The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum celebrates 100 years of powered flight with the creation of “The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age” in October 2003. This gallery provides an engrossing look at the lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright, their technical achievements and the cultural impact of their breakthrough in the decade that followed. The centerpiece of the gallery is the original 1903 Wright Flyer, displayed at eye level for the first time since it was acquired by the Smithsonian in 1948.
Successful Flight
- In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully flew their plane, named Flyer, for the first sustained, controlled, and powered flights in history.
- The Flyer had a wingspan of a little more than 40 feet and weighed 625 pounds. They constructed as much of the Flyer as they could in Dayton, Ohio; then shipped the parts to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for final assembly.
- The brothers left for Kitty Hawk on September 23 and arrived at their camp at Kill Devil Hill two days later. The weather was horrid, cold and stormy. Nevertheless, they worked on and finished assembling the Flyer in early November.
- They tested the engine and found problems with a cracked propeller shaft. Orville went back to Dayton to make new propeller shafts of solid spring steel. It was December 11 before he returned to camp.
- The Flyer was ready for flight on December 12, but the winds were too light to take off. Their first attempt at powered flight would take place on December 14. After a somewhat difficult start, the Flyer climbed a few feet, stalled, and then settled onto the ground near the foot of the hill. The machine was damaged slightly.
- Repairs took two days, and the machine was ready again. December 17 dawned with a strong wind blowing from the north and rain beating down. The rain stopped later, but the wind kept blowing. They decided to go ahead anyway.
- Orville climbed aboard the Flyer and he was stretched out on his belly and his face toward the ground. The Flyer was released from its restraining wires and began to move down the rail into the wind. The machine pitched up and down for 12 seconds and then landed. It had flown 120 feet from the end of the rail. For the first time, a powered flying machine had taken off from level ground, traveled through the air, and landed under the control of its pilot. At about 11:20 AM, Wilbur made the second flight traveling about 175 feet. Twenty minutes later, Orville made the third flight and landed about 200 feet from his starting point.
- The fourth flight took off around noon with Wilbur at the controls. The Flyer pitched upward and down. After about 300 feet, Wilbur got it under control and began traveling on a fairly even course. He proceeded this way until he was around 800 feet out. Then the Flyer began bucking again and suddenly plunged into the ground. It had traveled 852 feet in 59 seconds.
Wright Flyer
- All airplanes trace their origins back to the Flyer. It was the first plane to master the three essential elements of flight: control, lift and propulsion. Orville and Wilbur Wright knew that control was the most important factor for success. But the Flyer would also embody the brothers' genius in the areas of lift and propulsion. It was the combination of all three elements that resulted in the extraordinary success of the Flyer.
- Control: Atop the wind swept dunes of North Carolina, it was with their gliders that the Wright Brothers first learned to master the control of pitch and yaw by horizontal and vertical rudders. For control of the plane's pitch, the Wrights used a front-mounted, horizontal biplane elevator attached to struts above the front of the landing skids. Manipulation of these two wings could control the up and down motion of the plane. For control of the plane's yaw, or turning motion, vertical rudders were positioned just behind the propellers. The control of lateral motion, or roll, was quite a different matter.
- By observing the twisting action of birds' wings, the brothers developed their own system of lateral control they called "wing-warping." They discovered that if the trailing edges of the wings were twisted in opposite directions, a differential in lift would occur, causing the plane to bank. Effecting this twisting was accomplished by a series of tethers and pulleys connecting the wings to a shoulder harness worn by the pilot. In today's airplanes, this same function is carrying out by ailerons.
Lift: Wing warping could work only if the plane had enough lift to achieve flight in the first place. After exhaustive wind tunnel research, the Wrights perfected their Flyer's airfoil shape. The wing's topside was curved slightly more than the bottom side. This caused air particles traveling across the top of the wing to be spaced out along the wing in a lower density than those traveling across the bottom of the wing. Therefore, higher pressure was exerted from below, causing the plane to rise, or lift, from the ground when propelled forward.
- Propulsion: The Wrights brother's 12-horsepower, 4-cylinder engine powered an ingeniously designed set of propellers which was built upon their knowledge of airfoils. They discovered that the airfoil shape could be used to create not only lift upward, but also propulsion forward. The shape of the Flyer's propellers was therefore modeled after the shape of their wings. When the propellers rotated, they created a pushing instead of a lifting force.
- With the groundbreaking design of the Flyer, their solutions to the problems of pitch, roll and yaw resulted in something never before achieved in countless attempts over thousands of years - the world's first sustained, controlled, and powered flight. How much did this whole effort cost them? From the beginning to the end, from 1899 to the end of the 1903 flying season, they probably spent less than $1,000. But it was enough to introduce an invention that would reshape the history of the world. The invention of the airplane was a fundamental turning point in history. The Flyer remains one of the most stunning and magnificent human achievements.
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