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The Four forces of flight

The Four forces of flight.jpg The Wright Brothers experimental gliderThumbnailsWright Brothers' Wind tunnelThe Wright Brothers experimental gliderThumbnailsWright Brothers' Wind tunnelThe Wright Brothers experimental gliderThumbnailsWright Brothers' Wind tunnelThe Wright Brothers experimental gliderThumbnailsWright Brothers' Wind tunnelThe Wright Brothers experimental gliderThumbnailsWright Brothers' Wind tunnel
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after testing more than 200 wing designs and plane surfaces in their wind tunnel, the Wright Brothers found out how to figure correctly the amount of curve, or camber, that was essential to weight-carrying wings. They discovered, too, that before man could be flown through the air, he must have his wings attached firmly to a body or platform which was firm and controllable. The Wrights in their earliest experiments had realized that to be practical their machine must be built not only to fly in a straight line, but also in order that it could be steered to the right or to the left. One day, Orville was twisting a cardboard box in his hand when Wilbur noticed it. Immediately he saw the solution to the problem of steering their airplane. The result was a design which changed the lift of either end of the wing by warping its surface. If one end of the wing was warped to give it more lift, the machine would lift on that side and fall off into a turn. Thus the problem of steering was solved by the Wrights

Author
The Story of American Aviation
By James G. Ray
Published in 1946
Available from gutenberg.org
Dimensions
1000*320
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