Wright Brothers Research Paper

Wright Brothers

Fathers of Flight

Orville Wright once questioned, “If birds can glide for a long time, then… why can’t I?” Many people know or have heard that Orville and Wilbur Wright invented the airplane that can now fly like a bird but they did so much more than that. The Wright Brothers changed the world by having the first controlled-powered flight. Now they are known as the “fathers of flight” for what incredible achievements they conquered. The life of the Wright Brothers was very family related. They were the sons of Milton Wright and Susan Koerner and had five other siblings (softschools.com). Wilbur was born on April 16, 1867 near Millville, Indiana and died of typhoid fever on May 30, 1912 (Britannica 368). Orville

Wilbur found out that a plane needs to operate on 3 axes (yaw-side to side, pitch-up and down, and roll-wing up and wing down) (Britannica 368). The Wright planes had the same function on the wing as modern aircraft today (Freedman 67). The brothers also discovered that longer and narrower wings created more lift. Watching buzzards fly back home in Dayton, Ohio the brothers found that the wings of an aircraft need to turn (Freedman 24). They also figured out a way to control roll, pitch, and yaw which are the three axes that planes turn on today (Freedman 29). After years of refusing to donate the Flyer Orville finally agreed. 10 years after his death the plane showed up (softschools.com)! One fun fact is that part of the Flyer went to the moon. When Neil Armstrong, another aeronautical pioneer from Ohio, went to the moon he took part of the muslin fabric from the left wing and part of the left propeller (Klein). Many years after the Wright Brother first flight, many people did not believe them. In 1908 Wilbur went to France to demonstrate how it flew. HE flew over 100 demonstrations in about 2 hours. After these demonstrations they were widely accepted as the masters of flight (Rinard 18). A lasting legacy the Wright Brothers left were the wing warping cables on their wing. Glenn Curtiss built off the idea of the brothers and built ailerons. These were made in 1911 and are used on all planes today (Rinard 21)! One of the only downfalls of the Wright Brothers airplane was that Lieutenant Colonel Dawn Dunlop discovers that the Wright Brothers aircraft were dangerous. This is because of the frail wire, wood, and cloth (Curry 50). The Wright brothers plane led to a bunch of new ideas and new types of planes. For example just 15 years after the first flight at Kitty Hawk U.S. airmail service inaugurated. Planes could fly from New York to San Francisco in 33 hours and 20 minutes. In 1927