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BUILD AND FLY THE WRIGHT
FLYERS
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THE TOOTHPICK AIRFORCE (tm)
concept is actually a formula for achieving balance in design
and construction that allows the reader to build flying
replicas of any aircraft of any era using just paper, paste
and toothpicks! To celebrate the Centennial of Flight you
can build the Wright 1900 glider, the 1901, 1902, and the
flyer that made the worlds first controlled, powered flight,
at Kitty Hawk in December of 1903. |
| Toothpick glider replicas of
the Wrights' first flyers, that fly just like the real
aircraft! |
Follow
the Wrights' progress with replicas of each of their first manned
aircraft, learn the secrets that each successive flyer
revealed!
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From the wing patterns on the
following pages you can construct flying glider replicas of
the airplanes that marked man's first successful flight.
Creasing the paper along the "fold line" makes mirror
image wing surfaces and parts when cut out. Always cut on the
solid lines, bend and crease on the dotted lines. Shown are
all the supplies you will need. The clippers will be very
handy. |
Making Gliders
Fly!
Building gliders that
really fly can be a challenge. First we need to know why they
fly, and there is no better way to do that than to look to the
men who invented flight. Wilbur and Orville Wright planned,
experimented, worked hard and practiced gliding continuously
to conquer the air.
Along the way, they or their
fellow pioneer flyers found a lot of ways to describe the
mechanics of flight and invented special aviation terms and
words you will need to know. |
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We
know now, flight is possible only when there is a balance between
three absolute necessities: lift, control, and thrust.
But in 1900 the Wright brothers had to figure this out for
themselves. These words have special meaning in aviation:
- Lift - The force exerted by the movement of air on an
airfoil, being opposite the force of gravity and causing an
aircraft to stay in the air.
- Control - To hold in restraint or check; to regulate;
to govern.
- Thrust - To push or drive with force.
In their
experiments with their 1900 and 1901 gliders the Wrights used
information from other pioneers of flight. But this information on
how wings created lift did not work the way it was supposed to. The
brothers built one of the first wind tunnels to test the data, and
found the data was wrong. The Wright's wind tunnel experiments and
experience on their first gliders led to building the 1902 glider,
which had new and advanced controls.
The 1902 glider was
larger than any of the other gliders built anywhere in the world up
to then, making some of the longest glides in history possible. With
this glider they were able to perfect their control system, for
which they received a patent in 1906. This three axis control system
allowed for adjustment to yaw, pitch and roll, and is the basis for
all modern aircraft flight.
The final challenge for the
Wright brothers was in developing their own engine, and an efficient
propeller. When the Wrights finally flew on December 17th, 1903,
they had finally mastered lift, control, and thrust!
The
descriptions and definitions on the following page will be helpful
in constructing toothpick replicas of real gliders. Once you have
mastered the basic mechanics of flight, experiment with camber in
Advanced Wing Structure.
Parts of an
airplane
| Biplanes have two wings
with struts between for strength and support. The Wright
elevator was in front. |
Special Terms for Airplanes and
Flying:
- Airplane and aeroplane-An airplane is a
heavier-than-air craft that can be propelled through the air
supporting itself on the lift from its wings. The British and some
Europeans still use the term aeroplane.
- Parts of an airplane-Fuselage, wings, tail assembly,
engine, propellers, and landing gear. A glider is an airplane
technically, even though it has no engine.
- Fuselage-The fuselage is the body of the airplane, or
the airframe that held the wings, engine and tail assembly in
place in the first aircraft. The word comes from the French word
fusele, meaning "spindle shaped."
- Wing-The wing is an airfoil. An airfoil is a surface or
body, like a wing, propeller blade, rudder, or aileron, designed
to obtain a reaction of lift, drag, or thrust when it moves
through the air.
- Tail Assembly-The tail assembly is at the rear of the
fuselage, and usually includes a rudder and elevator to maintain
stability. It is sometimes called the empennage, from the French
word empenner, meaning "to feather the arrow."
- Stability-An airplane is stable if it flies straight
and level, and can be righted if disturbed by a gust of wind or
turbulence. An airplane can be rotated to maintain stability
(using the rudder, elevator, and aileron surfaces) through three
axes; lateral, vertical and longitudinal. These motions are called
yaw, pitch and roll.
- Rudder-The rudder is a control surface usually found at
the rear of modern aircraft. The rudder controls turns to the
right or left, or yaw.
- Elevator-Up and down control (pitch) is provided by
what the Wright Brothers called a horizontal rudder, and we now
call the elevator. The Wrights placed the elevator in front of the
wing, but most modern aircraft elevators are part of the tail.
- Aileron-A control surface set into or near the wing
tips, used to control the longitudinal axis or roll of the
airplane. Ailerons are connected, so that when one is extended up,
the opposite wings aileron is extended downward. Ailerons were
developed from the Wright concept of wing warping, which increases
the lift on one side while simultaneously reducing it on the
other.
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