WRIGHT
BROTHERS Aeroplane
Company
A Closer Look
On September 7, 1900, Wilbur Wright left Dayton, Ohio for
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where he had been told the winds were strong and
steady, and perfect for gliding experiments. His brother Orville joined him a
week later, and the Wright brothers built their first manned aircraft.
The 1900 Wright Glider was a revolution in aeronautical
engineering. It was huge -- its wings spanned over 17 feet, much longer than was
considered wise by the top aviation experts of the day. (If Wilbur had been able
to find the lumber he wanted, the wings would have stretched almost 20 feet!)
And it had aerodynamic control surfaces - movable planes to help balance the glider in the
air. The front elevator could be curved to pitch the nose of the aircraft up or
down. The wings could be twisted or "warped" with an ingenious set of
swing wires to roll the aircraft right and left. The pioneer glider pilots that
preceded the Wright brothers had simply shifted their weight to balance their
craft -- a difficult, dangerous, and ineffective method of control.
When the Wrights tested their first glider, its performance
was disappointing. It did not produce the expected lift; consequently, they flew
it mostly as an unmanned kite. But it was a success in one respect. The control
surfaces worked wonderfully. Manipulating the controls from the ground with
cables, the brothers could pitch and roll the aircraft with authority. Just
before they left Kitty Hawk to return home to Dayton, they mounted their glider
for several manned glides, some of which covered over 200 feet. Encouraged by
the success of their controls and thrilled by their first real flights, they
began to build a series of gliders and airplanes, each one better than the last.
This work eventually resulted in the first practical aircraft.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of these first tentative
flights, the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company built a replica of the 1900
Glider, then flew it at Kitty Hawk on October 22, 2000 -- precisely a century
after the Wrights made their first flights. Below is a "walk-around"
of our glider, as it was displayed for its unveiling in front of the Packard
Museum in Dayton, OH. For you folks that like to know what makes things tick,
we've also included so pictures of the airframe before we covered it. If you'd
like to see some photos from our Test
Flight, click HERE.
The 1900 Glider replica as it looks from the rear.
Like all early Wright aircraft, the elevator is in front. This aircraft
had a tail at first, but Wilbur removed it when he was sure the controls
worked properly. |
The glider from the side -- note that the rear spar
is on top of the ribs instead of under them. Early on, the Wrights thought
that lift was produced underneath the wings and that it was more important
to keep the underside of the wing smooth. |
The glider diagonally from the side. They were
wrong, of course -- about keeping the bottom of the wings smooth, that is.
In its position on top of the spar, the rear spar acts as a spoiler and reduces
the lift. |
The glider straight on. Although the rigging was
based on a standard "Pratt Truss," it was a system the Wrights
had invented. By tensioning just four wires on the airplane, they could
tune all the flying and landing wires. |
Another diagonal view -- that's a vintage Packard
behind the glider. |
And finally, a rear diagonal. The street behind the
glider -- Ludlow Street -- was once used as a runway. In the 1910s, an
airplane manufacturer (a rival to the Wrights) would take off and land
here. |
The glider cockpit -- you lay down with your weight
supported on the front spar and the "belly bar." It is the most
uncomfortable cockpit you can imagine. The Wrights were dynamite at
engineering, but sadly lacking in ergonomics. |
The kickbar -- by pressing the top of the
"T" with one foot or the other, you actuate the wing warping and
roll the aircraft right or left. |
The elevator is actually part of the supporting
surface -- notice the camber. To pitch the glider up or down, you change
the camber. |
The elevator control is a bar that you roll with
your wrists. The bar moves levers which are attached to the elevator, and
this in turn changes the camber of the elevator |
The glider is covered with cotton chintz -- called
"sateen" in the Wright brother's time. This fabric is seized at
the factory, making it less porous to the air. |
The glider as it looks best -- atop a sand dune in
Kitty Hawk. |
The completed airframe of the 1900 Wright Glider. |
A close-up of the cockpit. frame. A "belly
bar" bridges the gap between the two inboard ribs. This supports the
pilot. |
The elevator frame does not pivot. Instead it flexes
to create a negative or positive camber. To pitch up, roll the control bar
forward. |
The control bar and levers attach to the elevator frame with tension
springs. |
A view of the cockpit from the back. |
This kick bar is attached to cables that warp the
wings. This is the only part of the glider where we had to guess at the
construction -- it's not shown in the historic photos. |
To allow the wings to warp, the spars are hinged to
the struts with special hardware. |
Hardware is used very sparsely, however. Most of the
frame is lashed together with waxed linen cord. |
