By Alex Q. Arbuckle RETRONAUT From Mashable

October 1902

The Wright Brothers’ glider tests

Inventing powered flight is not something you can just wing.

Before their groundbreaking powered flight over the dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers conducted hundreds of test flights with unpowered gliders and kites.
Though Orville and Wilbur are widely considered the fathers of powered flight, their true breakthrough was in developing a system of controls to safely balance and steer a flying machine, a paramount task following the deaths of fellow aviation pioneers Otto Lilienthal and Percy Pilcher in glider tests.
Between 1900 and 1902, the brothers designed and flew a series of gliders to test methods of controlling three axes of aircraft movement: yaw, pitch and roll. The first two were handled with a vertical rudder and horizontal elevator, but the true innovation came in their solution for the third axis of control: roll.
Wilbur had noticed that when birds turned in flight, they would twist their wings and lean into the turn. Mimicking this, the brothers used a system of cables to twist and warp the trailing edges of the flexible spruce and fabric wings, causing differences in lift between the two sides.
By the end of October 1902, the brothers had completed nearly a thousand glides among the dunes of Kitty Hawk. They were convinced they had finally achieved complete control of the airplane’s movements — and they were ready to strap on an engine.

“Our new machine is a very great improvement over anything… anyone has built. Everything is so much more satisfactory that we now believe that the flying problem is really nearing its solution.”
WILBUR WRIGHT, OCT. 2, 1902

Visit Premier Exhibitions at 417 5th Avenue to see the past become present again at “Retronaut’s New York.” This pop-up exhibition of extraordinary, digitally restored photographs captures New York City at the turn of the 20th century. It’s only open until May 15, so be sure to get down there before it’s gone.

IMAGES:
“Wilbur gliding to the right, bottom view of glider.”
IMAGE: WRIGHT BROTHERS/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

“Side view of Wilbur gliding in level flight, moving to right near bottom of Big Hill.”
IMAGE: WRIGHT BROTHERS/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

“Rear view of Wilbur making a right turn in glide from No. 2 Hill, right wing tipped close to the ground.”
IMAGE: WRIGHT BROTHERS/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

“Wilbur gliding down steep slope of Big Kill Devil Hill.”
IMAGE: WRIGHT BROTHERS/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

“A glide with the double-rudder machine moving to the left, north slope of Big Kill Devil Hill.”
IMAGE: WRIGHT BROTHERS/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

“Left view of Wilbur gliding, Kitty Hawk Lifesaving Station and Weather Bureau buildings in distance.”
IMAGE: WRIGHT BROTHERS/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

“Orville making right turn, showing warping of wings, hill visible in front of him.”
IMAGE: WRIGHT BROTHERS/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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