Ooops! Wright flight re-enactment comes a cropper

A lot of things in the past have been disputed about who did what first. And what even constitues a true success. I don't think anyone now would dispute that Columbus wasn't the first to the Americas. But what happened because of his voyage is what set things in motion.

I guess some will say this proves American arrogance in proproganda to minimaze non-American accomplishments and stealing the credit, etc.

I don't blame them a bit for their view of the proper celebration of beginning of flight. I don't think it's even the only example of dispute of the Wright brothers claim of first powered flight of an heavier than air craft. It wasn't their first attempt either. They had aborted in September of the same year I believe because of weather.

So there's probably room to celebrate both, even with disagreement of exactly who deserves credit for what.

roger

Of the *flop*. I've been out flying.

But.......
The Flyer had precious little payload to spare. the muslin covering is undoped and therefore not waterproof. If it got caught in a downpour, it may have had too much water in the fabric to get off the ground.

Second, The hp/wt loading was very high by present standards. The difference between stall and max speed was only about 8 knots. It required 12-15 knots of wind to give it enough lift to attain flying speed by the end of that short ramp.

As to Santos-Dumont, fie on him. Although the flight did not occur in front of an advertised audience, the list of innovations included in the Wright machine is very long. These innovations and inventions were all patented by the Wrights and S-D infringed on them. Two of them that made flight possible were 3 axis control and airfoil blades on the propellor. Absent these 2 items, no one was going to fly.

Bo

I saw a program on PBS last night about the construction of the replica. They showed a taxi test that got out of hand when the pilot couldn't slow down. Rather than crash into a ditch he elected to lift off and attempt to clear some trees. Well he made it over the trees fine but when he began a gentle left bank to return to the runway it sideslipped into the woods. He ended up 40 feet in the air with a concussion and a broken arm. I don't know when it was filmed or if it was the same replica used today.