Wright flyer

Hi

Try

Admittedly not the 1903 flyer but on the above page you can download free of charge a complete set of engineering drawings (20 sheets) to enable you to build a FULL SIZE - FLYING - replica of their 1902 glider. However the site does point out:- "This is a very primitive glider and can be quite dangerous, even for a skilled pilot".

You could presumably scale it down!!!!!!!! 8^)

Regards

KGB

Hi again

Since posting the above, I have found that you can order a complete set of plans detailing the airframe and engine of the 1903 flyer from the Smithsonian for $75.

The order form is at:-

Regards

KGB

Thanks

Darek

There's a "semi-scale" plan featured in the December 2003 issue of the UK magazine RC Model World. It's a 1:12 scale model (about 1 metre wingspan) and uses two 150 electric motors. Flight performance seems a little marginal though according to the article!

The plan is No. MW3059 and costs ?10 from Traplet Publications

though strangely the on-line store on their website can't seem to find it! Might be worth emailing them - snipped-for-privacy@traplet.co.uk

DARE makes a laser-cut kit for about $70. It doesn't use wing-warping, but that can be added. There are some pictures on the CRRC Pictures website:

under Davis '03 near the bottom. The scale is 1"=1' and Wilbur is made from blue foam.

-Fritz

You could probably pick up a pre-built full scale at Kitty Hawk...real cheap. :)

Bob

Are you kidding? I saw where it is valued at 2 million dollars! Wow!

And to the uninformed out there, it did fly, just not in the rain, with no wind, and not cold enough, at the magic time.

Thank you, Jim. My wife and I were there, and witnessed the incredible feat the Wright Experience tried to accomplish. First, they built an EXACT replica, using only sketchy notes, drawings, and old fuzzy pictures. Next, they decided to display their efforts in front of several thousand people in person and many more thousand through news coverage, even though the plane had been successfully flown only twice before. They were willing to say, "This is all we got, but we're proud of it." The Wright brothers picked that area because it was secluded, the Wright Experience picked it for just the opposite reasons.

How many of you will not display a first flight of your cheap little R/C plane in front of even a couple of friendly spectators?

If the Wright flyer is anything like the simulator I flew, and videos of the successful flights show, it's a hairy beast. It is extremely sensitive to pitch control input. Videos of successful (and not so successful) flights show the pilot sawing on the elevator stick to maintain a reasonabley level flight.

On Wednesday, at the Memorial, there was cold, wet air; with a heavy rain falling off and on. The Wright Flyer requires a very narrow wind envelope. They needed no less than 10 knots down the rail. When they made the first attempt, they had 8. They had even less when they started it up for the second attempt, and wisely aborted.

We sat out under plastic ponchos from 7:00AM to around 3:30PM (Check the weather reports for then, people. How many of you would have done it?), and wouldn't have missed any second of it. What the Wright brothers did was magnificent. What the Wright Experience did was an incredible experience to be a part of!

I certainly hope Bob Adkins was joking with his "cheap" remark. If he was serious, he's an idiot. For sale cheap? HA!!! A million dollars couldn't replace the experience we had at the Centennial from Monday to Wednesday. Everything was wonderful: the exibits, informational shows, entertainment, static displays, air-type personalities, airshows, and fly-overs (including Air Force One wagging its wings at the crowd in a low fly-by as it returned President Bush to DC). Cheap? BS!

BTW On Thursday, as we were having breakfast in a local restaurant, the entire Wright Experience walked in and sat down next to us. We recognized them immediately. The first thing we did was to stand and give them a well-deserved ovation. Then we sat down with them and chatted a while. They are extremely knowlegeable and dedicated people, giving long hours, many dollars, and much heartbreak to this project. Why? Like Mount Everest "because it's there." One turned to my wife and asked her, "Were you disappoionted that it didn't fly?" Her immediate answer, echoed by me, was , "Oh, gawd, no!" Think how THEY felt on Wednesday...

If they decided to try it again next month in a blizzard or or in a hurricane, we would be there, in a heartbeat!!!

Cheap? Not damn hardly! Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

Did they go back and try again? I missed it! :(

Bob

Bravo, Dr.1 !

Bill (oc)

Wright Experience picked it for just the opposite reasons.<

Actually the Wright brothers choose Kitty Hawk for the wind conditions, they needed steady winds for their glider experiments. The sites seclusion was probably not even considered, since the Wrights were willing to share information that they discovered when they started with their glider experiments. They started being secretive about their discoveries after they had started with their glider experements at Kitty Hawk.

Given the Wright Experiences stated goal they had no choice in the location of their flight. If they were unable to secure permission to make the attempt at Kitty Hawk, they would have had to change their goal, since reproducing the flight at the exact time, and location would have been impossible.

I applaud the efforts of all the groups trying to accurately reproduce the early Wright aircraft for the centennial.

Ken Barnes

Bob, actually the front lifted off the rail. The skids may have left the ground for a split second. That's close enough for me!

They were ready for a second attempt Wednesday afternoon, but the wind only managed to reach 6 knots. They had the flyer on the skids with the engine running, and aborted the flight. Part of the consideration was the pilot's safety.

As soon as it came up, the wind died and the front came back down off the rail. That's when it "splashed in the mud puddle", as I've heard it described.

On the first attempt, one of the 4 engine cylinders was misfiring due to excessive moisture. Afterwards, they took it back into the hanger to assess damage and retune the engine to run in the damp, heavy air.

According to the docent at the Wright Memorial, Wilbur requested the country's windiest locations. He chose to write the postmaster at Kitty Hawk for information because of the wind. He chose Kitty Hawk as the site because the KH postmaster wrote that it was long sandy beaches with lots of wind AND was secluded. There are no blueprints or construction drawings because the Wrights were afraid someone else would take their ideas and beat them to the skies. At the time, there was parallel research going on by others. It was a race to the skies. In fact, the docent said there "MAY" have been other flights before, but there was NO documentation.

They built the plane, they tried.....THAT'S enough for me!

Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

Dr.1 Driver wrote,

In their '03 Flyer, the Wrights had the CG so far back it had the potential to swap ends, or 'blow over backward'. They moved the CG forward in their later Flyers, thus loading the elevators in more proper canard fashion (as well as extending the elevators farther forward). Pitch stability was still marginal at best, as in that old movie you see the pilot horsing the elevators like mad, fighting to maintain pitch control. Anybody know if the replica '03 machine has the CG same as original? Bill(oc)

Now DR1, you know I was joshing. Shame on you for even thinking that. I used to live right down the road from the Wright memorial, and visited often. I revere them and their efforts just as much as any other common pygmy.

Bob

My impression is that it was the same CG as the 1903 Flyer.

They sought historical accuracy in every other detail. I don't think they ballasted the plane at all.

Same planform, same materials, same structural layout = same C.G.

Some university students built a "lookalike" flyer using modern materials, a different airfoil, two pilots seats ahead of the leading edge, and the engine shifted forward, too. They made it fly fairly well, I guess.

Marty

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Yes. A quick Google under 'Utah State Wright Flyer' will turn up some wonderful info on this project, which was based on the 1905 machine. It's built of space age composites and CF, and flies extremely well, without the pitch instability problems of the original. Since '03 is also the anniversary of Harley Davidson, Utah State's plane is powered by what else- a rasty Harley Davidson engine driving the chains and sprockets. The high point of its career so far has been to fly in the hallowed airspace of Huffman Prairie itself. It's there that Steven Wright and Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandnephew and great-grandniece of the Wright brothers, took rides in the plane, in the same skies as their uncles.

Bill(oc)

Predator --

If you're really looking for a true scale model of one, try Arizona Model Crafters. Their site lists it as being available in kit form in most all scales from 1/12th to full size.

range from $495 to $25,400.

Here's the Arizona Wright flyer set up with R

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wan2fl

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These are inline gearboxes on IPS motor

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wan2fl

Things aren't what the used to be, and they never wer

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