tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4620165642037025659.post6978960258759808605..comments2024-03-12T06:44:07.857-04:00Comments on VA Viper: December 17 is the anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flightWitt's Endhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04505106934467289492noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4620165642037025659.post-72982017420675009032017-12-17T13:46:38.669-05:002017-12-17T13:46:38.669-05:00Sainte Exupery wrote better books with Night Fligh...Sainte Exupery wrote better books with Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars.<br /><br />While many inventions are really evolutionary, small improvements on what had been done before, the Wrights were true inventors.<br />Almost every prior attempt at flight was guessing and trial and error, hoping to stumble on a solution. The Wrights' research discovered that almost everything done before had to be thrown out. So they studied the concept of lift, not only for the flight of the plane, but for the application to propellors to generate thrust (forward lift). <br />But most importantly, they were the first to understand the need for and solution of three axis control. Anybody could make a paper airplane that "flies". The secret was to design one that flies where you want it to. The Wrights' airplane patent was about a device that could develop lift and have three axis control. The original patent did not even provide for an engine. That came later.<br />And don't forget - the Wrights had to teach themselves to fly - there were no instructor pilots in 1903.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com