In 1903, after exhaustive experiments in gliding, Wilbur and Orville Wright finally flew a motor-driven airplane. Over the next five years they built other airplanes, which differed little from the one that first took wing at Kitty Hawk. Their first public flights, in September, 1908 (Orville Wright at Fort Meyer, and Wilbur Wright at Le Mans, France) astonished the world.
The machine they flew, the Wright Model A, was a biplane driven by a small four-cylinder water-cooled engine and two large propellers. These were both actuated by chains gearing on the engine-shaft, one chain being crossed so as to make its propeller revolve in the direction opposite to the other, thus giving proper balance to the driving force. Alongside the engine and slightly in front of it was the pilot’s seat, and there was also a seat for a passenger in between, exactly in the center, so that the added weight would not alter the balance. Called the “tail-first” type, or “Canard” or “duck,” owing to its long projection forward which resembled the neck of that bird. This design did not steer easily and was later abandoned.
The 1908 Wright machine had vertical rudders aft, and relied on the two big elevator planes forward for its up and down steering. Its lateral, or rolling, movements were controlled by warping or twisting the wings so that while the angle of the wings on one side was increased and gave more lift, the angle on the other side decreased and gave less lift, thus enabling the pilot to right the machine. The elevators were controlled by means of a lever on the left-hand side of the pilot, the warp by a lever on his right, while by waggling the jointed top of the right-hand lever he also controlled the rudder. This complicated system of control was very difficult to master. In 1910 the Wrights attached a horizontal tail at right angles to their rudder, and in 1911 they dropped the front elevators entirely.
Unlike all later airplanes, the Wright 1908 was launched from a carriage which ran on a rail until the planes were lifted into the air, leaving the carriage on the ground. This same idea was used for launching planes from battleships.
By late 1910, the Wright machine held no great record except altitude, but the flights of Wilbur Wright at New York in October, 1909, and those of Orville Wright at Fort Meyer in July, 1909, wee among the most difficult negotiated in that era. Among contemporary biplanes the Wright was almost twice as efficient in power consumption as any other type. Many machines of the Wright type were flown in France. Germany, Austria, Italy, and England, notably by Count Lambert and M. Tissandier in France, Capt. Englehardt in Germany, and Lieut. Calderera in Italy. In this country the Wright machine was widely used, by Messrs. Coffyn, La Chapelle, Hoxsey, Brookins, and Johnstone, as well as the Wrights themselves. An altitude record was held by the Wright machine, the late Arch Hoxsey having mounted to the height of 11,400 feet. The old 1909 Wright, although at present almost entirely discarded, was a type that should not be forgotten.
Specifications from “Monoplanes and Biplanes,†by Grover Loening, 1911
The Frame
Clear spruce and ash were used throughout the frame, which is very solidly but very simply built. The cross wires were of steel and made to fit exactly. All exposed parts of the frame were painted with an aluminum mixture.
The Main Wings
Two identical and superposed surfaces made of canvas stretched over and under wooden ribs, supported the machine in the air. Their curvature was somewhat flatter than the usual one used, and the surfaces were 3 inches thick near the center. These planes were 6 feet apart; they had a spread of 41 feet, a depth of 6.56 feet, and an area of 538 square feet.
The Elevators
In the 1909 Wright biplane the elevation rudder was so constructed that when elevated it was automatically warped concavely on the under side, and when depressed curved in the opposite way. This materially added to the rudder’s force. It was double surfaced, 70 square feet in area, and placed well out in front, being supported mainly on framework, of which the landing gear skids formed a part. At present the elevation rudder consists of a single surface at the rear. This rudder was governed by a lever by the aviators left hand. To rise, the aviator pulled the lever toward him. This motion was formerly transmitted to the rudder mechanism by a long wooden connecting rod, causing the rudder to be turned upward to the line of flight, and consequently causing the machine to rise. To descend, the aviator pushed this lever away from him. At present the same control is used, but it is transmitted by wires to the rear.
The Direction Rudder
The direction rudder was placed in the rear, on the center line, and consisted, as it does now, of two identical vertical surfaces of 23 square feet area. This rudder was governed by the lever in the aviator’s right hand. To turn to the left the lever was pushed out, while to turn to the right it was pulled in. But this motion was very rarely used, since the side-to-side motion of this lever also controlled the warping, and the two motions in this type were very intimately connected.
Roll Control
The famous warping device was used by the Wrights for the preservation of lateral balance, and for artificial inclination when making turns. The rear vertical panel of the main cell was divided into three sections. The central one was solidly braced and extended either side of the center to the second strut from each end. From these struts the rear horizontal cross pieces of the planes were merely hinged instead of being continued portions of the cross piece at the center, and the two end vertical panels on either end were not cross braced. These two rear end sections of the cell were therefore movable. The entire front of the machine, as well as the actual ribs inside the surfaces, however, was perfectly rigid, there being no helical torsion of the ribs themselves as commonly supposed. Cables connected these two sections of the planes together and led to the lever in the aviator’s right hand. The operation was as follows: If the machine suddenly dipped down on the right end, for example, then the lever was moved to the left side. This action pulled down the rear right ends of the surfaces, and at the same time pulled up the rear left ends of the surfaces. This caused an increase of incident angle of the outer end of the plane on the side depressed, and a decrease of incident angle on the opposite side; the consequent increase of lift on the depressed side and decrease of lift on the raised side righted the machine at once. But throughout this process the entire front face of the cell, as well as the rear central section, remained perfectly rigid in every sense. For turning to the left for example, it is evident that if this same lever were moved in a circular arc, outward and to the left ( very much as a trace of the desired turn) then not only would the surfaces be warped, so as to raise the right end, but also the direction rudder set to give the desired change of direction, and the consequent action was prompt and very efficacious. In actual practice the direction rudder and transverse control of the Wright machine are almost never worked separately.
Keel
There were no fixed keels on the Wright 1909 biplane. A small pivoted vertical surface was placed in front to indicate any change in direction of the relative air current.
Propulsion
A 25-28 horse-power 4-cylinder Wright motor drove by chains, in opposite directions, two two-bladed propellers. These propellers were made of wood, and were placed at the rear of the main cell, one on either side of the center. They rotated at 400 r.p.m., and were 8.5 feet in diameter and of 9-foot pitch. Seats were provided for two, the outer one for the aviator. They were placed on the front edge of the lower plane to the side of the motor. Formerly the Landing Gear was on skids only. When starting the machine was placed on a small truck and run over a rail on the ground. At present wheels are used.
Weight, Speed, Loading and Aspect Ratio
The total weight was from 1,050 to 1,150 pounds; the speed is 40 miles per hour; 41 pounds were lifted per horse-power of the motor, and 2.05 pounds per square foot of surface. The aspect ratio was 6.25 to 1.
Alterations
The dimensions of the United States Signal Corps’ machine and that built by the Aerial Company of France differed in that the spread was reduced to 36 feet and the surface area to 490 square feet. In the French Wright machines of Count Lambert and M. Tissandier, the aviator sits next to the motor. When instructing these two men at Pau in the winter of 1909, Mr. Wilbur Wright had fitted to the machine an extra lever (to control the elevation rudder) on the right side of the passenger who sat next to the motor.
The position of the levers for the passenger was therefore the reverse of the usual one, the lever controlling the direction rudder and warping being at the left hand. Tissandier and De Lambert having learned to operate the machine with this disposition have never changed it. But they in turn have become the instructors of many purchasers of Wright machines, and since their pupils occupy the outside seat, they are taught to control in the normal manner.