>>The Wright's predecessors and contemporaries may have called them >>'Aerodromes' but they didn't fly.
Errr. Curtis, a contemporary of the Wrights was a member of the AEA along with Bell and others. Bell referred to their aeroplanes as "Aerodromes" and so did Curtis and they flew very well, better than the Wrights. >> The Wrights set about improving their invention and did marketing…… The Wrights did very few improvements and a great deal of marketing. I think the surprising thing about the Wrights is how their mindset changed from the experimental and open frame of mind they had in say 1903 to the closed and litigious mindset they had by 1906. >From memory, by 1912, about 25 people had been killed in aircraft accidents in the states, the vast majority of whom were killed in Wright flyers. Over half of the Wrights own exhibition team were killed in Wright flyers. Fatalities in Curtis planes amounted to a small fraction of the total. In fact, by 1912, there was not one unique feature that the Wrights had used on their aeroplanes that was used on other aircraft. The parade had gone by. The merger with Curtis was done by their Wall Street money men and Orville was very bitter about it. (Wilbur being already dead). >> What did all the other pretenders to the claim to having invented the >> airplane do? What did Lillienthal do? If I had flown 2000 flights in a controlled and sustainable manner, I believe I would want to be recognised for something! The main reason that we in the English speaking world, recognise the Wrights premacy, is that it's been shoved down our throats by a better publicity machine. Bear in mind when you question Lillienthal and sustainable, that it was years before the Wright's aeroplanes could take off under their own power, unlike Curtis' aerodromes which had wheels fitted and aways took off under their own power (in about 6-8 seconds). >> I rather think that what the Wright Brothers actually invented was the >> aileron, or its immediate predecessor. Except that the aileron was already patented by someone else (1896?), before the Wrights invented wing warping. >>One reason they came up with the idea was probably that they were bicycle >>manufacturers and riders. How do you make a bike go round a corner? Lean it >>over... Yes, almost certainly. Curtis was also a bicycle maker and racer and held numerous speed records on the motorbikes he built. However, the Curtis solution of having the ailerons linked to a shoulder yoke was almost certainly more intuitive, especially when the Wrights were flying prone and Curtis was upright. Ailerons were a proper engineering solution compared with wing warping which at best is a kludge. _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
