{"id":966,"date":"2010-11-01T12:42:18","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T16:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeclarksblog.wordpress.com\/?p=966"},"modified":"2011-06-24T16:43:29","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T20:43:29","slug":"first-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=966","title":{"rendered":"First Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

First Flight<\/p><\/div>\n

If you are a pilot, or if you are not but have a serious interest in history, you owe it to yourself to visit First Flight on the outer banks in North Carolina. \u00a0This is the place where the Wright Brothers conducted their flight experiments which culminated in mankind\u2019s first flight.<\/p>\n

At the turn of the previous century, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hill were, by the most gracious of descriptions, bleak and barren. \u00a0The wind blew constantly and steady, making the location ideal for the brother\u2019s flight experiments.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

1902 Glider Flight<\/p><\/div>\n

The Wrights became interested in flight after their father, Bishop Wright gave them a toy helicopter. \u00a0The idea of flight intrigued the boys, aged 7 and 11 at the time, for the first time. \u00a0Later in their lives in the summer of 1896, Orville contracted typhoid fever. \u00a0Wilbur took care of his sibling and in the process, the two continued their habit of reading.<\/p>\n

In August of that year in Germany, Otto Lilienthal crashed one of his many gliders.\u00a0 He sustained severe injuries which led to his death days after the accident. \u00a0While Orville recovered from the typhoid fever, he and Wilbur read newspaper accounts of Lilienthal\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Wilbur Wright<\/p><\/div>\n

This, too, further fueled their fire to fly.<\/p>\n

Both the brothers, along with their siblings, grew up in an environment which well prepared them for their pursuit of flight.<\/p>\n

Orville would later write about the encouragement their parents provided them in \u201cintellectual interests\u201d and other topics which \u201caroused curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-educated engineers, the Wrights investigated the problems of flight from a scientific approach. \u00a0They perfected much of their research in areas which few had ever addressed. \u00a0The remarkable thing about their work was the fact their theoretical mathematics in aerodynamics hit right on the mark.<\/p>\n

In the years leading up to the first flight, the brothers did a great deal of observation, research, and experimenting. \u00a0They watched the birds fly, developed and flew different kites, analyzed engines and then built their own for the flight. \u00a0They also produced the first practical \u201cair screw,\u201d or propeller.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Orville Wright<\/p><\/div>\n

All of the brothers\u2019 research and work paid off on December 17, 1903 when they flew the Wright Flyer<\/em> four times on that eventful day.<\/p>\n

Orville Wright won the distinction of becoming the first pilot in the history of the world. \u00a0His first flight lasted a mere 12 seconds while flying just under 7 mph. \u00a0The distance of 120 feet is less than the wingspan of many of today\u2019s modern aircraft.<\/p>\n

It was this first lift-off from the starting rails that Coast Guardsman John T. Daniels recorded by firing the shutter on the camera Orville Wright pre-positioned before the flight. \u00a0In addition to Daniels, four others were eyewitnesses to the historic event.\u00a0 On the day of the first flights, the brothers would fly 120 feet,\u00a0then 175 feet and 200 feet respectively. The last flight, flown by Wilbur, would take the airplane 852 feet over 59 seconds before weather damaged the aircraft on the last flight.<\/p>\n

What the brothers accomplished on December 17, 1903 is by definition, the greatest achievement of time. \u00a0Had they failed, Neil Armstrong would never have walked on the moon 65 years, seven months later.<\/p>\n

The incredible thing about the brothers\u2019 first flights is not only did they invent the airplane, they had to teach themselves how to fly.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you are a pilot, or if you are not but have a serious interest in history, you owe it to yourself to visit First Flight on the outer banks in North Carolina. \u00a0This is the place where the Wright … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,6],"tags":[283,301,1119,1414,1439,1663,1842,2084,2092,2093,2521,2592,2677,2683,2688,2786,2908,4274,4326],"class_list":["post-966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-aviation-history","category-flying-2","tag-aerodynamics","tag-air-screw","tag-december-17-1903","tag-first-flight","tag-flight-experiments","tag-gliders","tag-history","tag-kill-devil-hill","tag-kites","tag-kitty-hawk","tag-neil-armstrong","tag-north-carolina","tag-orville","tag-otto-lilienthal","tag-outer-banks","tag-pilot","tag-propeller","tag-wilbur","tag-wright-brothers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3396,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions\/3396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}