The brothers learned to fly using kite-type gliders that they launched from sand dunes near their home in San Francisco’s Richmond District.
At her home, there were sand dunes in the back yard area near the ocean. From 1908 to 1910, their large kites became gliders, the kind you could ride into the sky with one of the boys aboard and people assisting in the flights holding ropes.
By 1909, the two boys began work on the aircraft known as Gonzales No. 1 Tractor Bi-plane, the craft they planned for motorized flight. Each step was carefully planned as they designed using paper, pencils and possible designs, and built their aeroplane.
Construction took two years. The two boys designed the airframe without an engine using photographs and by observing the aeroplanes flying overhead.
In true bicycle shop fashion, all of the wing support wires are attached with bicycle wire and spoke adjusters.
It was originally covered with fabric, but Gonzales and the museum are keeping the fabric off so visitors can see the skeleton of hand-carved wood and get an idea of what it took to design and put the biplane together.
San Francisco made one of its first noise ordinances because the Gonzalez plane engine was too loud, and prohibited flying machines from operating in city limits, prompting the brothers to crate the aircraft, load it onto a train flatcar and take it near Woodland and the present site of Travis Air Force Base where they would camp out while working on and flying the aircraft.
The brothers moved to Los Angeles in 1915, and took the biplane with them. It ended up in the basement of Bob Gonzales’ grandmother along with everything else the brothers saved.
December 1929 issue of Flying Magazine
I doubt that any records from Europe were checked
1908 Fort Myer Virginia.......Automobile towing the Wright Brothers Company Type A Military biplane, with front struts and tail folded for transport, from the storage shed to the Ft. Myer airfield in 1908....This aircraft was used for trials to prove it's worth for Military use.
Just exactly uneducated, but proud, can the bureaucrats be, when they know nothing of the Wright Brothers aircraft design?
(Bragging moment, I found out when working through my family tree, that I'm distantly related to the Wright family )
The mistake has also reignited one of America's longest running debates: Who can claim credit for the Wright brothers' first flight?
Ohio and North Carolina have long been at odds over which state gets to lay claim on the brothers' achievement. Ohio claims that, as the pair originally hailed from the state and the plane they completed their 39-second flight in was built in Dayton, it should get the credit
But the flight itself actually took place at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, And the North Carolinian newspaper, the Charlotte Observer, joked: "Let's talk about which state Kitty Hawk is in."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59008039
for historical accuracy, Ohio is fraudulently self promoting a lie. The wright Brothers were years behind the accomplishments of Gustave Whitehead in Ct, who accomplished flight 2 years prior, but didn't have friends in high places, and a deal worked out with the Smithsonian. Frankly, they were geniuses at self promotion too.
https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-wright-brothers-had-really-good.html
Thanks Gary!
With his parents bankrolling his every wish, the 16-year-old, California-born Farnun Fish learned to fly at the Wright Aviation School in Dayton, Ohio.
Then, they bought him a $5,000 Wright Flyer Model B and he went on the exhibition circuit.
In February 1912, he participated in a pilots meet at Emeryville Race Track, in California, where he carried the first airmail to Oakland.
Next he attended a small meet in April at the Coronado Polo Grounds in San Diego, where he angered Glenn Curtiss when he landed without invitation on Curtiss's airfield
He was the first to carry newspapers, and at the time, that was a big deal, as it was far faster than the train for circulation of news.
On May 17, 1912, Fish was arrested "after landing with a woman passenger in Grant Park" in Chicago.
He avoided a fine by claiming engine trouble.
Imagine how damn awesome it would be for your sex life, to be 16, with your own airplane, your parents bankroll, and celebrity status.
In these photos, Fish had recently completed a promotional flight from Chicago to Milwaukee that was the record for over-water flight. This close-up offers an excellent view of the manner in which the early Wright planes were controlled.
But his youthful life of adventure didn't end with fairground exhibitions... no, it was getting shot while flying recon for Pancho Villa, I shit you not.
On May 15, 1915, Fish was flying reconnaissance for Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution. While 500 feet over a large body of soldiers, he was shot at; one bullet entered his calf, passed through his thigh and ended up in his shoulder.
He managed to return to his base before crashing in his bullet-ridden aircraft, making him, according to Dr. John H. Lienhard, Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and History at the University of Houston, "the first airplane casualty in the history of aerial warfare."
They built a wind tunnel, the second in America. (The first was built by Alfred Zahm.) Over the winter of 1901-1902, they tested over 200 wing shapes to find the most promising, then thoroughly investigated about 45 shapes to determine the very best. To do this, they built two instruments for their wind tunnel, one to measure lift and another to measure the ratio of lift to drag with old wheel spoke wires and used hacksaw blades to create
https://www.wright-brothers.org/Adventure_Wing/Hangar/1901_Wind_Tunnel/1901_Wind_Tunnel.htm
A German engineer who began his aeronautical research in 1871 by studying bird flight. After nearly two decades of imaginative experimentation and research, he produced the best and most complete body of aerodynamic data up to that time. He published his results in Der Vogelflug als Grundlage der Fliegekunst (Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation) in 1889.
Following his program of data collection, Lilienthal constructed and tested a series of elegant, full-size gliders. Between 1891 and 1896 he made nearly 2,000 brief flights in 16 different glider designs based on his aerodynamic research.
An abrupt and tragic end, while flying one of his monoplane gliders, Lilienthal stalled and crashed (Aug 1896).
During a lucid moment, he spoke his last words to his brother, who had rushed to be by his side. His words translate to “Sacrifices must be made.”
The Wright brothers later cited his death as the point when their serious interest in flight research began, and named Lilienthal as their inspiration.
https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/fly/1899/forefathers.cfm
https://disciplesofflight.com/otto-lilienthal-the-glider-king/
