

Quote[/b] ]From flimsy slow contraptions to sleek beasts cabable of flying at a speed of a few thousand km a hour and the ability to bomb places we have never heard of with a devestating arsenal of weaponary.

We've progressed so much since the time when we could only bomb places that we'd heard of .

Sounds like something from the Bush book of quotes.  

He really needs to get himself a decent speech writer.

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]Sounds like something from the Bush book of quotes.

"The Axis of Flight"

[Winters 1]

Ozanzac,

They tried on the 75th anniversary to fly a replica of the Wright Flyer with the same results. I guess only Orville and Wilbur can fly it

But it was funny to see georgie eatin a little crow

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]I guess only Orville and Wilbur can fly it

It's magic !