The Airplane - Jay Spenser [149]
thousand flights of, 161
wing warping mechanism of, 159
Wright 1903 Flyer, 18–21
as first airplane, 111
multinational, 33–34
no fuselage on, 41
no uniquely American, 34
propellers on, 204–6
Wright, Wilbur, and, 206
Wright 1904 Flyer, 162–63
Wright 1905 Flyer (Flyer III), 164–66, 164
Wright Aeronautical Company, 216–17
Wright Bicycle Company, 29
Wright brothers, 19
airfoil testing of, 109–10
bicycles pastime of, 28–29
bicycle spokes critical to, 11
birds controlling flight and, 154
Chanute-Herring glider benefiting, 97–98
configurations adopted by, 42
controllability preoccupation of, 149
control system patent filed by, 161
correct paradigm helping, 34–35
European sales campaign of, 142
first flight of, 18–21
first glider test of, 107–8
France and, 143–44
free-flying helicopter of, 24–25
gasoline engine used by, 204
patent granted to, 166–67
power added last by, 206
research low profile of, 33
scale effect and, 26
secret of control of, 147
as self-taught aeronautical engineers, 21
skids used by, 240
three axis controllability approach of, 35–36
wind tunnel constructed by, 108,–9
Wright-Hissos, 217
Wright J-5 Whirlwind engine, 214, 220–22
Wright, Katharine (sister), 27–28, 170
Wright, Milton (father), 22–23, 26–27
Wright Model A Flyer, 62, 144–46, 170
controls systems on, 174
Wright, Wilbur, assembling, 142–43
Wright Model B, 171
Wright, Orville, 17, 19
background of, 21–24
bicycling pastime of, 28–29
first aviation fatality and, 170
first flight of, 18–21
working printing press built by, 27
Wright, Susan (mother), 22–23, 28
Wright, Wilbur, 17, 19
background of, 21–24
bat accident of, 27
bicycling pastime of, 28–29
as cerebral/introspective, 27
circling flight by, 163
first flight of, 18–21
flight of, 146
France won over by flights of, 144–47
Hudson-Fulton Celebration flight of, 240–41
Le Mans, France flight of, 145
roll control demonstrated by, 155
Wright 1903 Flyer and, 206
Wright Model A Flyer assembled by, 142–43
Wright & Wright (printing business), 28
wristwatches, 185
WW I. See World War I
WW II. See World War II
X-1 research plane, Bell, 132, 133
yaw axis, 152
adverse, 153
pivoting foot bar controlling, 175
yaw dampers, 134
Yeager, Charles E. “Chuck,” 132, 133
Zeppelin company, 77
Zeppelin-Staaken E.4250, 76
stressed-skin construction of, 77
About the Author
JAY SPENSER has spent a lifetime studying aviation as a museum curator at the National Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Flight, and subsequently as an aerospace industry writer. He is the co-author of 747 and lives in Seattle.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Credits
Cover photographs:
Top: Passengers board a Sikorsky S-40 in the early 1930s.
Bottom: Henri Farman completes Europe's first circling flight to land where he took off, January 1908.
Frontispiece: Hubert Latham sets off across the English Channel, July 1909.
Jacket design by Gabriele Wilson
Jacket photograph (Top) © Museum of flight, Seattle;
All other jacket photographs Courtesy Library of Congress
Copyright
THE AIRPLANE. Copyright © 2008 by Jay Spenser. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition OCTOBER 2008 ISBN: 9780061980442
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble,