Neil,Keith,List
Mechanical engineering mag, december issue, has a nice supplement on 100
years of flight ("Flight Path-Twelve Seconds That Changed the World") which
includes an Old Dominion Univ. analysis of the 1903 Wright Brothers
propellers, they found the props had a mechanical efficiency of over 75% in
steady flight. Better yet, they used a full Navier-Stokes equation CFD
analysis and were suprised to learn that " the Wrights' propeller twist
distribution (the variation of pitch angle with radius) was in NEARLY EXACT
agreement with modern computer-based designs over the outer two-thirds of
the propeller blade"
Most media/book/press accounts don't mention their most important
invention--their brilliant solution of the three axis control problem that
allowed both gliders and powered airplanes to turn in-flight without inside
wing stalls and crashing---must be too complicated for most media types.
Anybody remember reading the series of "Bird Boys" books about two teenage
brothers who built their own "Wright Flyers" and had many fictional flying
adventures with them? I read them in grade school in the late 40s, convinced
me to get into the aerospace business at an early age.
Happy holidays everyone!,
Lance
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 11:47 AM
Subject: RE: The Wright Flyer
> Keith;
>
> That was a good program. It's a shame that most schoolbooks and many
> textbooks characterize the Wright Brothers as simple "bicycle mechanics"
who
> tinkered with a glider with an engine.
>
> That's wrong, wrong, wrong! They were as advanced as anyone in the world
in
> aerodynamics; they did careful wind tunnel experiments and analyzed other
> flight experimenter's failures as well as their own.
>
> They deserve much more credit that most books give them.
>
> Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
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