The Wind and Beyond: The ascent of the airplaneNational Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Office, Office of External Relations, 2003 |
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aerial navigation aerodrome aerodynamic research aeroplane aerospace Air Force air speed aircraft airfoils airplane American angle of incidence apparatus Archives aviation balance birds blades body Boeing center of pressure Committee for Aeronautics construction curve density descent diameter direction Document effect engine equilibrium exit cone experimental experiments flight flow fluid flying machine full-sized gliding History of Aerodynamics horizontal horsepower Hunsaker inches increased investigation kite Langley Langley Field Langley's lift Lilienthal McCook Field measured meters miles an hour miles per hour motion motor moving Munk NACA NACA's NASA National Advisory Committee Navy obtained Octave Chanute operator Orville Wright Otto Lilienthal plane possible pounds practical problem propeller ratio Report resistance Reynolds number rudder screw soaring square feet surface sustaining technical tests Theodore von Kármán tube velocity vertical Washington Washington Navy Yard weight Wilbur Wilbur Wright wind tunnel wings Wright brothers
Popular passages
Page 307 - Committee (1) to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution...
Page 309 - President or to the heads of executive departments upon special inquiries or subjects appropriate thereto, and an annual report to the Congress shall be submitted through the President, including as full a statement of the activities of the Council and the agencies subordinate to it as is consistent with the public interest, Including an itemized account...
Page 37 - The whole problem is confined within these limits, viz. to make a surface support a given weight by the application of power to the resistance of air.
Page 21 - From the time we were little children my brother Orville and myself lived together, played together, worked together and, in fact, thought together. We usually owned all of our toys in common, talked over our thoughts and aspirations so that nearly everything that was done in our lives has been the result of conversations, suggestions and discussions between us.
Page 207 - That in arched surfaces the center of pressure at 90 degrees is near the center of the surface, but moves slowly forward as the angle becomes less, till a critical angle varying with the shape and depth of the curve is reached, after which it moves rapidly toward the rear till the angle of no lift is found. 4. That with similar conditions, large surfaces may be controlled with not much greater difficulty than small ones, if the control is effected by manipulation of the surfaces themselves, rather...
Page 197 - The wonder was not that he had done so little, but that he had accomplished so much. It would not be considered at all safe for a bicycle rider to attempt to ride through a crowded city street after only five hours...
Page 196 - My own active interest in aeronautical problems dates back to the death of Lilienthal in 1896. The brief notice of his death which appeared in the telegraphic news at that time aroused a passive interest which had existed from my childhood and led me to take down from the shelves of our home library a book on Animal Mechanism, by Professor Marey, which I had already read several times.
Page 74 - Having remarked how thin a stratum of air is displaced beneath the wings of a bird in rapid flight, it follows that in order to obtain the necessary length of plane for supporting heavy weights, the surfaces may be superposed, or placed in parallel rows, with an interval between them. A dozen pelicans may fly one above the other without mutual impediment, as if framed together ; and it is thus shown how two hundredweight may be supported in a transverse distance of only ten feet.
Page 200 - But as the former machine was not able to support the weight of the operator when flown as a kite, except in very high winds and at very large angles of incidence, we decided to increase its lifting power. Accordingly, the curvature of the surfaces was increased to 1 in 12, to conform to the shape on which Lilienthal's table was based, and to be on the safe side, we decided also to increase the area of the machine from 165 square feet to 308 square feet, although so large a machine had never before...
Page 1 - SUCCESS FOUR FLIGHTS THURSDAY MORNING ALL AGAINST TWENTYONE MILE WIND STARTED FROM LEVEL WITH ENGINEPOWER ALONE AVERAGE SPEED THROUGH AIR THIRTYONE MILES LONGEST FIFTYSEVEN SECONDS INFORM PRESS HOME CHRISTMAS...