Today 99 years ago, the plane built by the Wright brothers took off. To mark the centenary of the first flight in history, a replica of the plane was built with the help of thousands of students from schools in the United States. Another replica that will be completed in about a year should also fly
Moshe Gilad
December 17, 1903 Orville Wright takes off in the airplane he built with Achiwilbur (right), in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A celebratory flyover of 99 civilian and military aircraft in the region will mark the beginning of the events of the centenary year
Exactly 99 years ago, on December 17, 1903, a man flew for the first time in a motorized aircraft. Orville Wright, 32 years old from Dayton, Ohio, took off in the plane he built with his brother Wilbur. He stayed in the air for 12 seconds and landed 36 meters from the take-off point. During the coming year, the United States will mark the centenary of the invention of the airplane.
The events will culminate in a year, but several projects are already underway, mostly educational, designed to mark that rainy morning near the small town of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where the brothers' plane took off.
In a poll conducted some time ago by "USA Today", readers were asked what were the four biggest press stories of the 20th century. In first place was the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, in second place was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in third place was the landing on the moon, And in fourth place - the invention of the airplane. A conspicuous fact is that the three events ranked in the first places would not have happened at all if the Wright brothers had not invented the motorized airplane, which only came in fourth place on the list.
tiny distance
In the United States, the Wright brothers are known and loved, mainly because their development is one of the first technological inventions that is entirely American. The events to commemorate their flight will be concentrated in three locations: at the site where the first flight took place in North Carolina; in Dayton, Ohio, home of the Wright brothers; And in Washington, the capital, where the American Aviation Museum is located. Three organizations are behind a large part of the events of the centenary year. The oldest among them is the First Flight Association - an organization established 75 years ago to preserve the legacy of the Wright Brothers and promote the development of American aviation. Every year on December 17, the association commemorates the first flight of the brothers at the memorial site established in the Kill Devil Mountains in North Carolina, near the point in Kitty Hawk from which the brothers took off for the first flights. The monument is part of a national park declared in the entire area. This year, a celebratory flight of 99 civilian and military aircraft will mark the beginning of the centenary events there. Several historic airplanes from the beginning of aviation will participate in the flight, and in many of them students from the XNUMXth grades will sit in the co-pilot's seat. Later in the day, the association will hold a festive lunch, and in the evening it will hold its annual ball.
Most of the events of the centennial year are organized by a council that was established by the American government especially for this purpose about two years ago. The First Flight Centennial Council has initiated several exhibits on this topic, which travel between schools in the United States. They deal with the history of aviation, the technological inventions and developments that made it possible for man to fly in aircraft heavier than air, and the future of aviation in the 21st century. One of these exhibitions will open today in Dayton, Ohio, and will display a replica of the Wright brothers' plane, built with the help of thousands of students from around the world the alliance Different schools were tasked with creating parts of the plane, which were sent to Dayton and assembled there into a single unit by restoration experts. To build the parts of the replica, the students were given precise instructions: which part they should build, its dimensions, and the materials used by the Wright brothers when they began building the airplane more than 100 years ago in their bicycle workshop in Dayton.
In Washington, the council will inaugurate the events of the coming year in a festive gathering in which many of the prominent figures in the history of American aviation and space exploration will participate. Movie actor John Travolta, who hosted the event, has been known for many years as an avid pilot. He often said that all the salary he received from the first films he made he invested in courses to learn to fly. Today he has a private plane, and he spends a lot of time flying and promoting the love of aviation throughout the United States.
The third organization that deals with the commemoration of the Wright brothers is called the "Wright Brothers Airplane Project". The volunteer organization has been operating for several years, and so far, after extensive research, it has built one exact replica of the Wright brothers' historic airplane, called the Flyer. The replica does not fly, and is only intended for presentation in front of an audience in museums and exhibitions. However, these days the members of the organization are engaged in building another replica - this time a replica that should also fly. According to the team's estimates, construction will only be completed close to December 2003
Building a replica of the Wright brothers' plane is not an easy task, especially if you want the plane to have a longer and more successful life than the historical prototype, which survived a very short time and flew only a tiny distance.
Orville flew first
All these organizations emphasize that there is something very American about Orville Wilbur Wright's way of working. They worked alone, without any government support or the backing of a large and rich industrial enterprise. Their motives were not financial, as they made a living from the bicycle workshop. Today, they are mainly portrayed as curious and technology lovers, for whom the challenge and the desire to invent were at the forefront of their minds. Their tenacity is very impressive even today.
The airplane built by the Wright brothers in 1903 had a wing that was 12 meters long. Its wingspan was 47 square meters and its weight - 283 kg. It was the product of a process that lasted more than four years, in which the brothers built and tested three non-motorized gliders. In the fall of 1903, the brothers moved the dismantled plane to North Carolina, to a sandy area characterized by wind conditions that seemed suitable to them. For three weeks, they assembled the new plane in a garage near the takeoff site.
The brothers tossed a coin to determine who would fly first. The elder Wilbur won, but the first attempt he made, on December 14, failed, and the plane suffered minor damage. Three days later, after directions and corrections, it was Orville's turn. He managed to take off a little after ten o'clock in the morning for the short historic flight. The brothers were still not satisfied, and an hour and a half later Wilbur took off for another flight. This time he traveled a distance of 53 meters. Twenty minutes later, Orville made a third attempt and flew 61 meters. The fourth and last flight that day was the most successful of them all. Wilbur stayed in the air for 59 seconds and flew a distance of 260 meters. However, the landing was not good, and the plane was damaged. When they tried to tow it back to the garage a strong storm broke out and more damage was done to the wings.
The historic plane, whose structure is now being restored, never flew again. The brothers continued and built two more, more successful models, and in 1908, after settling many problems involved in registering the invention as a patent, they revealed their ability to fly to the general public.
Wilbur died in 1912 at the age of 54 and Orville lived until after World War II and saw the many military uses made of the invention he built with his brother in the bicycle workshop in Dayton. He died in 1948 at the age of 77.
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