The Wright Brothers DID Invent the Airplane

[dvm]

Stumbled on this video..I have read several books on the Wright Brothers and for me the fact that the Wright brothers were the first folks to build and fly a heavier than air powered aircraft is not debatable. One must remember that there are people who sincerely believe that the moon landing was a hoax.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkpQAGQiv4Q

[stiz]

truth of the matter is that no one now will ever know for sure, there were several plausible claims to be the first, but the wrights had the foresight to heavily document theirs, unlike the others

and just to play devils advocate .. could the Wright flyer really be classed as a aeroplane? it couldn't even take off under its own power after all

[Mithras]

Boo. Hiss....

[n421nj]

What about wing warping? that’s gotta count for something

[stiz]

yea it does, when it came to actually controlling aeroplanes the wrights were ahead of everyone else at the time.

dont get me wrong i'm not saying they weren't extremely clever and everything they did was a hoax, i'm saying that when it comes to saying stuff like "they invented the aeroplane", its more grey, its more they refined it. If you look at the gliders at the time and other attempts, most the work had already been done and figured out, all that was really required was a light enough engine, which was then designed (mostly) and made by Charlie Taylor (the wright brothers mechanic), if anyone should get a major amount of credit it should be him

[dvm]

With all due respect if you have watched the video and have read up on the wrights then I respect your opinions. The wrights did consider the inventors that came before but with a few exceptions they had to do their own R&D as a lot of this data was inacurate .Their propeller research as example was of consequence. The propeller shapes they came up with are even by today's standards were quite efficient. They built and used a wind tunnel for some of their design developments. Selling the wright brothers short in my opinion is a mistake. The biggest mistake the Wrights made in my opinion was their long and destructive pursuit of protecting their ideas and patents. There is good book that is well researched by a celebrated author and historian David McCullough should be available at your local library. Check it out if you are interested.

https://www.amazon.com/Wright-Brothers- ... 898&sr=8-1

[nojwod]

Well there's a body of evidence that a NZ inventor actually flew a controlled heavier than air craft before the Wright Bros, and wasn't there something recently on TV about evidence that another inventor in New England or Canada somewhere had flown for a long distance down a river corridor and press cuttings at the time support this?

So to categorically state that the Wright Bros invented the airplane might be a bit of a stretch. To say the Wright Brothers were the first to successfully document and publicise controllable heavier than air flight but that's about as fart as you can go without risking your reputation.

[Hook]

The biggest mistake the Wrights made in my opinion was their long and destructive pursuit of protecting their ideas and patents.

I wasn't aware of this. Thanks for posting.

This would be why previous heavier than air flight was important: it proved prior art which would nullify the Wrights' patents. So it's not about who gets credit.

Hook

[dvm]

As I said if you have not watched Greg's 45 minute video and read at least a well researched and objective book such as McCullough's you are in my opinion not as well informed as you should be. The Wrights were not trying to protect their patents so that they would not be revealed as charlatans but to protect their inventions from exploitation. Their protectionism stifled some of the early development of the airplane in the US and distracted them from their own pursuits to this end. I suggest you read the book it has quite a bit of information on the early development of aviation both here and in the rest of the world. If you are a student of aviation it is a worthy read. The old saying "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink" applies to all of us I am afraid.

[Hook]

The Wrights were not trying to protect their patents so that they would not be revealed as charlatans but to protect their inventions from exploitation. Their protectionism stifled some of the early development of the airplane in the US and distracted them from their own pursuits to this end.

No one is saying the Wrights were charlatans.

I guess this is why European aviation was ahead of the US in the early days. I'd been wondering about that.

All this time I'd been thinking the question was about who got credit, but it appears to be much more important than that.

"...all that was really required was a light enough engine, which was then designed (mostly) and made by Charlie Taylor (the wright brothers mechanic)"

The last thing I read about the Wright brothers said that they created the engine used and this was what really enabled their flight. What was their relationship to Charlie Taylor?

This whole story sounds like something that would annoy me greatly if I were to read it. I'd prefer to think of the Wright brothers as heroes.

Hook

[dvm]

Hey hook, have you watched the video ? If you do you will be surprised at how much you will learn about the wrights, their successes and their failures. They will still be your heroes but for legitimate reasons.

[dvm]

I was thinking about this subject which of course is dangerous since I have a propensity to bloviate and wax philosophically. I think it is a mistake to take famous people of the past out of context when we examine their lives. The Wrights were of the Victorian age and their mores reflected this. There protectionism was driven by a conservative and tight fisted view of finances. If you compare them with the average young person today there is quite a contrast in my opinion. Most of us baby boomers were raised by parents of the WWII generation and their parents were from the depression era. The memories of hard times were still very real to them and they passed it on to us. I think it is safe to say that baby boomers as a group are on average financially better off than the current generation. There are lots of reasons for this but I believe being fiscally responsible and often down right frugal has contributed. I digress, more importantly when we asses someone's life we need to consider their successes as well as their failures. I think on balance the Wright's contributions far out weigh there missteps.

[JB3DG]

and just to play devils advocate .. could the Wright flyer really be classed as a aeroplane? it couldn't even take off under its own power after all

False. Alternative facts. They did routinely take off without the catapult.

[dvm]

I am going to ask one more time of all those that made comments about the wright brothers and this thread how many actually watched the 45 minute video. Greg answers the majority of the questions that relate to the claim that the Wright bros invented the airplane. If you have evidence that would dispute the information (claims) laid out in the video I would appreciate this information.