FLIGHT
Many of us have been reading a great deal concerning the first flights made by Orville and Wilbur Wright from the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903.
Such anniversary dates, it seems, cause writers and editors to dredge up everything that has been written concerning such subjects and re-publish them in a special flow. It is easy to become sated on a set subject.
Before the subject of the Wright Brothers is set aside in favor of another date of importance, may I recommend you read an article in Smithsonian Magazine. It is in April 2003 edition, page 50, written by James Tobin titled "To Fly" It is, in my estimation, the best of the current spate of praise and acclaim.
For me, this article seemed to to be a worthwhile addition to the the remembering the exploits of the Wright Brothers. So few writers, delving in the sometimes rather musty backgrounds of these two bachelors of Dayton, Ohio fail to show us why and how could, or would, be driven to undertake such a puzzle as flight. He emphasis their “meticulous attention to detail" which was the hallmark for everything they did. They were undertaking something which was being investigated by some of the leading minds of their time, many with sufficient financial backing to assure stability to the project, and the author returns again and again to their innate sense of exactness.
One example, when then Wrights realized the slightest crash of their craft often caused delay and expense because joints of the wing structure pulled apart an had to be repaired or replaced -absorb time and money. They were concerned, too, about the overall weight of the craft and other sought to devise a new kind of connective. In place of wooden dowels which weighed less than metal screws, clamps or nails, they substituted short lengths of cord or rope, used as dowels, pressed from each end in a touch of strong glue. It was steps such as that creative and innovative idea which enabled the Wrights to enter the competitive field with a glider model which weighted only 112 pounds; light enough for three men to lift it and place it in any desire position. Little attentions to small details, such as this, and their special realization of natural ways of wing design – gull-inspired - combined and caused them to have to hold the craft down at times to keep it from flying away alone and unguided by itself in Kitty Hawk's brisk breezes. “Suddenly" the writer observes," they were no longer holding it up but holding it down".
Excepts from James Tobin book do more to set the Wright Brothers apart from being two bike mechanics who chanced upon the means of true and sustained flight. He deals forthrightly with their problems and we witness "“the meticulous attention to detail" which puts them well ahead of others.
A.L.M. April 21, 2003 [c792wds]
