1900 Glider Test Flights

WRIGHT BROTHERS Aeroplane Company

Sometime in late October of 1900, probably between the 19th and the 22nd, Wilbur and Orville Wright screwed their courage to the sticking point and decided to make a few free glides on their glider. They had been flying it as a kite for almost a month, and had found that it would not generate enough lift to support a full-grown pilot unless it was flown in a relative wind of 26 miles per hour or better -- a dangerously high speed. Nonetheless, the brothers decided to chance it. They had come all the way from Dayton, Ohio to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to fly an airplane and they were reluctant to return to Dayton without at least trying.

So just before they left to go back home, they made about a dozen glides. Wilbur insisted on being the pilot for all the flights -- he didn't want to put his younger brother Orville in harm's way. Orville and a local man, Dan Tate, helped launch the glider and then ran alongside the glider as it flew just a few feet off the ground to catch Wilbur if he got in trouble.

The results were pretty much what they expected. The 1900 glider was not a good flier because the wings did not produce enough lift. However, with Orv and Dan pulling Will along in the stiff breeze, they were able to make several flights about 200 feet in length.

The actual results of these flights -- in fact, the results of all the tests the Wright brothers made at Kitty Hawk in 1900 -- are mostly lost to us. The Wrights mention the kite tests and the single day of free flights in a few of their letters and articles, but they don't go into any great detail. This has left historians wondering: What was it the Wrights discovered that first year? What was the information or the experience they gleaned that started them on the road to the world's first practical airplane?

Over the last 30 years, scholars have developed a new discipline to fill in the historical record where it is murky. It's called "new archaeology" -- the participants recreate an historical event, attempting to solve the problems that present themselves by using the methods and materials available to the people who lived through it. This discipline doesn't establish what actually happened, but rather suggests what might have happened by shedding light on the experience.

The Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company decided to shed some light on those first important glider fights by recreating the 1900 Glider using the same design and materials as the original. We took this replica to Kitty Hawk and flew it on October 22, 2000 -- precisely 100 years after the Wrights. It was a perfect day for gliding. The wind was blowing a steady 20 miles per hour, with gusts up to 25. The sun was warm and the sand was dry. We flew the glider first as a kite to measure its lift and gauge the effectiveness of its unique controls. We kited a young girl, Katheryn Ecker, aloft, just as Will and Orv kited young Tom Tate. Then we made about twenty free glides, pulling the glider along down the slope of the sand dunes into the wind as the Wrights must have done. Our best flight was 225 feet, about the same as the Wrights reported.

What did we discover? Well, for the first time we established a record of the 1900 Wright glider's performance, both on film and video. Before our archaeological expedition, there was only a single photo of the 1900 glider in flight. And we analyzed our experience, looking for those things that must have interested and inspired the Wrights. In all probability, they were probably as awed by the sight of glider kiting as we were. It was not just an amazing sight but a unique experience. Once we got the hang of kiting, moving the glider was effortless. We would simply pick up the front edge of the glider, let it catch the wind, and float it wherever we wanted it. It would hang there weightless as long as we keep it pointing into the wind. Carrying the glider up a dune was no big deal -- we just let it fly like a kite and it pulled us along like a big, happy dog.

Flying the glider required more effort. With the wind steady at 20 mph, we needed to get it moving at 6 mph into the wind to get our pilot, Dudley Mead, airborne. This was not an easy task in the sand. And our very first efforts were hampered by inexperience and poor coordination of our launch team. The Wrights, unfortunately, left us no owner's manual so we had to learn from scratch. We experimented with pulling and towing the glider in various ways. Gradually our teamwork became more coordinated and we found that two ropes attached to the very base of the front outboard struts worked best. We began to feel as well as see the glider fly as we towed it. By the end of the day, Dudley was making wavering flights that were consistently about 200 feet in length. But the minute we stopped towing him, providing that extra 6 mph he needed to remain in the air, the glider would descend and pancake into the sand.

It felt like we were very, very close to sustained gliding flight. Perhaps that is what hooked the Wright brothers. With just a little more wing surface, we all kept telling ourselves, we would really see some flying. Those few seconds when Dudley was buoyed up on the wind fighting to control pitch and roll were inspiring. We kept launching and flying, launching and flying, trying to make each flight last a little longer than the last. We were loathe to quit when Dudley belly-flopped into the sand for the last time and busted the pitch control beyond what we could fix before the sun went down. Perhaps this experience more than any other in 1900 is what brought the Wright brothers back to Kitty Hawk in 1901 with a bigger glider and higher hopes.

Note: On October 22, 2000, National Public Radio broadcast a short piece by WYSO radio personality Aileen LeBlanc on the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company's expedition to Kitty Hawk. If you'd like to listen to Aileen's 5-minute-long piece, click HERE.

Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company volunteers assemble the 1900 glider in the parking lot of Jockey's Ridge State Park, a few miles south of Kill Devil Hill.	Packing the glider up the sand dune -- we hadn't learned to kite the glider yet and this was still a lot of work.	Our camp atop the sand dune.	The water behind the glider is Kitty Hawk Bay. 100 years earlier, this is where the Wright brothers first arrived at the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Despite the 20 mph wind, the glider did not have to be tied down. We simply placed a bag of lead shot on the front elevator with the glider facing into the wind. The Wrights had a similar experience.	Dudley Mead, a champion hang glider pilot, was our test pilot for this expedition.	Dudley tests the wind in a modern hang glider before trying the 1900 glider replica.	We began by learning how to kite the glider. Holding onto it was like holding onto a gentle but headstrong young dog. It seemed to want to fly higher and higher.
Reeling out the control lines, we begin to fly the glider as a kite.	Compare this with the one photo that exists of the historic 1900 glider in flight.	Once we were confident we could kite the glider safely, we began to test the controls by actuating with ropes from the ground. Here Dudley warps the wings to roll the glider.	Another view of our wing warping test -- the glider is rolling to the right. The controls were effective, but the glider responded more slowly than modern gliders. Photo by Timothy R. Gaffney.
Once we were abslutely certain we could control the glider in the air, we asked young Katheryn Ecker to sit on the "belly bar" of the glider.	Then we kited her a few feet in the air. Her sister (with a wizard mark on her forehead) looks on.	The Wrights did the same for young Tom Tate 100 years previously. Tom, in fact, may have been the first person to fly in a Wright aircraft.	Getting ready to attempt a flight. The person on the nose rope doesn't pull the glider. He's there for safety, to prevent the wind from catching the elevator and flipping the glider backwards.
Beginning a run down the sand dune, into the wind. During the later flights, we found it was easier to begin a run if Dudley started with his legs on the ground, running with the launchers.	The glider begins to lift the pilot and Dudley swings his legs up so he is laying across the "belly board" and the forward spar.	In flight! As Dudley takes over the control, the person on the nose rope ducks out of the way. The glider is flying with the two wing men pulling it along.	There was no such thing as an easy landing. The glider either pancaked into the sand or crashed. Surprising, there were very few broken parts -- the construction proved remarkably strong.
The end of a run, a little over 200 feet from the top of the dune.	Kiting the glider back to the tune of the dune -- it pulls you along.	The glider floats on the wind while the crew discusses it's performance.	The end of the expedition. The crew is exhausted and the glider is in pieces.

Our thanks to the staff of Jockey's Ridge State Park, North Carolina and the people of the Outer Banks for their help and support during this adventure. You guys were just super. If the Wright brothers in 1900 experienced the same hospitality we did in 2000, that alone would have brought them back.

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