Air planes during ww1
Air planes during ww1On December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright made the world's first successful flights in a heavier-than-air
craft under power and control. The airplane had been designed, constructed, and
flown by them, each brother making two flights that day. The longest, by
Wilbur, extended to a distance of 260 m (852 ft) in 59 sec. The next year,
continuing the development of their design and improving their skill as pilots,
the brothers made 105 flights, the longest lasting more than 5 min. The
following year, their best flight was 38.9 km (24.2 mi) in 38 min 3 sec. All
these flights were in open country, the longest involving numerous turns,
usually returning to near the starting point.
Not until 1906 did anyone else fly in an airplane. In that year short hops were
made by a Hungarian, Trajan Vuia, living in Paris, and by Jacob Christian
Ellehammer, in Denmark. The first officially witnessed flight in Europe was
made in France, by Alberto Santos-Dumont, of Brazil. His longest flight, on
November 12, 1906, covered a distance of about 220 m (722 ft) in 22.5 sec. The
airplane, the 14- bis, was of his own design, made by the Voisin firm in Paris,
and powered with a Levavasseur 40-hp Antoinette engine. The airplane
resembled a large box kite, with a smaller box at the front end of a long,
cloth-covered frame. The engine and propeller were at the rear, and the pilot
stood in a basket just forward of the main rear wing. Not until near the end of
1907 did anyone in Europe fly for 1 min; Henri Farman did so in an airplane
built by Voisin.
In great contrast were the flights of the Wright brothers. Orville, in the U.S.,
demonstrated a Flyer for the Army Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Virginia,
beginning September 3, 1908. On September 9 he completed the world's first
flight of more than one hour and, also for the first time, carried a passenger,
Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm, for a 6-min 24-sec flight. These demonstrations were
interrupted on September 17, when the airplane crashed, injuring Orville and
his passenger, Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge, who died hours later from a
concussion. Selfridge was the first person to be fatally injured in a powered
airplane. Wilbur, meanwhile, had gone to France in August 1908, and on
December 31 of that year completed a flight of over 2 hours and 20 minutes,
demonstrating total control of his Flyer, turning gracefully, and climbing or
descending at will. Recovered from his injuries, and with Wilbur's assistance,
Orville resumed demonstrations for the Signal Corps in the following July and
met their requirements by the end of the month. The airplane was purchased on
August 2, becoming the first successful military airplane. It remained in active
service for about two years and was then retired to the Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C., at which it is displayed today.
Prominent among American designers,...
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