Orville and Wilbur Wright by Gina Hagler

Author:Gina Hagler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
Published: 2020-07-12T00:00:00+00:00

Orville examines the balances that were used in the wind tunnels. It was these balances that made it possible for the brothers to use their observations in tests that perfected the shape and performance of their airfoils.

Orville watches Wilbur take readings before a flight in 1908. The Wright brothers were the first aeronautical engineers. They took measurements and used them to help them ensure successful flights under varying conditions.

The result of their two months of work was the most technologically sophisticated work of science in the field of aerodynamics to date. When the Wrights said that a wing should be thicker at the front edge than the back edge, they had the data to prove it. When they spoke about the angle of camber, they were not making a guess. Their work changed the way work in aerodynamics would be done far into the future.

Their wind tunnel and balances provided the Wrights with the information they needed to design a wing that was aerodynamically sound, one that would generate the greatest amount of lift given the drag, gravity, and thrust involved. It also made it possible for the Wrights to accurately predict the performance of the wing before that wing was built. This, in turn, made it possible for them to design an airplane that would meet the requirements for heavier-than-air, powered, manned flight.

The Wrights might have come up with a wing design through trial and error alone, but that is unlikely. There were many others working in exactly that way, including others working with different concepts and figures of their own. The genius of the Wrights—and the thing that made them the first aeronautical engineers—was their ability to take what had been done before, test their findings through the lens of engineering with equipment of their own design, and complete all of this with their own money in the time they had between bicycle seasons.

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