Let's see whom here knows the answer to this question. What was the first heavier than air "airplane" that took off, went airborne and landed safely using its own power?
he almost did it, but his "machine" never achieved enough lift to actually be airborne, and was actually connected to a track....
Many balloons and gliders were flown before the one I am referring to flew, including the motorized Wright Flyer in 1903. However, according to the French Bureau of Flight , at the time the world's authority in flight recordings, the Wright Flyer was not the first "heavier than air" powered aircraft that was able to roll from a standing still spot, gain speed and take off, get airlifted and execute a controlled flight, and safe landing. The aircraft that did this, and was Certified as such executed this flight in 1906. Who was the builder and pilot, and what was the name of the plane?
Santos-Dumont A very odd looking box kite kind of thing and I don't think it flew nearly as well as the Wright Flyer III that was flying at the time but it did take off under it's own power. I just cheated and looked it up. The 14-bis.
Otto Lilienthal. Well he was not an airplane but he was the first one to take off,fly and land a glider.
You are correct! 14-Bis is the plane name. Alberto Santos Dumont.....a.k.a. "The father of aviation" as he is known in Brazil was officially recognized by the French Aviation Authority at the time as being the builder and pilot of the first airplane with a motor and wheels, which used a throttle to accelerate get airborne, fly and land safely. The Wright brother's Flyer did the same 3 years earlier but it was "catapulted" forward thus, it did not use its engine alone to get airborne. Most photos of the Flyer omits the rail and catapult used on their first flight. They were all pioneers! thanks.
I know whichever was the first one it was very tricky and hard to fly, whoever did it had balls of steel and great intiutive skills.
Hadn't heard of it but this video I found made my day. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x9uldy9C_w]First Airplane Flight - Santos Dumont 14 Bis. - YouTube[/ame]
Well, I was thinking of Santos Dumont but in my mind you said, A frenchman," and Dumont was a Brazilian. I don't recall that his machine had lateral control or a true airfoil.
As I recall reading about the genesis of aviation many years ago that it flew like a real piece of crap. The Wright Flyer III would quite literally fly circles around it but the Ohio boys were still using a catapult for launch. In some minds that didn't pass the test for a real airplane in the same sense that the X15 does not rate some records because it was not ground launched. By the time Dumont got airborne the Wrights were doing some pretty impressive flying. The Wrights were building wind tunnels and studying airfoils. They needed a partner with powerplant knowledge. Almost had one in Glenn Curtis.
As I recall his contraption actually did lift off and broke the track that was holding it down. The kicker was it was not designed to be stable or controllable in free flight. Hiram Maxim - Ask.com Encyclopedia
Bob, the front 'canard' box kite-like thing was movable, like a front rudder and elevator. That's where the name canard came from ("duck" in French). It had no wing warping (like the Wrights) or ailerons, though, so it sort of skidded. I also read that it never really landed... it ALWAYS broke (crashed?) when it came down and had to be rebuilt to fly again.
Do we have hear a case of the classic historical revisionism? That is - find some far-fetched reason why the Wrights did not invent the powered airplane? There were many attempts, but only the Wrights mastered controlled and sustained flight before all others.
Well that is the crux of the issue. Yes, the Wrights were the first to achieve controlled and sustained powered flight. However they did not invent the airplane. The patent which was issued to them blatantly disregarded prior art. Were it not for others disregarding the patent, e.g. Curtis, the USA would have been flying airplanes with wing warping in WWI.
The Wrights deliberately delayed submitting a patent, and tried not to fly when the press was in attendance. They were afraid that someone would copy the plane.
Gustav Weisskopf actually flew his plane a few months prior to the Wright brothers. But being a German his PR machine was not as good.
They did certainly not invent it. Their only success was that their first flight became the first motor flight on record.
