Abstract
THE original Wright aeroplane of 1903—the first power-driven man-carrying aeroplane to make a free, controlled and sustained flight—was lent by Mr. Orville Wright in 1928 for exhibition in the Science Museum, London, for an initial period of five years. On October 18 it was taken down for packing in crates in readiness for its return to the United States. This machine was designed and built by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright at Dayton, Ohio, in 1903, and was flown at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17. The first flight lasted 12 sec. and was made in a wind of about twenty miles per hour, the machine being piloted by Mr. Orville Wright ; altogether four flights were made on the morning of that day. The last flight was one of 59 sec., when the distance covered was 852 ft. ; the machine was then overturned by a gust of wind while left unattended, and the damage caused prevented further experiments at that time. After these first flights, the aeroplane was preserved in the Wright Laboratory at Dayton. Certain parts which were damaged were replaced by Mr. Orville Wright himself, and the machine was restored to its original condition. An exact replica of the aeroplane has now been made and will be exhibited in its place at the Science Museum. Dr. H. Shaw, director of the Museum, is to accompany the machine to the United States, where it will be preserved in the National Air Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. It should arrive there in good time for the forty-fifth anniversary of its first flight on December 17, 1903.
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The Original Wright Aeroplane. Nature 162, 646 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162646c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162646c0