Physical Description
Aircraft model, 1:12 scale model of the first Wright Bros biplane.
Object Statement
Aircraft model, Wright Flyer, representing first powered aircraft to fly built by Orville and Wilbur Wright and flown 17 December 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States of America, model made by George Oliver Ingledew, Burwood, New South Wales, Australia, before 1954
Production
The maker is George Oliver Ingledew (died 1954), 56 Park Road, Burwood, New South Wales.
Dimensions
- Height: 220 mm
- Width: 1030 mm
- Depth: 520 mm
History
The Wright Flyer, often referred to as Flyer 1 or 1903 Flyer, was the first powered aircraft, designed and built by the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur. They flew the biplane four times on December 17th 1903, near the Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This was the first powered, heavier than air machine to achieve controlled sustained flight with a pilot aboard.
The biplane was based on the Wrights' experience testing gliders at Kitty Hawk between 1900 and 1902. Since they could not find a suitable automobile engine, they had their employee Charlie Taylor build an engine from scratch. A sprocket chain drive, borrowed from bicycle technology, powered the twin propellers, which were also hand-made. The biplane had a canard configuration, and as with gliders, the pilot flew lying on his stomach on the lower wing with his head towards the front of the craft in an effort to reduce drag. He steered by moving a cradle attached to his hips. The cradle pulled wires that warped the wings and turned the elevator planes simultaneously.
The starting runway was a 12 m wooden track on level ground pointing into the wind. A 20 knot wind helped provide the necessary speed for take-off. The first flight lasted 12 seconds (36.5 m.) and the fourth flight 59 seconds (260m.). A subsequent heavy gust of wind tumbled the biplane end over end, damaging it beyond any hope of easy repair. It never flew again.
A third Flyer, made by Orville and Wilbur, made a 39 minute (39 km) non stop circling flight in 1905, confirming their mastery of controlled powered flight. Their design depended on wing warping and a forward horizontal stabiliser, features which cannot readily be scaled up, and produce a hard to control aircraft. However, their pioneering use of ' roll control ' by twisting the wings to change wingtip angle in relation to the airstream led directly to the more practical use of ailerons .The Wright's original concept of simultaneous coordinated roll and yaw control (rear rudder deflection) which they discovered in 1902, perfected in 1903-5 ,and patented in 1906, represents the solution to controlled flight and is used today on virtually every fixed wing aircraft. The Wright patent included the use of hinged rather than warped surfaces for the forward elevator and rear rudder. They also used highly efficient wings and propellers ,which resulted fromtheir own wind tunnel tests. Several other contentious claims have been made about precedence for heavier than air powered flights before 1903, but the Wright Brothers claim rests on the flight being "properly controlled ".