Sciences. – 118 years since the first flight with a controlled engine

Madrid, 17 (European Press)

December 17th marks the 118th anniversary of the achievement of the first ever controlled flight in a powered aircraft, designed by brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright.

This feat at the end of 1903, which heralded the age of aviation, lifted the plane about 40 meters for 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The great contribution to the Wrights’ journey has been the control of travel through Libra. Until then, current aircraft had designs that made them difficult to control because the need to tilt the wings to change direction was not taken into account, Wikipedia reports.

Before Orville took to the skies on his plane, his brother had already tried it out with the same device. However, it was fate that Orville, not Wilbur, would go down in history to achieve the first flight.

After overcoming many difficulties and conducting hundreds of experiments, on December 14, 1903, the Wright brothers had prepared their plane and the Wilbur was selected to test it, although it was not very successful. He managed to climb to just over 3 meters and travel about 20 metres, but he lost his momentum and ended up crashing without getting hurt. Three days later, Orville succeeded.

Before selling bikes

Before the invention of the first aircraft, the Wright brothers sold bikes from their shop and did not have much technical knowledge, although their passion for flying managed to overcome those obstacles and make them experts in the field.

In fact, before embarking on any attempt to fly the brothers thoroughly documented themselves and contacted all kinds of experts who advised them on issues such as engine use or even the best place to try their luck, leaving no details to ask. .

Before going down in history for building the first flight-capable aircraft, the brothers had already implemented many inventions that were considered revolutionary for their era, including using a wind tunnel to test their planes.

The brothers built a primitive wind tunnel in their gas-engine bike shop, as they had no electricity in their shop. They used this device to test the aerodynamic properties of their device wings.

The military initially rejected his invention

The Wright brothers contacted the United States Army in 1905 to offer their invention, but their proposal was rejected due to the brothers’ enthusiasm when providing technical details of their aircraft and the previous poor experiences the military had with other inventors offering the same.

Two years later, before the brothers gained fame in the world with their flights, the military changed its mind and decided to buy him a plane. The inaugural flight turned out to be a tragedy.

Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge, who was on board the plane, was killed, and Orville was seriously injured after a mechanical failure caused the plane to crash at a show in Fort Myer, Virginia, in 1908.