Question : what does it matter where the plane was built ? It took flight in NC, therefore the first flight (Guano’s point aside for the moment) occured in NC. Surely Ohio has other things for which it can be proud. This seems to be a sore point.
“Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.” - William Blake
Wow, i didn’t know there were also possible flights before Pearse. Hmm. Interesting, and significant.
-PIGEONMAN-
I also recall that some folks at the Smithsonian recently looked into the evidence and were preparing to acknowledge Pearse’s flight. That is, until the heirs of the Wright estate threatened to move the Wright Flier to another museum.
Gabriel,
Yes you are right about Ohio haviving more to be proud about than the Wright Brother’s. Many presidents, astronauts and inventors are from Ohio.
But, I was searching for something of historial significance that North Carolina could be pround of in thier own right, instead of having to borrow our most high profile inventors. All I came up with on the North Carolina web site was Blackbeard the Pirate, runaway slaves, and something called a Tar Heel. Not too conducive to putting on the back of a quarter!
So yes, we should allow North Carolina their moment in the sun at Kitty Hawk. After all, to this day many Ohioians still go down to the Carolinas to enjoy the beach and a few rounds of golf on our vacations, much like the Wright Brothers before us.
watch what you say
or they’ll be calling
you a radical,
a liberal,fanatical
a criminal…
Phil,
That other museum is the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio. Hardly a serious threat or competitor to the the Smithsonian.
With the 100th anniversity of flight coming soon there are huge political forces in motion to celibrate the event, both in Dayton and Kitty Hawk.
Who wants to celibrate some guy from New Zealand that didn’t impress the people of his time enough to be remembered today. Do people think that the newspapers of his day really just ignored a man flying around?
watch what you say
or they’ll be calling
you a radical,
a liberal,fanatical
a criminal…
Jay,
I am not a native North Carolinian. I was, in fact, born in Georgia. I feel though that perhaps there are a few facts that should be pointed out to you, that were evidently not on the “NC website” as you put it.
First of all, NC was one of the original 13 colonies, and therefore the rest of the country would not exist were it not for what the members of this state did over 200 years ago.
Secondly, historically speaking, there occured a great many significant battles on this land. Not the least of which was Nathanael Greene’s campaign against Cornwallis in the Revolutionary War. Most historians will agree that though the “rebels” did not win (in the military sense) a battle against his British foe, he certainly helped significantly soften up the invaders for Washington’s ultimate victory at Williamsburg. This did no less than win the freedom and birth of the entire nation.
Need I go into Civil War history ?
Just FYI.
“Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.” - William Blake
Oblio,
There is no special certification (other than a pilot’s license) required to fly the Flyer. Since it is a single-engine aircraft weighing less than 12,500 pounds, you don’t need a type-rating.
With modern materials, a person might be able to build an ultralight replica and there would be no license required.
Johnny -
I knew that, but good of you to point out the details.
I wonder what they (NASA) are using for a powerplant ? Have they been scouring the county fairs looking for antique engines to power the replica ? Are they planning to use a single engine and dual props ? Will there be landing gear, and if not will it be launched with catapult assist ?
A point in every direction is like no point at all
Some interesting links on the Flyer replica.
Text of the project overview. http://ccf.arc.nasa.gov/dx/astrogram/astrostories/031299/Flyer.html
Photo http://ccf.arc.nasa.gov/dx/basket/storiesetc/wright2.html
This whole Dayton/NC thing is absurd. I mean, do people in Houston go berzerk because Cape Canaveral/Kennedy/Canaveral gets a lot of the glory? And, imagine how idiotic that quote would sound if was," Cocoa Beach, we have a problem". Houston sounds MUCH more authoritarian !
Houston was The Place, in terms of telemetry. You wanted to see fire and brimstone? Go to The Cape. Daytonians made the thing, but it FLEW from NC. Share a little pride here, huh? Thank god it didn’t fly first in Vladivastok ( sp? ).
Cartooniverse
If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel.
I agree, we can share the pride with North Carolina.
The problem with the space program analogy is that it was a federal government funded program and the technology for it was developed in several places (i.e. Huntsville, Edwards Air Force Base,
Florida, Texas . . . ).
The Wright Brothers on the other hand were privite individuals who developed their plane in their own bicycle shop and then flew it themselves. Quite different than the space program.
watch what you say
or they’ll be calling
you a radical,
a liberal,fanatical
a criminal…
As far as I know, there is no reason why Ohio, in the spirit of The Simpsons (“I, too, would like to dedicate this fight to his deceased manager.”) couldn’t also have a Wright Brothers quarter. (By the way, second choice for the North Carolina was the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the one they moved a few months back.)
But, for Ohio’s quarter, I think the Cuyahoga River fires might make an eye-catching selection.
A big reason that I get irritated by it is because most people think the Wrights were from North Carolina.
How bad is this misconception? If you are at Disneyworld and get on the ride that takes you through the Hall of Inventions (I think that is its name.) The ride tells you that the Wrights were N. Carolina natives. Disney’s response when told of their error? Basically, “Who cares, everyone believes they are from Kitty Hawk anyways.”
As far as I know, Disney still hasn’t fixed that. As fighters of ignorance, you should at least acknowledge the inaccuracy of the public belief here.
>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<
—The dragon observes
The thing is, even Richard Pears himself didn’t think his achievement was significant - he acknowledged the Wrights that they had figured out the basic principles of flight accurately (though if they actually had or not, I dunno).
Pearse is acknowledged now, there’s a memorial of the flight at the location, and he’s on the NZ 100 dollar bill (I think). But his plane was basically a kitchen table strapped onto a bicycle in basic shape, and the flight was probably more luck than actual flight dynamics. If he had pioneered the development of aircraft with that design, it probably wouldn’t have gotten very far.
Anyway, nobody considers a tiny island country on the arse end of the globe as being anything significant - as we all know, the US is the most important country in the world. [/sarcasm]
-PIGEONMAN-
Wow. That’s bad, if true. There’s another story that I have seen in some books (ok, one) that is pretty funny, especially in the light of the North Carolina/Ohio dustups. Supposedly, the Wrights were very assiduous about their research, and had determined the most favorable windspeed. They researched meteorological records for average windspeed, and decided upon Kitty Hawk. After they moved all their equipment there, they found out that the average windspeed rarely attains–it’s either still or gusting. Well, it coulda happened.
<font color=#ECECEC>----------------
rocks</font>
Tracer:
You are right. The real reason the Wrights are credited first with controlled, powered flight is just that - it was controlled. The Wrights developed the idea of wing warping to control the angle of flight - based on how birds change the shape of their wings to do things. Most of their development time was spent on control - remember, they were bike mechanics and knew that balance was more important than power to ride a bike.
Alexander Graham Bell, who was not the first to invent the telephone, invented aerolons. The first settled on the design of the plane as a glider, then added the engine. As an aside, the Smithsonian refused to credit the Wright Brothers for decades - they wanted to give the credit to Langly, I think it was, who was a director of the Smithsonian and was working on his own plane at the time of the Wright Brothers flight - concentrating on the engine, rather than the airframe which as not really airworthy.