Fun Fact week "Taking Flight"
Fun Fact Week: Taking Flight.
This week's theme is “Taking Flight” and explores the history of aviation leading up to the famous KittyHawk Flight of the Wright Brothers. However one key point which will become apparent is during this race there was no set definition of flight and thus several countries such as The US, Brazil, India, and Germany claim to have had the first manned flight (not counting Balloons). Although today’s definition places it squarely in the US’ favor since theirs was the first self-powered flight instead of a modified glider like those of Brazil and Germany.
Fun Fact #459
Wings, and Wheels
29 years after America declared Independence (1805), (6th Baronet) Sir George Caley became infatuated with kites. During his experimentation he invented Cambered wings which create a difference in airflow above and below the wings to generate lift. In doing so he laid out the fundamentals of flight, sparking interest in aviation worldwide.
Yet shortly after this success he abandoned flight altogether, because while trying to use metal rods to build kites he accidently invented the wire wheel. Realizing the possibility of these wheels, he began to experiment in ways to use them and ultimately culminated in the 1817 invention of the Bicycle by Baron Karl Von Drais.
Cross section of a Cambered wing By http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/airfoil/DI2.htm , Public Domain
Fun Fact #460
The Flying Boat
For many years interest in flight was primarily a scientific endeavor, largely ignored until the French Sailor Jean-Marie Le Bris came bursting onto the scene in 1857 with his destroyed glider “La barque ailée (The Flying Boat)” and a broken leg. This caught the interest of the French Military who funded his next Glider “The Albatross” so named because his gliders were designed upon the seagoing albatrosses Jean-Marie had caught during his voyages. The glider would be drawn by galloping horses until he approached a cliff detaching from the horses which scattered to avoid the cliff before the glider sailed right over the edge.
This was a huge ordeal being the first Glider photographed, and made international headlines for being the first glider whose flying arc traveled higher than its start. His glider is best remembered today for turning Aviation from a mere Scientific interest into a public spectacle kicking off the race to fly.
Le Bris' flying machine, photographed by Nadar in 1868 (Obtained from Wikimedia Commons)
Fun Fact #461
Time To Shine
After his success in helping create international Time zones, Samuel Langley became the secretary of the Smithsonian institute. Now with plenty of funding Langley began to investigate Victor Tatin’s 1879 device known as “The Aeroplane” and its steam-powered engine which allowed it to fly. Soon Langley began creating lighter, faster and more efficient engines but failed to find success in flight. His engines would however be widely imitated by other Fly-Hopefuls leading to their unofficial yet widespread distribution. Today Langley is remembered for creating the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory (grandfather organization of Nasa), and coining the term Aerodromes to differentiate gliders from self powered flying machines.
Victor Tatin’s Model Airplane photographed By Uploadalt at the Air and Space Museum in Paris, France
Fun Fact #462
When Talking about Aviation you can't forget Otto Lilenthal whose attempts in Germany greatly altered the course of the race. His tables on Lift and drag were revolutionary, thanks to his over 2,000 successful glides testing different wing designs each time. He is also notable for being the first to think about how to solve the problem of landing, in which his solution was to add a recurve bow to the front of his craft absorbing much of the impact on particularly bad attempts. His most successful design was his No. 11 which could be steered by adjusting the tailfin in flight. He actually sold 8 copies of it too until he fatally crashed the original in 1895.
Unfortunately his legacy would be harming the world of aviation, as his tables actually were flawed and his success led to many people fatally trusting their lives on his work. Post death many pulp fiction writers wrote fictional works of his exploits from battling aliens, but my favorite is a short story of Lilenthal faking his death to dodge suspicion after he gets hired to be Stana’s Sleigh mechanic at the north pole.
Otto Linlenthal on the cover of a French Pulp-Fiction Magazine
Fun Fact #463
WarKites
After his Father’s death in 1885, Lawerence Hargrave returned to his Father’s home in New South Wales, Australia and used the considerable inheritance to turn his father’s Observatory into a laboratory. Here he would invent the Box kite which could lift a fair amount of weight allowing him to invent “Manlift kites” in 1893 utilizing 4 large box kites and a sling-seat to lift him 16 feet into the air.
This invention was then followed up on by Cowboy Samuel Franklin Cody from Davenport Iowa, who was taught how to build and fly kites by a chinese cook while working as a gunman for Forepaugh’s traveling Wild West Show. His modification of the boxkite included cambered wings to generate lift and be able to somewhat steer in flight by pulling in sections of the wings using a marionette controller. He also was the first person to take exhibition shooting into the skies.
Sameuel’s CodyKite wound up being used by militaries in early WW1 to get aerial reconnaissance. The standard boxkite too was used until the invention of cellphones as a way to raise an emergency transmitter and signal for help. Today there are still design competitions for box and Kody kites by the American Kite Fliers Association (A.K.A.) with categories for Highest fight, most unusual design, smallest and Largest Kites, and Battle kites (essentially unmanned aerial demolition derbies).
Image of a 2 man Cody Kite in 1913
Just for fun, here is a link to the Boy Scout’s page on how to build and Fly box kites. https://scoutlife.org/hobbies-projects/projects/53339/build-and-fly-a-box-kite/
Fun Fact # 464
Getting it Wright
Upon learning about the death of Otto Lilenthal the Wright brothers wanted to get into manned flight but decided that they needed to learn to control Gliders before tackling motorized flight. Their Early gliders experimented with cambered wings in a format similar to that of the Box kite with Edison’s triangular wire supports and at first used horses to pull them to speed, before moving onto motorized flight modifying some of Langley’s designs. Eventually they achieved flight at Kittyhawk on December 17th 1903 –becoming the first Aviators to achieve a self powered and sustained flight.
While Wilbur and Orville are well known for their machine, there was a third undersung engineer, their sister Kathrine. She was the one who gathered much of the research they used, interpreted the data they gathered, and acted as a sounding board for their ideas. It was actually Kathrine who realized Lilenthal’s tables were wrong, likely saving her brother’s lives. She also was responsible for hiring Ida Holdgrave who sewed the canvas for the wings. Later when their plane became famous she handled the correspondence in Dayton Ohio and –at her request– got to be the one to go tour to Europe talking with governments about the potential uses of their design.
Kathrine and her brother Orville about to go for Kathrine’s first flight in Pau, France By Oberlin - http://www.oberlin.edu/news-info/03dec/katharineWright.html , Public Domain
I do hope you all have enjoyed this week’s theme “Taking flight”. I tried to limit it to only the fliers which directly impacted the Wright brothers, but there are many more flying stories which might interest you if you get curious. However, a word of warning is that this was also an exciting topic during the heyday of Pulp fiction, so be careful what you read, since many stories exist –especially in French. Thankfully most of those are obviously fictional with attacks by Atlantis, Flying Chariots, and cutting the string which holds the moon in orbit so it crashes and leaves Australia as the last great bastion of civilization.
In any case I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
