US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

Today, 12-17-20,is the 117th anniversary of the Wright Bros first powered flight.

We've come a long way, baby! But some of us still prefer simple gliding wings when we fly for fun.

Frank

Frank Colver wrote:Today, 12-17-20,is the 117th anniversary of the Wright Bros first powered flight.

The Wright brothers built gliders before their famous motorized flights. In 1902 they flew 700 to 800 times. The longest glide was about 200 m in 26 seconds. This was in the same ballpark as Lillienthals best flights but with much better control. IMHO, this is an often underrated achievement by the Wrights. Maybe we should celebrate the 119th anniversary of the 1902 glider next year

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Glider#1902_glider
and
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/1902_Wright_Glider

Frank Colver wrote:Today, 12-17-20,is the 117th anniversary of the Wright Bros first powered flight.

We've come a long way, baby! But some of us still prefer simple gliding wings when we fly for fun.

Frank

[youtube]youtube.com/watch?v=ulyKS9tP08[/youtube]

Being well aware of their gliding experiments I made sure to put the word "powered" into my anniversary tribute.

As I recall they also held the record for the longest sustained flight in a glider (by slope soaring) until something like 1909. Noit sure of that, however.

Yeah, good idea to honor their gliding achievements as well as their transition to powered flight.

Frank

Greg DeWolf flying over Francis Rogallo at the Wright memorial in early 1989. The original photo by was by Skip Brown.


Larger image here

Skip Brown Photography Facebook page