JT Aviation College , Kolkata

(Affiliated with MAKAUT, West Bengal)

3 Years BBA CBCS Structure

Semester - II
Paper Code: BBA(AM) – 201

Module : 1 Introduction to Aviation History

Chapter – 2
Contribution of Wright Brotherss
Wilbur and Orville Wright were considered as American inventors and pioneers
of aviation. In 1903 the Wright brothers achieved the first powered, sustained and
controlled airplane flight. They surpassed their own milestone two years later when
they built and flew the first fully practical airplane.

Wilbur Wright was born on April 16, 1867, near Millville, Indiana. He was the
middle child in a family of five children. His father, Milton Wright, was a bishop in the
Church of the United Brethren in Christ. As a child Wilbur’s playmate was his younger
brother, Orville Wright, born in 1871. Neither Wilbur nor Orville attended college, but
their younger sister Katherine did.

Wilbur Wright Orville Wright

Milton Wright’s often brought back small toys for his children. In 1878 when
Wilbur was 11 and Orville was 7 years old their father brought a small toy for them. The

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toy was made of cork, bamboo and paper, and powered by a rubber band to twirl its
blades. Fascinated by the toy and its mechanics, Wilbur and Orville inspired to develop a
lifelong love of aeronautics and flying.

Wilbur was a bright and studious child, and excelled in school. His personality
was outgoing and robust, and he made plans to attend Yale University after high school.
However, in the winter of 1885-86, an accident changed the course of Wilbur’s life. He
was badly injured in an ice hockey game.

Though most of his injuries healed, the incident plunged Wilbur into a
depression. He did not receive his high school diploma, cancelled plans for college.
Wilbur spent much of this period at home, reading books in his family’s library and
caring for his ailing mother, who died in 1889 of tuberculosis.

In 1889 the brothers started their own newspaper, the West Side News. Wilbur
edited the paper, and Orville was the publisher.

The brothers also shared a passion for bicycles - a new craze that was sweeping
the country. In1892 Wilbur and Orville opened a bike shop, fixing bicycles and selling
their own design. They were always working on different mechanical projects. Keeping
up with scientific research, the Wright brothers closely followed the research of
German aviator Otto Lilienthal. When Lilienthal died in a glider crash, the brothers
decided to start their own experiments with flight.

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 Determined to develop their own successful design, Wilbur and Orville headed to
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, known for its strong winds. The site was selected because of
availability of clear ground and of the constant strong wind that added lift to their craft.

In 1902 they came to the beach with their glider and made more than 700
successful flights. Wilbur and Orville set to work trying to figure out how to design
wings for flight. They observed that birds angled their wings for balance and control,
and tried to emulate this, developing a concept called “wing warping.”

The Wright brothers designed, built and flew a series of three manned gliders in
1900–1902 as they worked towards achieving powered flight. They also made
preliminary tests with a kite in 1899. Having perfected glided flight, the next step was to
move to powered flight.

The Wrights built the aircraft in 1903 using giant spruce wood as their
construction material. The wings were designed with a 1-in-20 camber. No automobile
manufacturer could supply an engine both light enough and powerful enough for their
needs, so they designed and built their own. Their employee Charlie Taylor built a new
design from scratch, effectively a crude 12 horsepower gasoline engine.

The Flyer was a bicanard biplane configuration. As with the gliders, the pilot flew
lying on his stomach on the lower wing with his head toward the front of the craft in an
effort to reduce drag. He steered by moving a cradle attached to his hips. The cradle
pulled wires which warped the wings and turned the rudder simultaneously.All of their
hard work, experimentation and innovation came together that December day as they
took to the sky and forever changed the course of history.
The Wright Flyer (often retrospectively referred to as Flyer I or 1903 Flyer)
was the first successful heavier-than-air powered aircraft, designed and built by
the Wright brothers. On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright piloted the first powered
airplane 20 feet above a wind-swept beach in North Carolina. The flight lasted 12
seconds and covered 120 feet. On that day they flew it four times.

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 The U.S. Smithsonian Institution describes the aircraft as "the first powered,
heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard."
The flight of Flyer I marks the beginning of the "pioneer era" of aviation. Today,
the airplane is exhibited in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

The brothers notified several newspapers prior to their historic flight, but only
one - The local journal - made mention of the event. The Wright brothers soon found
that their success was not appreciated by all. Many in the press, as well as fellow flight
experts, were reluctant to believe the brothers’ claims at all.

As a result, Wilbur set out for Europe in 1908, where he hoped he would have
more success convincing the public. In France Wilbur found a much more receptive
audience. He made many public flights, and gave rides to officials, journalists and
statesmen.

In 1904, the Wrights continued refining their designs and piloting techniques in
order to obtain fully controlled flight. Major progress toward this goal was achieved
with a new Flyer in 1904 and even more decisively in 1905 with a third Flyer, in which
Wilbur made a 39-minute, 24-mile (39 km) nonstop circling flight on October 5.

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Wilbur in Flyer II circling Huffman The Wright Flyer III over Huffman Prairie,
Prairie in November 1904. The front October 4, 1905 during its 46th flight. The
elevator has been enlarged and the front of the airplane is at the top of the
radiator moved to a rear strut. photo.

In 1909 Orville joined his brother in Europe, as did their younger sister
Katharine. The Wrights became huge celebrities there, hosted by royals and heads of
state, and constantly featured in the press. The Wrights began to sell their airplanes in
Europe, before returning to the United States in 1909. The brothers became wealthy
businessmen, filling contracts for airplanes in Europe and the United States.

Wilbur fell ill on a trip to Boston in April 1912. He was diagnosed with typhoid
fever, and died on May 30 at his family home in Dayton, Ohio.

Milton Wright wrote in his diary,

““A short life, full of consequences. An unfailing intellect, imperturbable

temper, great self-reliance and as great modesty, seeing the right clearly, pursuing
it steadily, he lived and died.””

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