December 17^th, 1903

by Bryan

5 comments

1 Steve Bates { 12.17.07 at 11:40 am }

Magnificent craft. Splendidly competent engineers who had the necessary skills, not only in shop work but also in mathematics… this was no mere cut-and-try effort with lucky results. Discipline, planning and persistence brought the Wrights success where many bigger names failed. (A willingness to take personal risks also helped… but most of the early contenders had that.)

I would rant on about the visual beauty of the Wright flyer itself, but I’m pretty sure I’ve done that on these threads before. 😆

2 Bryan { 12.17.07 at 12:34 pm }

It worked because they did the research first and then the testing before they built it. The Wrights didn’t just build a powered aircraft, they designed the process for building most things since.

3 andante { 12.17.07 at 2:27 pm }

Back in 2003, they had a reenactment commemorating the event’s centennial at the OBX (cutesy shorthand around here for ‘Outer Banks’)

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and it didn’t get off the ground. Wilbur & Orville had sense enough to wait for better weather and good winds.

A friend, whose grandfather was one of the original ‘plane pushers’, got to dress up in period clothes and do the pushing.

I’ve been ragging him ever since, telling him they just don’t make plane-pushers like they used to.

4 Bryan { 12.17.07 at 3:08 pm }

I was always a little surprised that they didn’t use wheels, as they did own a bicycle shop. It must have been quite a chore pushing it through the sand on skids.

5 PSoTD { 12.19.07 at 7:43 am }

Wednesday Reacharound Blogaround…

Posts you may have missed:

Why Now? remembers what happened December 17, 1903 – did you?

I’m hoping I get a digital photo frame for ……