Kitty Hawk Research Paper

Michael Kang
Period 6
Introduction:
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright Flyer, (also known as The “Kitty Hawk”,) became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, two of most the renowned heroes of America, were the first ever to experience controlled, continuous flight of a powered airplane in the history of aerodynamics. Despite the lack of education, the duo used teamwork and their dexterity from past jobs to invent what was seen as impossible at the time: The Kitty Hawk. They gained the expertise of mechanical engineering essential for their success by working years in their shop that contained printing presses,

Both brothers attended high school, but neither did not receive diplomas. The family abruptly moved in 1884 from Richmond, Indiana, to Dayton, Ohio, where the family had been living in the 1870s, Unfortunately this, prevented Wilbur from receiving his diploma although he had finished four years of high school. Wilbur was accidentally struck in the face by a hockey stick while playing an ice-skating game with friends during his teenage years, which resulted in the loss of his front teeth. Although his injury did not seem great, he became withdrawn, and did not attend Yale as he originally had planned. Instead, he spent the next few years reclusively, caring for his mother who had her diagnosed with tuberculosis and studying thoroughly in his father's library. Conversely, Orville dropped out of high school after his junior year to start a printing business in 1889, having designed and built his own printing press with the help of Wilbur. Wilbur eventually joined the print shop, and in March the brothers launched a weekly newspaper, West Side News. In April of 1890, they converted the paper to a daily, The Evening Item, but it lasted only four months. From then on, they both focused on commercial

The brothers concluded this would also be a good way for a flying machine to turn or to "bank" into the turn just like a bird would, and just like a person riding a bicycle. They hoped this method would enable recovery when the wind tilted the machine to one side, which is coined as “Lateral Balance,” a term in Physics. They puzzled over how to achieve the same effect with man-made wings and eventually discovered a new method and coined it as “Wind Warping.” On July 1899, Wilbur tested his theory of "wind warping" by building and flying a biplane kite that had a wingspan of 6 feet. When the wings were warped, or twisted, one end of the wings produced more lift and the other end produced less lift. Unequal lift made the wings tilts, or bank: the end with more lift rose, while the other end dropped, causing a turn in the direction of the lower end. Warping was controlled by four cords attached to the kite. The cords led to two sticks held by the kite flyer, which tilted them in opposite directions to twist the wings.
By 1900, the brothers ventured their way to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to begin their pre-planned gliding experiments. Octave Chanute, one of Wilbur’s close friends, suggested to the Brothers to travel to the mid-Atlantic coast for its regular breezes and soft sandy landing surface. Kitty Hawk was