by Brian Miller

As everyone knows, the Wright brothers operated a bicycle shop in Dayton Ohio; this was lucrative enough to fund their interest in aeronautics. Their emphasis was on control of the aircraft. They developed the idea of three axis maneuvering.

In 1896, they began their experimentation in earnest. They started by testing Otto Lillienthals formulas for lift and drag, then moved on to using a wind tunnel when they discovered these formulas were in error. They developed and tested many wing configurations, devising experimental tables relating to lift and drag.

Although mankind has had spectacularly poor track record emulating the flight of creatures, one of their innovations was based on observing birds. Wilbur theorized that control of the plane could be effected, like a bird, by twisting the ends of the flight surfaces, or warping the wings. This, combined with the idea of banking into turns (inspired by their work with bicycles) allowed them to develop a workable method for controlling a flying machine.

By 1900 the brothers had started going to Kill Devil Hill in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to perfomr large scale experiments. This provided seclusion; the race for powered flight was becoming competitive. Their visits were limmited to vacations; in the end, they bascially developed flight on their spare time.

In 1900 and 1901, they were flying large scale gliders to test the basic vehicle design. In 1902, they started flying their design as an unpowered glider.

Finally, In December of 1903, Orville flew the first powered flight 120 feet. Three more flights were flown that doay, eventualy ending when the Flyer was damaged on the last landing.

The kit is built from a Guillows all-wood kit in 1:20 scale. The wings are covered in stretched fabric, airbrushed to appear as linen. A visit to the EAA Flight museum in Oshkosh provided further details from a replica of the Flyer, that were handy in duplicating the rigging.

Arguably the first men to break the surly bonds of gravity, the Wright Brothers set mankinds’ first tentative steps on the path that has led to the Moon and to the imaginative scale modeling that populates this web site. Heroes, indeed.

Image: Left/front

Image: Right/front

Image: Beauty