The first airplane

Hell, little old NZ lays claim to Richard Pearse making the first flight in early 1903. MAYBE? Its all a little academic.

 

It's official: Conn. approves bill writing Wright Brothers out of history
That's the message from Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who announced Wednesday that he had signed into law a measure insisting that Bridgeport resident Gustave Whitehead flew in 1901 -- two years before Wilbur and Orville Wright lifted off from Kitty Hawk, N.C.
It's official: Conn. approves bill writing Wright Brothers out of history | Fox News

Connecticut lawmakers write Wright Brothers out of history as ‘first in flight’
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed the bill into law that names Gustave Whitehead as the first person to fly a powered airplane. The historic change is the result of newly discovered photos by aviation historian John Brown.
Connecticut lawmakers write Wright Brothers out of history as ?first in flight? - NY Daily News

 

Yet there are no pictures in the article of the machine in flight.

 

There is significant disagreement as well. Some goofy bill signed in Connecticut hardly makes it history.

There are differences of opinion on many inventions and many occurrences in history and we need more than someone's proclamation to round up all the history books and reprint them.

 

I should also add that this particular debate has gained and lost favor like sand at the beach but in over 100 years of arguing the Wright Brothers are still the officially recognized first.


Historians have long said Wyatt Earp is remembered as a hero of the old west rather than one of its scoundrels only because he lived the longest and his story was told last and longest.

History is a funny thing and the victor usually wins the right to have his tale told.

 

From what I can see of his machine, it appears to be a powered glider with no lateral or directional control. The wing planform is a straight across copy of Otto Lilienthal's glider. Before Lillienthal was killed he was working with an Englishman named Pilcher who had perfected a small gas engine and prop to power Lillienthal's glider, so there were several inventions that were getting close. The Wright Brothers were the first to demonstrate sustained controllable powered flight after leaving terror firmer.

 

There is more to inventing something than just having the wishful idea that you WANT to do it. Look at Langley and the Smithsonian Institute.

The Wright Brothers actually DID it, and they did so pretty much on their own.

 

Neither do flying saucers and they do just fine.

 

But they almost always get shot down in the movies - (except for "The Day the Earth Stood Still")

 

Or their head blows up from Slim Whitman music.

 

Yeah, with gyroscopic precession...whatever that is.

 

Well Bob, you see there was once this guy named Rube Goldberg. He was from San Francisco by the way.......

 

Jim- Most of the early WW-1 aircraft were wing warpers, all the way up to the Fokker Eindeckers and follow-on Fokker D.IIIs in 1916. Quickly went away for obvious reasons, but the Eindeckers wreaked havoc on the Entente air forces because it was the first aircraft with a synchronized machine gun firing through the propeller arc. Not a great airplane, but the MG made up for that.

 

Have you ever read about the special Eindecker that Tony Fokker built for Max Immelmann?

 

Brian- Immelmann used a Fokker E.IV with a double row Oberursel/Gnome 160 hp engine that had three machine guns at one point, if that is the one you mean. The 3 MG set-up was pretty much a failure and they reverted to 2 MGs, which was still twice as many as the E.I-E.III series. As a wing warper, the Eindeckers and follow on D.I-D.III series were poor aircraft with excellent armament and expert pilots. That made them pretty effective against the poor performing observation aircraft.

Immelmann was killed in an Eindecker after either structural failure of the welded steel tube fuselage or a failed synchronizer mechanism that shot off the prop and induced vibrations leading to the structural failure. Nobody is sure which. Tony Fokker had a lot of political pull, so the real story was often covered up. Caught up with him on the Fokker Dr.I wing failures, but his later designs were so superior it never slowed orders for the D.VII, even with E.V/D.VIII wing failures.

 

Has this thread gone off topic?

Just asking,

James

 

I don't think so. Aren't we talking about hydraulic systems?
Just kidding. I still think that Whitehead's airplane would uncontrollable even with a rudder that is shown in some contemporary photos. With all that dihedral an application of rudder would produce a healthy roll that would continue into a spiral unless it was stopped with aileron..

 

James- Early aircraft, wing warpers, all similar topics.

 

And he built his own engine: Bill Sherwood's tribute to Richard Pearse

But he was a bit of a nutter ...
Pete