What was the name of their plane? (I mean “the” plane that they flew off Kitty Hawk.)
“What’s the cure for disillusionment, Charlie Brown?”
“A chocolate cream and a friendly pat on the back.”
The plane in the 1903 “first flight” was merely called the “Wright Flyer” (sometimes spelled “Flier”).
It was just announced that it will be featured on the NC state quarter that will be issued in 2001.
Being a native Daytonian before I moved to sillycon valley and San Jose, you can understand why this irks me. Alright, so they flew the first time in Kitty Hawk, guess what, after that, they returned back home to Dayton, Ohio, and perfected their work in a field about 4 miles from where I grew up. Doesn’t North Carolina have any history that isn’t borrowed from somewhere else? Sheesh! I mean a state that old should have at least one native son to be proud of.
>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<
—The dragon observes
Scientists at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA are testing out a replica of the Wright Brothers’ first plane in a wind tunnel there. They want to be able to make a working replica to fly by the 100th anniversary of the first flight in 2003.
Apparently, it’s a rather difficult plane to fly.
Their design is difficult to fly? What did they have to go on?
Every design before theirs had a habit of ending up in a heap at the bottom of the cliff.
Wright Flyer? I always thought it was the Flyer I. At least that’s what I learned when I was younger. I guess there’s not much difference between the two names, anyways.
Why should the state quarter for orth Carolina have the Wright Brother’s plane on it? It was designed and build in Dayton Ohio by people frm Dayton Ohio! All North Carolina had was a nice beach to test it on. Hasn’t someone from North Carolina done anything significant enough in the past two hundred years that their “home” state can be proud of.
watch what you say
or they’ll be calling
you a radical,
a liberal,fanatical
a criminal…
Sorry, I see another native Daytonian had already pointed out the above.
Nevermind …
watch what you say
or they’ll be calling
you a radical,
a liberal,fanatical
a criminal…
I heard the “Kitty Hawk vs. Dayton” debate on another thread, so I won’t go there, but are you all agreed that the plane was called the Wright Flyer (or Flier)? Mr. Rilch insisted it was called the Kitty Hawk. 
“What’s the cure for disillusionment, Charlie Brown?”
“A chocolate cream and a friendly pat on the back.”
I meant
The FAA, the National Park Service and the Smithsonian refer to it as the Wright Flyer.
Doesn’t matter anyway. A New Zealander named Richard Pearse made the first powered flight, a good ten months before the Wrights.
-PIGEONMAN-
-
Shadow of the Pigeon -
Weirdo of the Night
Needless to say, Guano, we’d appreciate a few more details.
I think the engineers at NASA had a hard time trying to get their model to fly. I think another problem is that there aren’t a lot of pilots around today who are certified for Wright Fliers.
I also read someplace that one of the first journals to report on the Wright Brothers’ flight was “Gleanings in Bee Culture.” Perhaps the writer was interested in solving the bumble bee question.
From http://www.aopa.ch/xeole.htm
On or about 31 March 1903 Richard William Pearse of Waitohi New Zealand, became airborne in a high-wing monoplane he designed and built himself. This aircraft, of prophetic design, was powered by an ingenious petrol engine which he also designed and constructured. It was not until 17 December 1903 that the Wright Brothers’ Flier I took to the air at the Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina.
Though Pearse himself later conceded that the Americans deserved the honour of being the first to make a controlled and sustained flight, it is almost certain that he got into the air under power before they did.
Gordon Ogilvie, The Riddle of Richard Pearse, Reed Books, Auckland, New Zealand, 1994, p.xiv.
From http://www.aopa.ch/xeole.htm
Question: Who performed the first powered flight:
Wright or Wrong?
Hm. Maybe – maybe not! The Wright Brothers were the first who could prove it.
1848 (!): John Stringfellow at Chard/Somerset (England), steam powered
1890 OCT 09: Clément Ader, France
1901 AUG 14: Gustave Whitebread, near Bridgeport/Connecticut
1902 MAR 31: Richard Pearse, Waitohi/New Zealand
1903 ??? *): Preston Watson, Errol (River Tay)/Scotland
Controlled and sustained flight is the key.
IIRC Glenn Curtis said he flew first, but it was neither controled nor sustained. Ditto the Australian.
IMO the Wrights’ plane was just the Flyer. Calling it the “Wright Flyer” is like saying “Cessna Skyhawk” or “Beechcraft Bonanza” or “Ford Mustang”. The names of the vehicles are “Skyhawk”, “Bonanza” and “Mustang”… and “Flyer”. The maker is Cessna, Beechcraft (now Ratheon, but they kept the Beech name), ford or Wright.
Less than 100 years ago, it was. Amazing. Some old people’s grandparents were adults back then. A few people alive today could remember the first controlled flight. Today we could go to Mars. Innovation does indeed breed innovation, regardless of who gets the quarter. 
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000
Is there a special Wright Flier certification ??
[sarcasm]
Aeroplane Pilot Certificate
Private Pilot
Single Engine/Multi-Prop
Land
Skid gear/warped wings
[/sarcasm]
I am sure that there was/is a lot of concern in finding someone who could fly a faithful replica, I don’t think it was a regulatory concern though. More like who could actually fly the thing.
mangeorge:
Oh you live wire, you. My grandad (maternal) was born in 1889 and was old enough to be quite excited about it at the time.
I’d heard somewhere that the Wright Brothers’ BIG contribution to aviation was the idea of ailerons (or the predecessor to ailerons, which would be wings that flex in opposite directions). Ailerons meant banking, and banking meant turning – turning a lot more efficiently than you can do with just a rudder.