The PBS show had the Wright Flyer B - that’s the improved verision of the 1903 flyer, and still not a great aircraft.
See, the truth is that the 1903 Wright Flyer is a pretty shitty airplane. Really. The only it had going for it was that in 1903 it was the best airplane, which only goes to show the state of the art in 1903 was pretty nonexistant. And that’s not a slam at Wilbur and Orville, just a statemnt of fact. At that time no one had much clue about how to get in the air, and what to do once you were up there.
Anyhow, there’s a reason the boys only flew it four times, then took the pieces home and designed something better.
I heard that when the recreation of the 1903 airplane was proposed the FAA at first refused to certify it as airworthy enough to carry a human being. Well, by our standards it’s NOT airworthy! Too heavy for the power it has, and with some very questionable aerodynamic features. Under the best of circumstances, no matter how skilled the pilot, an authentic reproduction of the 1903 flyer is never going to exceed the Wrights’ best efforts. It’s just not a very good airplane.
However, as a noteworthy human achievement it is of huge significance. It is very humbling to realize where the vast aerospace industry of today got started, and you do gain a LOT of respect for the boys from Dayton who managed to get that thing in the air not just once but, on December 17, 2003, multiple times in a day.
I saw part of a show on Discovery last night about the Flyer project; I was surprised by just how SMALL that plane was. Somehow I always thought of it as bigger. Maybe because in the grand scheme of things, it IS bigger; it may be a terrible, terrible plane but it DID fly. If just barely. I hadn’t realized just how incredibly iffy the plane was until yesterday, not being an aviation buff.
I’m going to have to agree with the OP here. I wish I had more people like him in my life.
You see, there is far too much joy in my life. I’m having way too much fun. I need a larger supply of joyless fucking buzzkills to remind me that too much happiness is not permitted.
Based on his handle, my guess is that the OP is a fan of shitty Metallica music, and as such is in no position to declare what is a waste of time.
I would go so far as to insist that his listening to said album is a bigger waste of time than any rememberance of a historical event. I would go even further to add that ANYTHING Mr. Anger (IF THAT’S YOUR REAL NAME) does with his life will be a bigger waste of time than a historical recreation.
I actually agree with you, largely because it pisses me off the the Wright Bros. were actually not the first ones to have flown an aircraft. Gustav Weisskopf did so before them, but he was not much of a self-promoter, so he never got the credit for it that they did.
I think flodnak nailed it. In addition to the recreation being a very cool way to commemorate a significant event in world history, it also shows the value of ingenuity and determination. If we don’t remember where we came from, and how we got to where we are, how are we ever going to go any farther? There are young people today who will have the great ideas of the future, and by showing them what the Wright brothers did, we can encourage them to turn those ideas into reality. Orville Wright lived until 1948. He got to see his invention become a fact of life. I can’t think of anything cooler than that.
Besides, we need someone to build those flying cars.
I love all the attempts and all the failure. To underestimate the Wrights is just poetic. They had thousands of hours in gliders, models and prototypes before they knew how to fly. Once the men with the knowledge were married to the plane with the power and control, flight happened.
The people should not be hated for trying, because man will ultimately benefit from knowing that too many people underestimated the Wrights’ achievements for too long.
The numbskulls who think they just need a reproduction of the aircraft are dumbasses. And to pick an exact time is even dumber. The Wrights used Kitthyhawk because it was right at that time. But to go back to Kittyhawk now, where trees have altered with wind flow and character, is damn foolish.
So I love the recreations…and subsequent failures They make the Wrights’ level of genius something special.
Don’t know how you could bitch about that.
As for the folks watching: They ain’t out there hurting anyone. No ignorance to be pissed about there. At worst, they are learning something. You learn alot from failure.
No, Whitehead didn’t get the credit because he never demonstrated it like the Wright brothers did. He issued press releases and such, but never a truly public demonstration.
There is no evidence that Whitehead/Weisskopf flew at all, and even less that he understood how an airplane would work. Link. Rather, he looks like just another eager garage tinkerer, one of many.
I like the guys for their attempt at the recreation of the first flight because it shows what kind of difficulties the brothers Wright had to overcome in order to become airborne and that the attempt celebrates the enormous engineering accomplishment that the Wright’s achieved.