First Flight: The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Airplane - Rilegato

Heppenheimer, T.A.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0471401242 ISBN 13: 9780471401247

Casa editrice: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2003

Riassunto

Publishing in its centennial year, this title looks at what Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved on December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina when they made the first successful flight of an engine-powered plane and how they accomplished it. Aviation writer T.A. Heppenheimer puts their achievement in context of the other early attempts at building a viable airplane.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

T. A. HEPPENHEIMER is a well-known author who has published extensively on aviation and aerospace, business, and the history of technology. Among his many books are Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation, Countdown: A History of Space Flight, and A Brief History of Flight, all available from Wiley. He holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Aerospace.

Dal risvolto di copertina interno

How did a couple of bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, accomplish what some of the greatest minds in the world had been trying and failing to achieve for an entire century? Dumb luck? Trial and error? Or were the Wright brothers superb engineers whose invention was the product of diligent study, careful analysis, and a thorough understanding of the successes and failures of their predecessors?

In First Flight, acclaimed aviation writer T. A. Heppenheimer debunks the popular assumption that the Wright brothers were a pair of amateurs whose successful attempt to build and pilot a powered airplane was the result of simple persistence and serendipity. He demonstrates that Wilbur and Orville Wright were true engineering geniuses who had already produced substantial improvements on the inventions and research of othersand whose feat equaled those of Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and other giants of the age of invention.

This compelling biography/technological history traces the brothers interest in mechanics, engineering, mathematics, and flight to their earliest childhood, when they "lived together, played together, worked together, and, in fact, thought together." It shows how, from early efforts in the printing businesswhich included a press designed and built by Orville and a paper-folding device designed and built by Wilburto their successful ventures in the newly emerging bicycle industry, both brothers demonstrated a high degree of ingenuity, creativity, and engineering prowess.

Recounting the contributions of such important aviation pioneers as Samuel P. Langley, Octave Chanute, and Otto Lilienthal, First Flight reveals that the Wright brothers succeeded by focusing on the single problem that none of their predecessors fully confronted: how to control the flight of a powered, heavier-than-air vehicle.

Follow the Wrights as they reason their way to "wing warping" as the key to directional control, rethink accepted ideas on the optimum shape of an airfoil, and devise methods for the sustained and repeated testing of their theories and designs. Youll go with them to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where they test a series of gliders, develop crucial piloting skills, and race against the well-financed Langley/Smithsonian Institution project to achieve the first piloted, powered flight.

First Flight features clear, easy-to-understand explanations of early flight technology and detailed accounts of the Wright brothers substantial post-1903 contributions to air travel. It is must reading for aviation buffs, history and biography readers, and anyone who enjoys a rousing tale about real people who set their sights on a goal and triumph against the odds.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: John Wiley & Sons Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2003
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0471401242
• ISBN 13: 9780471401247
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 394
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile