The Wright Brothers in the United States Wilbur Wright was born in 1867, 4 years older than Orville Wright. The brothers have been interested in machinery since childhood. Their father was a bishop in the United Church of Christ. One day, their kind father gave them a bamboo dragonfly. As long as the rubber band on it was tightened, the bamboo dragonfly would fly vertically. Bishop Wright may not have realized it at the time, but it was this little bamboo dragonfly that aroused the strong curiosity of the two brothers and sown the seeds of flight in their two young hearts. From then on, the Wright brothers began to study the problem of making objects levitate in the air. Initially, they copied several bamboo dragonflies. They were so happy when the new bamboo dragonflies flew up in the air. However, when making a much larger flying toy, it couldn't fly. This was the first setback in the Wright brothers' flight research. However, they did not back down. On the contrary, they understand that flying is not a simple matter, but a complex problem that requires a lot of knowledge to be solved. However, the dream of flying into the blue sky and their curiosity and infinite love for aviation made the Wright brothers determined to invent the airplane. In order to invent an ideal aircraft, at the end of the 19th century, many people had carried out arduous exploration and in-depth research, conducted a large number of experiments, and consumed a lot of wealth. However, the efforts of Bell, the inventor of the telephone, and Thomas Edison, the inventor of the invention, all failed. So many scientists pessimistically believe that it is impossible to build an aircraft capable of carrying humans. People's dreams of flying seemed shattered. However, the young and energetic Wright brothers were always full of burning enthusiasm and extremely firm belief in inventing airplanes. They began to read extensively about flight books and treatises on the principles of bird flight. At that time, there was very little information about manned flights. So Wilbur Wright wrote to the authoritative Smithsonian Institution for advice. Rasburn, the vice president of the society, felt their persistent enthusiasm and personally responded to the letter and sent them a large number of aviation books. They also study mathematics seriously and diligently study scientific knowledge in aerodynamics and other aspects. Starting in the late 1880s, they conducted numerous calculations. The Wright brothers not only worked hard to master the research results of their predecessors and enriched the systematic knowledge of aviation theory, but also paid great attention to learning directly from living flying objects-birds. With perseverance, they often lie on their backs on the ground and carefully observe the flight of eagles in the sky for several hours, studying and thinking about their take-off, landing and circling. After continuous hard work and self-study, the Wright brothers never stopped developing airplanes even after opening a bicycle repair shop. Although the Wright brothers did not receive higher education, they already had a wealth of aviation knowledge. What was a childish interest in flying has turned into a firm belief in invention. Armed with rich knowledge, the Wright brothers were even more convinced that the invention of the airplane was possible. It is particularly worth pointing out that the Wright brothers' cooperation was flawless in the process of inventing the airplane. The elder brother Wilbur is diligent and down-to-earth, with the meticulousness and prudence of an engineer; the younger brother Orville is full of the rich imagination of an artist and dares to constantly innovate. Two such intelligent brains complement each other and cooperate closely, as Wilbur said: "Orville and I live together,...work together, and think together simply, just like one person." "What miracles can't be created in the world? In the last few years of the 19th century, the Wright brothers believed that the conditions for making airplanes were mature, so they began to build aircraft themselves. As ordinary bicycle repair workers, they cannot get funding from others to build airplanes. However, the Wright brothers, who had devoted all their energy to this great cause, did not give up on their goal. They decided to use the money they earned from the bicycle business to build airplanes. What kind of investment and persistence in the cause! After carefully summing up the experience and lessons of their predecessors, the Wright brothers decided to start with the gliding flight experiment. In 1897, they built a sophisticated biplane for the first time.
In the process of observing the change of direction of the aircraft in the air, they discovered that they could control the heading of the aircraft by adjusting it with a small stick connected to the pull wire to maintain different windward angles of the wing tips. This was a very important discovery that had a great impact on the future success of the Wright brothers. From 1900 to 1902, they built three gliders and made about a thousand repeated flights in the windy and sparsely populated Kitty Hawk. Sometimes they glide down the hillside, sometimes they rise into the air when the wind blows. Each time, the aircraft's lift, drag, speed and other data under various conditions are recorded in detail, and the lateral and longitudinal control devices are continuously improved according to the flight conditions. During this period, their gliders flew over distances of more than 1,000 meters many times. This was very rare at the time. The Wright brothers also paid great attention to the use of scientific research methods. In 1901, they built a small wind tunnel in a bicycle repair shop in their hometown of Dayton and conducted dynamic and tensile tests on thousands of wing models. At the same time, we also design and manufacture our own instruments for measuring lift and drag. In these thousands of dull and boring repeated experiments, the Wright brothers' aircraft was continuously improved, and its flight performance became increasingly better. During the process of manufacturing the test glider, the Wright brothers also humbly sought advice from Octavian Shah many times. The 70-year-old glider authority has been an enthusiastic supporter of these two juniors in aircraft development activities. Not only did he make many useful suggestions, but he also personally visited and encouraged them many times, which greatly benefited the Wright brothers. It was precisely with this meticulous, rigorous and realistic spirit of continuous research that the Wright brothers not only quickly mastered the aircraft manufacturing technology at that time, but also made major breakthroughs in many aspects. By the summer of 1903, the Wright brothers began to build the famous "Flying Man" biplane. Prepare to conduct the first powered flight experiment in the history of human aviation. Originally, they had written to the most famous automobile manufacturer of the time, hoping to get an 8-horsepower engine. But at that time, most people believed that it was impossible to control the flight of an aircraft with an engine. Therefore, no company was willing to take the risk of manufacturing an aeroengine. The stubborn Wright brothers did not give up. They built a 12-horsepower piston engine themselves. This engine was far more advanced than the steam engines of the time. Another key component of the aircraft, the propeller, is also very difficult to manufacture. There was no ready-made theoretical model at that time, so the Wright brothers also explored from scratch. With their outstanding talents and superb skills, they successfully manufactured the best wooden propeller at the time, which was installed together with the engine on the Flying Man aircraft. In September of that year, the components of the "Flying Man" were transported to Kitty Hawk and assembled on site. In the early morning of December 17, 1903, the village of Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, USA, was still sleeping. The powerful sea breeze from the Atlantic Ocean and Albemarle Bay swirls wildly in this unknown small fishing village, making shrill screams from time to time. On this extremely cold morning, not far from the village, a tall and long strange thing with huge wings was parked quietly on the empty beach. From a distance, it looks like a giant bird spreading its wings and standing tall in the biting cold wind. This is the first airplane in human history. Its inventors are the American brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright. This aircraft has a beautiful name - "Flying Man". Uncovering the thin muslin covering the curved wings, you can find that its fuselage frame and wings are all made of light and strong fir and eucalyptus wood, and are equipped with fir wood propellers . The 6.5-meter-long aircraft with a wingspan of 12.3 meters is mounted on a special double-rail trolley. A horizontal bar extends from the vehicle, and the two skids under the wings are parked at both ends of the horizontal bar. . At around 9 o'clock, the energetic Wright brothers arrived at the test flight site and carefully made preparations. After nervous and careful adjustments, at 10:30, the engine started and the two wooden propellers started turning. The 32-year-old brother Orville Wright boarded the "Flying Man" with confidence.
I saw him lying prone on a cradle-shaped control device on the lower wing. In this way, in addition to manipulating the engine's shutoff valve and elevator control stick with his hands to control the lifting and lowering movements of the nose and tail, he could also use his body movement. to control the wings and tail rudder. Five minutes later, Orville untied the brake cable, and the "Flyer" began to move forward slowly and slowly, and soon picked up speed. Suddenly, Orville pulled the elevator control stick forcefully, and under the powerful push generated by the propeller, the "Flying Man" immediately took off. Although the flight was uneven and even stumbled a bit, the "Flying Man" still flew 36 meters in the air. It landed on the beach 12 seconds later. Orville jumped out of the plane and hugged Wilbur tightly, excited about the success of the flight. Then, they took turns and made three more flights. In the last flight of the day, Wilbur flew more than 260 meters in 59 seconds in a wind speed of 30 kilometers. The flight of the "Flying Man" is an important milestone in the history of human aviation.