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17 On Jan 30, 2009 09:00:10 PM  E.P. Grondine  wrote: 

Hi Wayne -

Otto Lilienthal.

Building a successful heavier than air machine required the assets of his personal fortune, and 20 years of research. Lilienthal solved the stability problem with dihedral. The solution to skid was right there.

In the US, Chanute in Chicago, Illinois took over from Lilienthal, and the Wrights learned from him. John Montgomery, inventor of the dry cell battery, was at Santa Clara California, joined there by Thomas Scott Baldwin of Quincy, Illinois, who had developed the parachute and developed the first US dirigible.Alexander Graham Bell and Glenn Curtiss (and then Thomas Scott Baldwin) worked at Hammondsport. For skid control, the Wright's wing warping was dropped in favor of Curtiss's ailerons. Where Curtiss got them from is a good question.

And then there was Etrich, and his design based on a maple seed airfoil flew practically and commercially for over a decade. The Model T of aircraft.

And Voison. And Alberto.

The point: developing an airplane required a personal fortune.

Developing a rocket or space system requires a whole lot more money,
amounts well beyond the individual, unless one is very, very, very, very wealthy (think SpaceX).

The systems are more complex.

16 On Jan 08, 2009 07:44:43 AM  Guy-Chrsitopher Coppel  wrote: 

Dear Wayne,

Great post about the Wright brothers and their contrubution, analysis of the time vs human determination...

I would like to bring to your attention a possibly overlooked aspect of the Wright Brothers adventure that I myself discovered very recently.

For many sad reasons I had the good luck to escape a homeless situation by being sheltered by some good souls in Le Mans, france, the very place that holds the world famous 24 h car race every year.

I really do not like france. Really. I was grateful to have a room, friends who care for me, who would help me hold on until I would have a chance to get back to the US but I was very sad to be so far away from Houston, JSC, NASA people... I thought Le Mans was the place further away from everything I devoted the last 10 years of my life at NASA...Until I walk downtown.


There is a huge plazza with a nice statue of George Washington, but somehow every town in Europe does have eitheir Washington or Kennedy to honor this country great people, sometime both but nothing out of the "ordinary" until I bumped into a huge statue of Wilbur Wright.

I mean huge, something like a 8 meters high block of white stone all tribute to the great inventor and its invention...Well, well, well...Soon, I will learn that the adventures of Wilbur in Le Mans, was quite a defining moment in his life and in aviation history actually and Le Mans was about to celebrate the 100 th anniversary of this event...

Here is the story :


At the turn of the previous century, a Le Mans genius inventor, by the name of Leon Boll�e who expressed his talents in things as different as buiding type writters, calculators,the first commercial steam powered car, incredible windmills that look like a Jules Vern inventions, steam engines and gasoline cars (on inflatable tires please...yep, that was a first) became quite famous around the new industrial world that was spreading accross the little blue planet in the early 1900's.

Curious minds being attracted to one another, the Wright brothers corresponded with Leon Bollee for a while and he invited them after they expressed the will to cross the pond in trying to get Governements, industry, finally interested in their invention.

They just got the news that the US Army was "not interested" in their new device, so they gave it a try and came to the old continent. Wilbur very upset by this answer from the US Army, and supported in his "European tour" by a wealthy admirer came to Le Mans, with his "Flyer" packed in cases. The engine was damaged in the process, Boll�e and his connections helped him get it fixed.

He managed to provide Wilbur with venues, sheltered him in his factory, providing with a hangar, a shop, teams and all the trimmings...he found a place, actually two fields (one is the actual car racing loop where the Le Mans 24 h is disputed) where they could fly the plane, arranged for all logistics and promotions of their incredible flying machine, beside providing them with its best technical support. It was 1908. Five years after the inaugural flight.

Le Mans stays today as the world first public showing of the brothers invention which took place in June 1908. This was a tremendous public success as it is estimated than more than 200 000 registered people came to see the plane. The town of Le Mans in 1908 was less than 60 000 strong. The impact was tremendous.

The town celebrated the 100th anniversary this year putting together a series of events including a couple of conferences with NASA/ESA/RSK astronauts around the ISS... the departure of the world famous car race in the Le Mans race "circuit" was given by the astronauts on board the Station...the race circuit being today built on the the very place where Wilbur and Orville flew their plane in le Mans.

The grand daughter of Orville came this year to meet the descendants of Leon Bollee in a very emotional meeting and series of events. See here...unfortunatly not everything is in English, but it will give you some ideas. There is an exhibit 5 minutes from wher I am typing this post wher the engine Wilbur flew in Le MAns is exhibited. Very emotional piece, surrounded by pictures of the time.

http://www.lemans-sarthe-wright.com/pages/documentation.php?lang=eng

The town did celebrate the flying heroes who through their tour in Europe came back many times to Le Mans between two air shows. So there is a special bond with the Wright brothers in here. Today, thanks to a rich Ohio donator there is a very unique Le Mans monument, right in the middle of the town, who is an allegoric flying spirit dedicated to Wilbur. On each sides on the basement of the statue are the precursors of human flights from Icarus to Wilbur and Orville, the list of those who died in trying to fly... etc...


Here is one picture of the Wilbur's statue, here celebrated with flags during the WW 1 ceremonies in Nov each year.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Le_Mans-Liberation.jpg

Here a picture of local fans who actually rebuilded a flying copy of the Wright Bros original "Flyer"....and it flies! (scroll down to find it)
http://www.mge-dairon.com/news.php?DateChoisie=1101855600&langue=en

Here is the NASA page where Le Mans records were mentionned. Wilbur actually beat or established all his records in Le Mans tests flights in 1908. As for my own mistake, it is Orville and not him who sat for 28 years at the NACA board, Wilbur died unfortunatly just 4 years after his visit to Le Mans of typhoid fever... ( what a shame!).

http://images.google.fr/imgres?imgurl=http://wright.nasa.gov/source/wilburlemans.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wright.nasa.gov/wilbur.htm&usg=__Ae3lZGTHKv066wlpVEhpqLmpXtQ=&h=264&w=278&sz=13&hl=fr&start=18&um=1&tbnid=jqwdkfwSQk0sYM:&tbnh=108&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstatue%2Bde%2Bwilbur%2BWright%2Ba%2B%2BLe%2BMans%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dfr%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:fr:official%26hs%3DBiM%26sa%3DN


Here is why coming to Le Mans, on an invitation from Leon Bollee, with the money of some rich Americans who believed in their projects after the US Army said to them they were "not interested" in planes, the Wright brothers finally meet the right people that would on both sides of the ocean made their invention one of the most critical of all times. But that was not a given.

It is reasonnable to say that it is in Le Mans that the whole aviation industry prospects became a unevitable reality for all to see (the first world war was brewing, and Farman was guetting close to fly, at least in the mind of the french),that critical contact were made as well as where started the chain reaction that would lead to what we know today and that all the reluctant officials and military pundits from both US and france would be once more ridiculed by their lack of vision and arrogance.

Only the war approaching will give them a chance to slowly accept a concept that would have made them irrelevant in all fairness in front of the grand jury of History. But that is another story....

"We are not interested"...!!!!!!! they said.
How many times have we heard that.

It also resonated with my personal situation and I drew from Wilbur's lesson some hope that time will come for those who work hard and keep doing what they think is right. The hell with the ney sayers, and those who are "not interested". Expect for me to land back in Houston one day...


http://images.google.fr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.first-to-fly.com/History%2520Images/1906-1909/1909%2520Wilbur%2520over%2520Le%2520Mans.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.first-to-fly.com/History/Wright%2520Story/showingworld.htm&usg=__4hbkBqnXedj5h9SmfN9in-eqpWg=&h=442&w=640&sz=71&hl=fr&start=30&um=1&tbnid=lb1wlbZOcZoj_M:&tbnh=95&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstatue%2Bde%2Bwilbur%2BWright%2Ba%2B%2BLe%2BMans%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dfr%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:fr:official%26sa%3DN

I never go downtown ( 20 minutes walk from where I am waiting today to go back to Houston when possible) without paying a visit to Wilbur. He is even more impressive at night. If I can manage I will make some pictures of mine.


"Et voila" how one of the greatest inventors of all times can gice you a "lift" when you think you ended in the end of the world,nearly half way around the worldf from where you want to be! You can always count on Wilbur. And it is good to know that whate ver is the circu,stances, the favorable or not so favorable wind, if the machine is indispensable, you, the pilot make the difference, and if Wilbur and Orville invented anything, it is how to pilot a flying device.





GC

15 On Dec 25, 2008 08:43:18 PM  rev mommy  wrote: 

My family and I were at Kitty Hawk on the Centennial -- what wonderfully creative people they were. However, they were not limited by what had already been done; they were not afraid of sacred cows. It was a spirit of adventure, of exploration that launched the original Flyer.

I've read Crouch's wonderful book -- and to read also the letters gives a real feel for them.

I'm such a Wright geek that I've named my girls Katharine and Loren (Lauren) after two Wright siblings.

Blessing this Christmas season.

14 On Dec 25, 2008 09:46:04 PM  Steve Campbell  wrote: 

Mr. Hale,

I am sure you are aware of the new NASA CRS awards. You may not remember me, but I sat beside you at the Lunar and Planetary Science convention, in March 2008, while the subject of NASA launch capability was discussed. (I actually did not recognize you until later)

I remember that I expressed confidence in two companies that might have the capability to provide launch services for the space station and beyond.

You were a bit skeptical, as befits a good engineer. However, I now claim friendly rights to an "I told you so". Those two companies were SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, the winners of the CRS contracts!

Best Wishes,
Steve Campbell
Houston

13 On Dec 26, 2008 08:56:00 PM  Paul Coleman  wrote: 

The moon missions changed my life forever when I was a kid. I remember watching in awe with my dad. And exploring space inspires me to work harder, take risks, dream big. I want to see footprints on Mars!

About Me

12 On Dec 27, 2008 02:50:37 AM  guest  wrote: 

born during the korean war in 1950, i've watched it come to pass.
the moon was cheese for awhile. so much secret stuff goes on.
for good reason i assume. glasnost and perstroika are nice
to have. finally the international space station.
simply amazing. its quite an international effort.
as it was in 1903 also. what if? edited by robert cowley
is a rap by historians of what might have been in the long
weave of the past, as it extends to the future. what if?
we had not flown into space at all? what if there were no
sun, no moon, no stars, would we have ever been?
and j.gottIII's book, physical possiblities of time
travel in einsteins' universe, published in 2001.
and i recall with poignancy, my old classmate
at portola junior high school in 1963, jeff ziff,
who at 12 years of age, was designing rocket and
satellite systems for north american rockwell for pay
and fun. so many geniuses. i was his class leader
in physical education. so he'd be more well rounded.
we all went from 0 pull ups to 20 pull ups in 20 weeks.
following all the space cadets and their training
over the years was more than just fun. the effort
put forth is most commendable. yay sandra magnus,
descendant of st. albert magnus who believed science
and religion must co-exist. he was quite a philosopher
and scientist as well as a doctor of the church and bishop.
nathan hale, alan hale, and the hale telescope. hail hale.

11 On Dec 26, 2008 10:39:21 PM  Bob Mahoney  wrote: 

Uhhh...Dave H.: The rudder on the Wright Flyer WAS aft. Only the elevator was forward. Hence the history of the term "canard" (derived from the French) for forward-placed elevator control surfaces like on the XB-70 and the X-29. The French didn't believe the original reports that the Wrights had achieved flight, so they called it a duck (canard)...colloquial French for a bit of blarney.

While I don't view your historical "what-if" as plausible, I do agree with your disagreeing with Mr. Hale regarding circumstances driving history...to a point. Apollo very much happened because of the political and societal circumstances surrounding it, but one should always keep in mind that certain people with vision (e.g., Dr. von Braun) did their part to help shape those surrounding circumstances. The country was ready to accept Apollo as a possible and worthwhile enterprise in part because of his specific efforts that created hardware and promoted the viability and value of space flight. History makes people and people make history...the two are inevitably intertwined, and Mr. Hale is very right about our individual obligation to step up to the task that is before us today, now.

Perhaps Tolkien offered the greatest wisdom on this rather deep, timeless matter of personal responsibility toward history: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

10 On Dec 19, 2008 01:00:57 PM  James Lundblad  wrote: 

We must return to the Moon and go on to Mars, Titan too! We must because of what we will learn by solving the problems of going there. The technology and economic stagnation that would result from not going are too frightening to contemplate.

9 On Dec 19, 2008 07:00:15 PM  Social  wrote: 

I have been reading your blog for a long time now. And, for sure, I will continue to read in the future. Thanks for the advice.

8 On Dec 19, 2008 09:30:43 PM  Dave H.  wrote: 

I cut out an article about a book about the Wright Brothers that appeared in the Post-Gazette five years ago. For some reason, the college-educated crowd was attempting to paint the brothers as uneducated and lucky, since only their sister had attended college. As the book revealed, they possessed the ability to dissect complex problems into their simplest forms, and were in fact meticulous note-takers.
The book notes that they began making real progress after reading the writings of one Daniel Bernoulli, and began applying his principles to wing design.
Thusly encouraged, they then proceeded to apply their newly found knowledge to propeller design. The rest, as they say, is history.

It's a twist of fate that boats and aircraft are best controlled from the rear of the vehicle. Try that on land, and you'll crash after oscillating from side to side. That's why you don't see fork lifts on the highways. The Wrights didn't know enough to place the rudder and elevators at the rear of their craft, and as a result created a machine which very few could fly well. Being from Dayton, I suspect that they had very little exposure to small, powered boats. Even during the TV specials detailing the attempt to re-create the flight showed the chosen pilot, who was commercial-jet rated, struggling to unlearn every flight technique she'd ever learned.

What they DID understand well was the steering technique used by bicyclists and motorcyclists, and as a result they placed the rudder at the front. It works well on bicycles, but not on boats. Or aircraft.

The Wright Brothers weren't "uneducated" nor were they "lucky". Their results were the culmination of years of effort and hard-won research, all done without the money Langley had at his disposal.

"But one argument that they have advanced is nonsense. The argument that Apollo was successful and could have only happened because of the historical influences of the times, and since the times and world events are different, the successor to Apollo cannot happen today."

I would disagree with you here. The only reason Apollo succeeded was because Nixon, the third president since 1960, decided to complete the program begun by his political rival. He could have just said "no", and allowed the program to die. After all, did the Soviets ever send a manned craft around the Moon? He could have taken the risk that if they did land, it wouldn't be during his presidency. He could've called the space program "nonsense", and diverted everything into the military.

Sorry about being long-winded, but history takes place one second at a time.

7 On Dec 20, 2008 10:17:30 PM  Virgil H. Soule  wrote: 

The Wrights were the first to develop the airplane as a complete package. In the 1903 Flyer, they had a strong, wire-braced structure, a workable propulsion system, adequate aerodynamics, stability, and - most important - controllability. The '03 Flyer wsn't a finished product by any means but it showed them they were on the right track.

Earlier inventors had built machines that made short hops but couldn't turn. Langley's Aerodrome eventually flew successfully but only after modifications were incorporated to make it controllable. The convincer in the Wright's public flight demonstrations was that their aeroplane not only flew but also could turn around and return to its takeoff point.

One major problem with NASA's space enterprises is that they require political will for support. After Langley's initial (public) failures, the Congress in its wisdom cut off his funding. Langley would eventually have succeeded but he pinned his hopes on the wrong funding source. The Wrights were free to fail. NASA is not. Political support for a return to the Moon is shaky now. Getting the Congress to allocate a trillion (2020) dollars to go on to Mars may be a hard sell. It could well be that private enterprise will eventually take us to the Moon and NASA will fall by the wayside.

6 On Dec 20, 2008 01:07:58 PM  Virgil H. Soule  wrote: 

The Wrights were the first to develop the airplane as a complete package. In the 1903 Flyer, they had a strong, wire-braced structure, a workable propulsion system, adequate aerodynamics, stability, and - most important - controllability. The '03 Flyer wsn't a finished product by any means but it showed them that they were on the right track.

Earlier inventors had built machines that made short hops but couldn't turn. Langley's Aerodrome eventually flew successfully but only after modifications were incorporated to make it controllable. The convincer in the Wright's public flight demonstrations was that their aeroplane not only flew but also could turn around and return to its takeoff point.

One major problem with NASA's space enterprises is that they require political will for support. After Langley's initial (public) failures, the Congress in its wisdom cut off his funding. Langley would eventually have succeeded but he pinned his hopes on the wrong funding source. The Wrights were free to fail. NASA is not. Political support for a return to the Moon is shaky now. Getting the Congress to allocate a trillion (2020) dollars to go on to Mars may be a hard sell. It could well be that private enterprise will eventually take us to the Moon and NASA will fall by the wayside.

5 On Dec 19, 2008 07:27:00 PM  guest  wrote: 

I think it is wonderful... and I don't think it matters who exactly at a precise time beat out anybody else -- the accomplishment and methods and madness are untouched! I whole-heartedly agree --- the path that works is not always the one with the popular vote, the circumstances always seem ironic in retrospect.... and I don't believe it can realistically be said that further space exploration is "unrealistic" rather, it is imperative. Whether or not we humans wreck our planet, or it comes to its own demise, or if we save it - we MUST explore because as human beings, we ARE discoverers, inventors, pioneers and most of all explorers. We MUST go.... and continuing to push forward and take steps, no matter how small, is the only way to get there....

4 On Dec 19, 2008 09:54:39 AM  charlie  wrote: 

The inscription that wraps-around the Wright Brothers Memorial located atop Kill Devil Hill reads:

IN COMMEMORATION OF THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR BY THE BROTHERS WILBUR AND ORVILLE WRIGHT CONCEIVED BY GENIUS ACHIEVED BY DAUNTLESS RESOLUTION AND UNCONQUERABLE FAITH

And at the end of the 1903 flight trials, the Wright brothers had actually built two purposely unstable aircraft with adequate controls to allow a human to manage instability; the 1902 'Glider', where rudder control was mechanically incorporated with 'wing-warping', and the 1093 'Flyer'. When the brothers discovered how to incorporate rudder and aileron control as 'one' into the Glider, they solved their most frustrating and vexing problem - known then as 'skidding'. The first rudder was fixed in position on their aircraft, and it did not perform as they had expected. Yaw control did not exist with the fixed rudder. When yaw and roll control was coupled, their glider flight successes improved dramatically. Dramatically enough that they decided that 1903 would be the year to attempt powered flight.

It would have been sheer luck if they had been 'fooling around' with ideas, but I tend to think a moment of 'genius' occured in 1902......

3 On Dec 18, 2008 09:28:52 PM  guest  wrote: 

There was no income tax in 1903 & the Wilbur brothers did it on their own, without orders from people with no idea about human rating.

In 1969, income tax was 92% & it could only be done with populous approval.

Today we're half way on the taxes but with massive inflation on the way. The circumstances don't affect whether it can be done but will affect where it's done.

2 On Dec 18, 2008 07:48:47 PM  Mike Hilton  wrote: 

Mr. Hale:

Excellent observations! The problem I have with convincing others of the "need" for human exploration of space is that those that don't see the need, typically are not moved by the "romance" of the endeavor. Not only can they not see over the horizon, they have no curiosity of what lies beyond.

1 On Dec 18, 2008 04:07:31 PM  guestwork  wrote: 

"None of these claims hold up under scrutiny however."

Au contraire. Quite a few do, and very plausibly at that. Most (or all) others just lack the level of documentation on film that the Wright flight enjoys.

The fact of the matter is that it's easy to get into silly definition games of who flew when exactly how exactly and for how long exactly, and who thus "deserves" which particular recognition the most. I don't know, maybe this idea of importance of a "first" accomplishment, of having some hero to look up to or to identify with, is a particular American thing, a matter of fueled by patriotism perhaps. Or maybe it isn't. But the "Seconds" and their follow-ons are obviously too quickly forgotten, while they were no less daring, courageous, inventive, pioneering, dreaming than the "Firsts" that go down in history.

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