The First Airplane: 110 Years Anniversary

The First Airplane: 110 Years Anniversary

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The Wright Brothers: Bicycle repairmen from Dayton, Ohio, who built a flying “machine” and sent it soaring along with its “operator”. The first airplane took off 110 years ago.

First flight (U.S. Library of Congress)
First flight (U.S. Library of Congress)

It’s officially known as the “first flight of a controllable, heavier-than-air vehicle”. The event took place on December 17, 1903, at 10:35 am, on a remote sandy hill in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina: The first aircraft flown by brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Today, 110 later, it can be said that using only their highscool-level education, without computers and using bicycle repair tools, the Wright brothers carried out a groundbreaking development project based on systems engineering concepts now considered routine – although they had no knowledge of them whatsoever. They still built an aircraft, wings, engine, propeller and a mechanical steering mechanism – and flew it. They even built their own wind tunnel. During Orville Wright’s maiden flight he remained airborne for 12 seconds and crossed 120 feet.

Dror Artzi is an aeronautics engineer, pilot, senior Technion professor, formerly of Rafael and IAI, a member of the Kfir, Lavi, Astra and UAV projects, and owner of Aerospace Consulting. He gave a presentation on the Wright Brothers’ immense achievement (“on same level as Leonardo da-Vinci”) at the Association of Engineers and Architects, to a group of aeronautics engineers who know a thing or two about the development of manned and unmanned aircraft. Artzi has been researching the Wright Brothers, pioneers of aviation, for years.

“Systems engineering” is defined as a grouping of mulch-disciplinary engineering actions, carried out as part of the design and management phases of developments projects, including risk management and early risk and problem detection, in order to mitigate risks,” explained Artzi. “The Wright Brothers followed these rules closely, despite the rules not actually existing back then.”

It all started when their father gave them a gift – a toy helicopter. The family lived in Dayton, Ohio. Aviation proved fascinating for the boys, with the next stage being observing birds. They noticed that in order to make a turn the birds rolled their bodies. The brothers started building kites that mimicked bird flight. In 1893 the brothers opened a bicycle repair shop to make a living, but their imaginations soared. They installed a special lift-measuring device on a pair of bicycles and began designing a “machine” (the word airplane didn’t exist yet) that can fly under 18-knot winds. They searched for the right area and found Kitty Hawk in northern Carolina, an area with the right windy conditions.

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Ever since that first flight,” continued Artzi, “the two carried out a sort of operational deployment.” Every summer they used to move from Dayton, Ohio to Kitty Hawk, taking their tools with them. They built tool sheds and a hangar and in general put in a lot of work. In 1901 they built a “machine” that can carry an “operator”, improved their wing design and conducted hundreds of kite-based experiments. They did all this while following a flight plan, like a modern project.”

Just like other projects the two made mistakes while calculating. They designed several models, but their mistakes prevented them from gaining the lift necessary to get their machine airborne. Development engineers have a lot of experience with this process: The disappointments, the frustration and despair. It happened to the Wright Brothers too. Two years before their maiden flight Wilbur Wright wrote “we’ll never make it,” but they still went on with their efforts. They invented the wind tunnel, in fact, now a very basic aircraft design tool, using a wooden box and a large fan.

The next stage – an engine and propeller. According to their calculations they needed an 8-9 horsepower engine weighing 180 pounds. This sort of engine didn’t exist anywhere in the U.S. What did they do? They built one of their own, with its unique aerodynamic propeller. Another breakthrough.

Eventually they made it to their famous December 17 flight, the first flight of a controllable, heavier-than-air aircraft. They carried out three more flights that day, increasing their reach with each successive one – from 12 to 59 seconds, from 120 feet to 852 feet. At the end of the day they send a telegraph to their father: “Dad, we flew. We made it.” They couldn’t patent their invention, though. Eventually they sold their ideas in France rather than the U.S.

Wilbur Wright died in 1912 at the age of 45, but his brother Orville lived on. Before his death in 1948 he got to see the aircraft used during World War II.