Charles Delaunay

by Frank M. Roberts

October 2015

Everyone knows about the achievement of the Wright Brothers. It was a great and exciting moment in history, and visitors to the Kitty Hawk Wright site can listen to guides who will reiterate what they probably already know. School childrenoften make trips to see - well - a replica of the Wright Brothers craft. The original is in D. C., at the Smithsonian.

You probably didn't know that the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight suceeded thanks to Wilbur's questionable mathematic skills. Otherwise, those wild blue yonder honors would have gone to Great Britain

Percy Sinclair Pilcher had experimented with gliders at his Eynsford home, in Kent, and he was succesful enough to get a patent for the world's first practical design for a powered aircraft. In 1899 he designed an engine - light enough, but powerful enough to power the craft, according to Phil Mason, an historian-author who noted that Pilcher began his glider experiments in 1896.

"It was at a time when the Wrights had only just decided to start experimenting with gliders," he said, rubbing a bit of salt into the wound.

Pilcher accepted an invitation from a friend to display his glider, the Hawk. The date was Sept. 30, 1899. He was flying at 30 feet when a small rod in the tail broke. He crashed, seriously injuring himself. He died three days later.

He was only 32-years-old when he dreamt of, "a British first fligt," Mason wrote, ruefully adding, "history's accolade for inventing powered, sustained, and controlled heavier-than-air flight would go elsewhere."

Like - er - here.

In 2003 to mark the centenary of the first manned flight, Brit enthusiasts built a replica of the Hawk, Mason said, adding, "it flew for 38 seconds." That was three times longer then the Wrights' first foray into the wild blue yonder.

In the good, old USA that year there was a similar celebration, but with a different cast of characters, working this time with the help of a computer. It showed that Wilbur and Orville's flight came perilously close to failure. Mason said the Wright flight succeeded, "only because of a combination of fortunate weather and Wilbur Wright getting his sums wrong."

The reconstruction was ordered to satisfy the American Institute of Aeronautics' health and safety requirements for flying an exact replica of the Wright plane on the centenary. Mason said that analysts discovered that the flight was saved from stalling only because of the higher efficiency of the propeller than Wilbur had calculated. Another big help was the weather - winds blowing from the right direction and at the right speed.

"The Wright Flyer was 75 pounds heavier than originally designed, but was saved by the unexpected performance from the propeller. The replica was required to fly significantly faster than the 30-miles-an-hour achieved in the real first flight - to prevent it from catastrophically stalling," Mason said.

In the event, bad weather and high winds prevented the replica achieving any lift-off at all at the ceremonial commemoration on Dec 17, 2003.

So - kids -if you're getting a 'D' in math, fret not. You could eventually become an achiever.

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Time to lighten up with a little airplane humor. One of my favorites is about the UFO that landed at the Kennedy Airport. The aliens were safe, but they lost their luggage.

Didja hear about the no-frills airline? No seat belts - just Velcro. I really like the one about the two men who were travelling across the country in an airplane that made a lot of local stops. First stop - a little white wagon drives up and fuels the plane -- second stop, same thing. At about the tenth stop, one passenger turns to the other, saying, "we're making good time, aren't we?" The second passenger said, "yeah, but that white wagon ain't doing bad, either."

Oh, and didja hear about the no-frills airline? They pulled the steps away, and the plane fell over. Finally - my very favorite is about the three engines that went out on a flight. Wearing a parachute, the pilot appeared in front of the passengers and announced, "We've got a lot of problems, but don't worry -- I'm going for help!"

Time for me to bail out.