Special: The Wright Flight

Pilots!

None of us would be here today playing World of Warplanes if it weren’t for Orville and Wilbur Wright. The two men were American brothers, engineers and of course pioneers of aviation who lived around the turn of the 20^th century. On December 17^th 1903 they became the first humans to achieve powered flight on an airplane that they had designed and constructed themselves – including the engine!

Although they were not the first to fly experimental aircraft, they certainly were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible. The Wright Brothers were by all accounts two remarkable technological innovators whose daring inventions laid the foundation for aviation as we know it today.

This week you can celebrate their achievements with the following bonuses in the game:

Triple XP for the first victory of the day with each plane

Fly your favourite plane and win three times the amount of XP that you normally would.

The special runs from Monday December 16^th at 06:30 until Friday December 20^th at 06:00 CET (GMT +1).

The First Flight – Dec 17^th 1903

The first ever powered fixed-wing aircraft flight is credited to the Wright Brothers and took place on December 17^th 1903. It was the result of a long process of development by Wilbur and Orville Wright, who started out running a bicycle sales and repair shop in Ohio. Their interest in flight was a hobby, and it began by studying the properties of box kites. The first breakthrough came with the discovery of a process called wing-warping. The meant twisting the wings in order to bank left or right, resulting in a controlled turn.

The brothers started experimenting with gliders in 1900. The earliest gliders were more like large box kites than planes – there was no fuselage or tail, just the wing arrangement and a caddy for a pilot or ballast load. The experimental gliders performed poorly, leading the Wright Brothers to challenge the accuracy of the current data and equations on aeronautical lift, and conduct their own research by building their own wind tunnel in their bicycle shop.

Over the next couple of years, the glider designs were improved based on the continual test results.  A wing rudder was added and the wings became longer and narrower. It was at this time that the principle of ‘Three-Axis Control’ developed – in which roll (to turn by rolling), pitch (up and down) and yaw (turn using the rudder) were all independently controlled. Three-axis control is still the basic control mechanism used to date.

In 1903, the Wright Brothers were ready to add power to the mix. Their first powered plane, the Wright Flyer I was built from spruce wood and muslin cloth. The propellers were hand-carved from wood, and a purpose-built gasoline engine made from aluminium provided the power.

The date of the flight ended up being heavily delayed due to problems with broken propeller shafts during tests. The first proper flight attempt was made on December 14^th with Wilbur piloting. However, the plane stalled after take-off, causing a crash and damage.

After repairs had been made, the next attempt took place on December 17^th 1903 at 10:35 am. Orville was the pilot, and this time the flight was successful. The plane flew 120 feet (37 m) in 12 seconds at a height of 10 feet (3 m) above the ground. The moment of flight was captured in a famous photograph.

At the time, both local and international journalists didn’t pay much attention to the event. It was only a few years later that the Wright Brothers’ achievements was recognised. Global innovation soon followed, with designers across the world building upon the basic principles of the Wright Flyer. Within the space of just ten years, plane technology had evolved from the very basic flyer into the biplane era.

Wilbur Wright died of sickness in May 1912, just a few years after the above photograph was taken.  Orville lived to see the vast role played by aircraft in World War II. He died in 1948. 

Why don’t you try flying an early bi-plane in honour of the Wright brothers this week, pilots?