Twelve Seconds to the Moon

by Catherine Fitzgerald and Rosamond Young

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0961163402
• ISBN13: 9780961163402
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Air Force Museum Foundation, Incorporated
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

WRIGHT-ON

This book will interest the serious aviation historian and the "airplane buff." First published in 1978 by the Dayton newspaper The Journal Herald, in 1985 the United States Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc. published this revised edition. The text contains many direct quotations. For example, in 1899 when Wilbur wrote the Smithsonian Institution for documents/references on flight, this book presents Wilbur's letter as written.Understanding the Wright brothers requires understanding their family. The text devotes the first fifteen pages to a discussion of the Wright family. The brothers became interested in flying after reading an 1894 magazine article describing the experiments of Otto Lilienthal. After extensive studying documents and gulls, the Wrights concluded that control was essential to flying and that "wing warping" was the key to the critical element, lateral control. They built a full-size man-carrying glider, which was first tested as a kite and then flown carrying a man. Because of favorable wind conditions, they chose Kitty Hawk North Carolina for their test site. The text provides an excellent account of their experiments from 1900 through 1902. When their 1901 glider failed to meet expectations, they discovered that Lilienthal's aeronautical tables, the glider's design basis, were incorrect. They built a wind tunnel and developed their own, correct, aeronautical tables. The text notes, "Their ingenious testing laid the foundation for all future aeronautical research."Following successful tests of their 1902 glider, the Wrights decided they were ready for powered flight. Unable to find a suitable gasoline engine for flight, they designed and built their own. Also, as Carl Taylor (their machinist/mechanic) wrote, "I think the hardest job Will and Orv had was the propellers. I don't believe they were given enough credit for that development.... They couldn't find any formula for what they needed. So they developed their own and this they did in the wind tunnel." In 1903 they returned to Kitty Hawk. On December 17 at 10:35 a.m. Orville made the first successful man-carrying flight traveling 120 feet in twelve seconds. A total of four flights were made that day. The last flight by Wilbur was 852 feet in 59 seconds after which a wind gust wrecked the aeroplane. Newspapers gave scant coverage of these flights. The book notes that during their experimental tests, the Wrights produced five great inventions: (1) "wing warping", (2) the forward elevator-later moved to the rear, (3) the wind tunnel, (4) the moveable single vertical rudder, and (5) an effective aircraft propeller. Quite an accomplishment for a couple of bicycle mechanics. In 1904 the brothers began a series of tests on a farm outside of Dayton. By the end of 1905, the Wrights were competent /experienced aviators. After 1905, the brothers did not fly again for almost three years. The text gives an interesting account of the Wrights' subsequent legal battles and their fight for