WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AFTER 1903 AND 1908?

摘要

The achievement of the Wright Brothers on the windy cold beach of Kitty Hawk on 17 December 1903 is well-known and not in doubt. They were truly first to fly an airplane, that is, a powered flying vehicle under control of a pilot on-board with no external means of power. Wilbur, older than Orville by four years, had failed to fly in a weak wind three days earlier. (Who was first to try was decided by a coin toss!) Nearby at the right wingtip Wilbur is anxiously watching the First Flight 116 years ago. His brother Orville was on board the canard for the picture familiar to anyone who has even passing interest in aviation history. Interpretation of the photograph of the first piloted flight, the most famous picture of the 20th century (according to Life magazine's assessment at the close of the century), is far more complicated and has a much more poignant interpretation than commonly believed. The main purposes of this paper are to explore and to explain a few of the many reasons that the man who virtually alone must be recognized as the inventor of the airplane, was Wilbur; his accomplishments deserve everyone's praise and should not be diminished by the almost universal practice that gives equal status to the two brothers as co-inventors. The man who will always be known (and celebrated) as the first to fly a powered aircraft (correct) was certainly not the man who had the ideas that made the first flight possible. It was truly a magnificent event caught in an unforgettable picture, of an historical occasion. I believe that it is important that beliefs based on, and related to that picture be soundly based.