5 ms·

The difference is that Bell didn't understand aerodynamics and didn't seem to do a thing about it. The Wright brothers, not happy with they thought they knew a

The difference is that Bell didn't understand aerodynamics and didn't seem to do a thing about it. The Wright brothers, not happy with they thought they knew about aerodynamics built their own wind tunnel and proceeded to fully understand what they needed in order to achieve successful controlled flight under power. Bell's design was nearly optimized for all forms of drag.

orbitingpluto 10y ago
Poor Gustave Whitehead. Overlooked yet again... maybe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead
- MegaButts 10y ago
  Reading this makes me wonder how accurate our historical records are. And then I think of this. http://pbfcomics.com/209/ http://pbfcomics.com/209/
  - dghughes 10y ago
    Look at the Alaskan panhandle dispute you'd think Canada (British controlled at the time) wanted to give the land to US. Roosevelt threatened to send in Marines to take it by force just because he wanted it. We did not want to give up anything but you get stuck in the middle of back-stabbing politicians and a war monger president you don't have much choice. History is written by the victors.
- emmelaich 10y ago
  And Lawrence Hargrave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_flying_machines#Kites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_flying_machines#Kites Not powered, but still a significant pioneer. That whole WP page gives a good perspective.
- lostlogin 10y ago
  Richard Pearce is our contender for first flight - possibly before the Wright brothers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse
- justforFranz 10y ago
  Poor Franz Reichelt, also, sadly...overlooked. But he did make a great movie and left quite an impression. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt
- rebootthesystem 10y ago
  I think the huge difference between the Wright brothers and everyone before (and contemporary) to them was that they devoted a non-trivial amount of time to the testing, measurement and understanding of airfoils in their wind tunnel. Before that everyone was guessing. They produced accurate scientific data before deciding how to build their next generation aircraft. Revelations such as wing aspect ratio as a performance factor were crucial. Wing and propeller airfoil selection was also done scientifically. NASA has a great deal of information about this. https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/wrights/results.html https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/wrights/results.h...

orbitingpluto 10y ago

Poor Gustave Whitehead. Overlooked yet again... maybe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Whitehead

MegaButts 10y ago
Reading this makes me wonder how accurate our historical records are. And then I think of this. http://pbfcomics.com/209/ http://pbfcomics.com/209/
- dghughes 10y ago
  Look at the Alaskan panhandle dispute you'd think Canada (British controlled at the time) wanted to give the land to US. Roosevelt threatened to send in Marines to take it by force just because he wanted it. We did not want to give up anything but you get stuck in the middle of back-stabbing politicians and a war monger president you don't have much choice. History is written by the victors.
emmelaich 10y ago
And Lawrence Hargrave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_flying_machines#Kites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_flying_machines#Kites Not powered, but still a significant pioneer. That whole WP page gives a good perspective.
lostlogin 10y ago
Richard Pearce is our contender for first flight - possibly before the Wright brothers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse
justforFranz 10y ago
Poor Franz Reichelt, also, sadly...overlooked. But he did make a great movie and left quite an impression. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt
rebootthesystem 10y ago
I think the huge difference between the Wright brothers and everyone before (and contemporary) to them was that they devoted a non-trivial amount of time to the testing, measurement and understanding of airfoils in their wind tunnel. Before that everyone was guessing. They produced accurate scientific data before deciding how to build their next generation aircraft. Revelations such as wing aspect ratio as a performance factor were crucial. Wing and propeller airfoil selection was also done scientifically. NASA has a great deal of information about this. https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/wrights/results.html https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/wrights/results.h...