OT: December 17, 1903 - First Flight

[MadRU]

https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/december-17/

 

[RU from Jersey_rivals]

https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/december-17/

For better or worse two things have made the world a lot smaller, powered flight and the internet.

 

[ashokan]

Wright Brothers were amazing (only three years of high school) and bicycles were key to their insights. They worked on bikes at a time when terrible bike designs were being refined. Some of those developments were what would make their machines fly.

"The pioneers in aviation thought of an aircraft in terms of a ship floating through air. Because of their knowledge of bike maintenance and handling, the Wright brothers knew thinking of a plane like a ship was the wrong analogy.

Ships are built to move in as stable and straight a manner as possible. Any movement side to side is too dangerous. A bike is inherently un-stable. It’s the rider who learns how to keep the bike in a secure position and steer it by leaning side to side. The Wright brothers saw a plane the same way...

Using their knowledge of bicycles, the brothers slowly tweaked their wing design to allow for maximum control over turning and banking, as if they were flying a bicycle. They decided to add the engine last and had a mechanic from their bicycle shop build a much lighter (and less expensive) engine than what their rivals were using."

https://ryandreyer.substack.com/p/the-secret-story-of-the-wright-brothers