How Did the Wright Brothers Pull-Off Their First Flight - Research Paper Example

Wings plus an aerodynamic body structure resulted in birds being able to ride the wind in a way that man could only imagine. That is until that fateful day when the Wright Brothers took flight in their technology changing invention, the airplane. These days, we all take our ability to take flight for granted. That is why we tend to overlook the fact that our ability to take flight is not as easy at we believe it to be. The Wright Brothers actually had to overcome quite a few obstacles in order to help man achieve his dream of taking to the skies in flight.

This paper serves to look into the difficulties that existed during the time when the Wright Brothers were trying to get their dreams off the ground and into the air. Collectively known as the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright were actually inventors who are best known for being aviation pioneers. Inventors that they were, they had always been intrigued by the thought of flight and the history of man's quest to take to the skies. Little did they know that they would be the imagineers of an invention so out of this world for their era that their names would be forever etched in the history books.

But their quest to build their first airplane, a flimsy looking, jurassic type of aircraft and actually get it to take flight was beset with problems that had the brothers wondering if they were not actually crazy for having undertaken such a gargantuan project with very little financial backing to help out. It was their belief that gliding itself and learning to master gliding controls were the key factors in creating flight. A reliable steering method was required in order to create a flyable machine since most people who had tried to take flight prior to their successful attempt ended up in deaths or serious physical injuries.

Their observations of previous flight attempts led them to study and understand the importance of wing warping when it came to maneuvering the plane. They needed the plane to bank from side to side and tilt forward and back on its wings in order to pick up wind and speed to keep the glider up in the air. (Rosenberg, Jennifer “The Wright Brothers Make the First Flight”) Once they had solved the problem of wing warping, they next needed to find an engine that had enough horse power to push the plane from the ground and up into the air.

However, no car company had the ability to deliver such a type of engine to them. So the Wright Brothers set about assembling one to their specific project specifications instead. (“The Wright Brothers -- First Flight, 1903”). After testing out their Wing Warping theory on kites, the brothers assembled their first glider in the 1900's and began testing various models with various enhancements to see which of their concepts would actually represent the reality that they sought. They performed most of their experiments on the beach at the legendary Kitty Hawk.

Most of their experiments during this era turned out to be dismal failures because they tried to incorporate the theories of the earlier fliers into their own concepts. Thus rendering all their attempts unsuccessful. However, in 1902, the brothers did a wind tunnel experiment in Dayton, Ohio where the scale model of the glider performed as they expected using their new information and calculations. This accomplishment signified that they had finally conquered the problems relating to flight control.

(Rosenberg, Jennifer “The Wright Brothers Make the First Flight”) Needless to say the brothers were ecstatic and looking forward to trying out the full model of their glider in Kitty Hawk based upon the information that they gathered in the wind tunnel. They invited a number of press people to witness their first flight but only a small town journal managed