Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 20, 2015 23:05:12 GMT 12
I was looking through a US newspaper archive for various things and decided to look up the Wright Brothers. I found this interesting very early report on their successful flight:
From the Yorkville enquirer. (Yorkville, S.C.), December 22, 1903
A successful trial of a flying machine was made last Thursday near Kitty Hawk, N. C., by Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, O., says a letter from Norfolk, Va. The machine flew for three miles in the face of a wind blowing at the registered velocity of twenty-one miles an hour, and then gracefully descended to earth at the spot selected by the men in the navigator's car as a suitable landing place.
The machine has no balloon attachment, but gets its force from propellers worked by a small engine. Preparatory to its flight the machine was placed upon a platform near Kitty Hawk. This platform was built on a high sand hill, and when all was in readiness the fastenings to the machine were released and it started down an incline. The navigator, Wilbur Wright, then started a small gasoline engine which worked the propellers.
When the end of the incline was reached the machine gradually rose until it obtained an altitude of sixty feet. In the face of the strong wind blowing. It maintained an even speed of eight miles an hour.
The idea of the box kite has been adhered to in the basic formation of the flying machine. A huge frame work of light timbers, thirty-three feet wide, five feet deep and five feet across the top, forms the machine proper. This is covered with a tough, but light, canvas.
In the centre, and suspended just below the bottom plan, is the small gasoline engine, which furnishes the motive power for the propelling and elevating wheels. There are two six-bladed propellers, one arranged just below the centre of the frame, so gauged as to exert an upward force when in motion, and the other extends horizontally to the rear from the centre of the car, furnishing the forward impetus. Protruding from the centre of the car is a huge fan-shaped rudder of canvas, stretched upon a frame of wood. This rudder is controlled by the navigator and may be moved to each side, raised or lowered.
No test was made today of the flying machine. The Wright brothers will leave tomorrow for Dayton to spend the holidays, and will return to Kitty Hawk after New Year's to perfect their invention.
From the Yorkville enquirer. (Yorkville, S.C.), December 22, 1903
A successful trial of a flying machine was made last Thursday near Kitty Hawk, N. C., by Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, O., says a letter from Norfolk, Va. The machine flew for three miles in the face of a wind blowing at the registered velocity of twenty-one miles an hour, and then gracefully descended to earth at the spot selected by the men in the navigator's car as a suitable landing place.
The machine has no balloon attachment, but gets its force from propellers worked by a small engine. Preparatory to its flight the machine was placed upon a platform near Kitty Hawk. This platform was built on a high sand hill, and when all was in readiness the fastenings to the machine were released and it started down an incline. The navigator, Wilbur Wright, then started a small gasoline engine which worked the propellers.
When the end of the incline was reached the machine gradually rose until it obtained an altitude of sixty feet. In the face of the strong wind blowing. It maintained an even speed of eight miles an hour.
The idea of the box kite has been adhered to in the basic formation of the flying machine. A huge frame work of light timbers, thirty-three feet wide, five feet deep and five feet across the top, forms the machine proper. This is covered with a tough, but light, canvas.
In the centre, and suspended just below the bottom plan, is the small gasoline engine, which furnishes the motive power for the propelling and elevating wheels. There are two six-bladed propellers, one arranged just below the centre of the frame, so gauged as to exert an upward force when in motion, and the other extends horizontally to the rear from the centre of the car, furnishing the forward impetus. Protruding from the centre of the car is a huge fan-shaped rudder of canvas, stretched upon a frame of wood. This rudder is controlled by the navigator and may be moved to each side, raised or lowered.
No test was made today of the flying machine. The Wright brothers will leave tomorrow for Dayton to spend the holidays, and will return to Kitty Hawk after New Year's to perfect their invention.
