Why do not people fly like birds?This question reflects a long-held dream of the human sky, on the flight.To carry it out, people did his wings and tried to fly, flapping them.Most of these experiments ended in the death of the brave.Let us remember only the ancient legend of Icarus ...
question about flying is very interested and ingenious artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, who studied the structure of birds, their wings.He tried to establish the characteristics of their flight.He even made drawings of the aircraft - a prototype of the modern helicopter.
From the history of the conquest of the sky
first man managed to climb to the clouds in a balloon.It was November 21, 1783.Balloon-air balloon invented by the Montgolfier brothers, two people raised to a height of about 1 km and almost half an hour later they landed safely at a distance of 9 km.
In 1853 D. Keighley built the first simple glider that was able to lift a person into the air.Since airframe continuously improved.However, the range and endurance increased.It was a great achievement, because the glider is heavier than air.But the dream of a free, independent of the will of the winds, controlled by man flight has not yet been realized.
able to achieve only the Wright brothers (1903), creating its first aircraft.Their victory was determined by many factors, including personality traits.
Wright Brothers: A Biography
brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright were born in the US in the family priest.The values of the Protestant Church, at the heart of any success hard work, they have been vaccinated since childhood.That performance has helped them achieve their goals and build the world's first aircraft with the engine.Soon followed, and the star point - the first flight of the Wright brothers.But they had not only higher education, even high school they failed to finish due to life circumstances.Wilbur was injured and could not go to Yale.He had to work in the publishing business Orville.Then came the first invention of the Wright brothers - the printing press of his own design.
In 1892, the brothers opened a shop selling bicycles, in a short time created a repair shop, and later established their release.But all of their free time they have devoted to flying.In the end, it proceeds from the sale of bicycles and gave them money for numerous experiments in the creation of the first aircraft.
Preparations for the first flight: brilliant technique
Brothers seriously interested in the idea of aeronautics.They studied all the available literature at the time of flying, a lot of experimenting.They built several gliders and flying on them, having achieved excellent results.In order to increase the lift of the wing, the endless experiments carried personally created in the wind tunnel.Tested different configurations of the wing and propeller blades.
As a result, they have been made to clarify the formula for determining the lift.
Finally, the lighter gasoline engine with 12 horsepower for the same airplane the Wright brothers have made themselves.As if this is not again remember the great Leonardo, ahead of his time!
first flight of the Wright brothers
In the four years that have elapsed since the beginning of the experiments with kites and gliders, the brothers are ripe for the construction of managed aircraft.The first airplane the Wright brothers called "Flyer".The frame of the aircraft was made of spruce, propeller and was carved out of wood.Weighing in at 283 kg wingspan of the device is 12 m.
Given motor vesivshego 77 kg and is superior in efficiency available while analogues, the first aircraft to its creators cost less than $ 1,000!
first flight of the Wright brothers
Test fundamentally new aircraft was scheduled for December 1903.Both brothers, of course, would be the first.The problem, they decided very simply - flip a coin.Being the world's first pilot Wilbur dropped.But he was not lucky.The airplane was not able to fly, because immediately after takeoff crashed and was injured.
next attempt made already Orville.December 17 with a head wind of 43 km / h, he managed to lift the unit into the air to a height of about 3 meters, and hold 12 seconds.Overcome flight distance was 36.5 m.
this day the brothers took turns made 4 flights.The last of them, when the airplane was piloted by Wilbur, lasted nearly a minute.And the distance was more than 250 meters.
Ironically, the first flight of the Wright brothers did not attract the attention of the public, even though it had witnessed five people.
Was the flight?
The next day, after the flight of only a few small newspapers published reports about it sinned inaccuracies and passed unnoticed.In Dayton, hometown of the first aviators, this sensational event in fact generally go unnoticed.
but more difficult to explain the fact that no one noticed that an airplane "Flyer II" for the next year have already been made 105 flights!The third "Flyer" in which the brothers are also flying around Daytona, again has not received the attention of the masses.
Moreover, in 1906, a newspaper published an article entitled "Flyer or a liar?", Which is to question the achievements of the Wright brothers.
It was the last straw that led to the decision to show the world the ability to manage operations on the machine, which is heavier than air.And in 1908 the Wright brothers' airplane was transported across the Atlantic Ocean.They staged a demonstration flight: Wilbur - in Paris and Orville - in the United States.
Brothers even organized events for the sale of his invention, proved to be quite successful.Besides fame pioneers of aeronautics, they received and material satisfaction.The first flight of the Wright brothers to the public was so convincing that the US government signed a contract with them, in which the budget of the country for 1909 included an article on the supply of aircraft for military use.It involves the production of several tens of airplanes.
first crash
Unfortunately, the first public demonstration flight on an airplane, and marked the first ever aviation disaster.
It happened in September 1908.Orville Wright on "Flyer III", which was installed an additional seat, took off from the military base Fort Myer.As a result, failure of the right engine plane left at the peak level it failed.Passenger - Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge - was killed in a head injury received when hitting the ground.Orville himself escaped with fractures of the hip and ribs.
Despite this, a contract was signed with the military.And to honor the Wright brothers should be noted that it is the only serious accident that has happened to them over the years.
However, in 1909, when a test flight in the suburbs of Paris in the accident killed a French pilot Lefebvre, a student of the Wright brothers.This was the reason why Russia is already ready to sign a contract for the supply of aircraft, abandoned them.
development of aviation
Like many major discoveries of mankind, the planes were first used for military purposes.The first aircraft started to be used in the form of aerial reconnaissance in the First World War.During it, it became clear that the aircraft turned into a formidable force if they have to carry weapons and bombs.
first air ram was also produced during World War I Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov.
After the war, airplanes began to be used for the transport of emergency supplies, first of all mail.Subsequently, there were passenger planes.The end of World War II, and a more relaxed atmosphere in the world have led to flights for travelers.
Eventually the improvement of air transport has deprived many marine works and railway lines.The main advantage of aircraft speed steel, especially with the advent of supersonic aircraft.
Orville Wright, who died at age 77 in 1948, was able to see how the aircraft has been widely used in the world.Wilbur Wright became a victim of typhus in 1912.
first flight of the Wright brothers now occupies a place of honor in the National Air and Space Museum United States.He is better known not as "Flyer I", as well as the "Kitty Hawk" - the title of the place where he first took to the air, and thus opened the era of the conquest of the ocean air.
