By Mark Lindberg
A hundred years ago today, two bicycle mechanics, Orville and Wilbur Wright, made a quantum leap in transportation and added another dimension: altitude. They combined a small engine with their latest glider design.
As the result of coin toss, on Dec. 17, 1903, Orville Wright became the first man to fly under power and control. Aeronautical engineers use a concept called the “flight envelope” to measure aircraft performance. It is simply a graph with altitude on the vertical axis and speed on the horizontal.
In 1903, the flight envelope of the Wright Flyer was a few dozen feet and just 10 mph. And the length of that first flight was less than the wingspan of a Boeing 747!
The biplane fighters of World War I were flying at 100 mph over 10,000 feet. By 1944 during WW II, the piston engine Mustang could fly at 400 mph and climb to 30,000 feet. Shortly after Chuck Yeager jumped-started the flight envelope to supersonic in 1947, the 1950s F-8 Crusader was capable of over 1,000 mph and altitudes to 50,000 feet. The United States recently retired the fastest nonrocket airplane. The Lockheed SR-71 spy plane developed by Kelly Johnson in the 1960s was “officially” listed at over 2,000 mph above 80,000 feet. This does not even consider the space program and landing men on the moon in 1969.
A similar pattern emerged with the civilian flight envelope. Following World War I, Army surplus open-cockpit Jenny bi-planes became available to “barn stormers.” These traveling salesmen of aviation winged across the country performing air shows and sharing airplane rides. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh, a former barn stormer, crossed the Atlantic averaging about 100 mph for 33 hours. Lindbergh’s flight to Paris inspired and propelled aviation. No longer would flight be limited to the few who landed in fields and slept under the wing.
The 1930s have been called the “golden age” of aviation. Before World War II, many individuals owned airplanes for both business and pleasure. And for the last time in the early 1930s, a civilian could buy a Beechcraft Staggerwing that had performances equal to the military planes of the day.
The 1930s also saw the airline industry evolve from the red ink of the 100 mph Ford TriMotor to a profitable industry with the 200 mph DC-3. While not pressurized, the DC-3 was a milestone in commercial aviation with modern engine and instrument technology. This connected the continent and allowed flights in inclement weather.
The benefits of World War II wartime aeronautical engineering brought the pressurized DC-7s and Constellations that could fly passengers in comfort above 20,000 feet and 300 mph. When the jet-powered Boeing 707 joined the airline industry in the late 1950s, that flight envelope doubled to 40,000 feet and 600 mph. For several decades, the magnificent Concorde again doubled the speed of civilian air travel to 1,500 mph. Unfortunately, maintenance issues and the enormous fuel consumption recently forced the Concorde into retirement.
The Wright Brothers were more than just bicycle mechanics. They were excellent engineers for their day and made detailed records on hundreds of glider flights. They built a wind tunnel and solved the complex problems of stability and control. Their genius has brought the thrill and enjoyment of aviation to a multitude of flyers including yours truly when on my 18th birthday I earned a private pilot’s license. This century of flight has opened the planet with affordable worldwide transportation.
