Wings Assignment 1: Megan Ater

What impact did flight have on life in the twentieth century?

The impact of flight on the twentieth century was by no doubt huge. One major impact was that flight introduced speed. Speed of transportation (both individuals and shipments), technology advancement, discovery, and cultural mixing. Venturing across an ocean at the beginning of the century was a long journey, but by the end of the century one could travel to the other side of the planet in less than a day. Traveling long distances in short periods of time allowed for different cultures to rapidly influence one another and exchange ideas. “… it also helped the peoples of the world to become more familiar with one another, and made it possible for international aid to reach areas plagued by famine, disease, or natural disaster at the earliest possible moment” (pg. 11). Flight in itself was a technological advancement, but the advancement of flight also aided in a faster advancement of other technologies. Building materials, knowledge, and skilled labor, could be moved around the world faster than ever before to help contribute to further milestones. Flight brought with it both positive and negative impacts, like harsh new war tactics. “But I think it is good for the human race that someone discovered how to start fires and that we have learned to put fire to thousands of important uses” (pg. 14). I must agree that although flight has brought with it new methods of destruction, among other negative impacts, in comparison it has helped society’s movement in a positive direction significantly more.

Why did it take so long for man to realize the dream of flight?

At first glance, one might wonder why it took thousands of years before man was able to fine-tune flight. Ancient civilizations are responsible for great monuments and mind boggling buildings, so why not aerodynamic machines? There is no real documentation of man playing his hand at flight until around the 15^th century. Maybe there was previous tinkling with flight that we do not know about because of lack of documentation?

All of the resources needed to kick-start aviation had been available. The rationale behind the delay of aviation lies in lack of knowledge. “Simple as they seem, such gliders evolved from centuries of brilliant insights in physics and engineering, of data gathered with sophisticated instruments, of forays down countless blind alleys, and of a thousand difficult lessons learned” (pg. 20). According to the author, without data regarding physics and engineering to apply towards flight, the idea of creating a successful heavier-than-air invention was not possible due to lack of knowledge.

As far as lighter-than-air flight was concerned, the reasoning the author provides for this delay is simply lack of imagination. “Why didn’t they try? It was a failure of the imagination” (pg 21). Our interest in flight sparked from seeing other organisms soar through the air with the use of wings, like birds and insects. The design and visual aid of the animals created the inspiration for the layout of winged inventions. The world is not filled with light, ballooned shaped animals floating around due to a lower density mass, therefore the visual aid for lighter-than-air flight was just not available to kick start any ideas.

I feel blessed to be living in an age where flight has been, for the most part, already mastered, because of its monumental impact on life.

Why did Wilbur and Orville Wright achieve success before their contemporaries?

Wilbur and Orville Wright did not have any advance education. They did not go beyond high school or have engineering degrees similar to others working in the field of aviation at their time. However, the brothers did have a good amount of experience and intelligence in building. They rebuilt the inspiring toy helicopter their father had bought them as children and owned a printing shop with impressive homemade press machines (just to name a few encounters with building and design). As they continued to work as craftsmen/businessmen, their journey led them to experiences that would help them stand out in the world of aviation. The truly important factoring allowing Wilbur and Orville to succeed before their contemporaries was that they understood equilibrium and balance.

The brothers eventually worked and owned a local bicycle shop, where they were regarded as ‘expert cyclist repairmen’ (pg.58). Their previous experience with cycles helped them to apply their knowledge of balancing cycles to solving the problem of balancing planes.  “‘We reached the conclusion,’ Wilbur explained, ‘that  the problem of equilibrium had been the real stumbling block in all serious attempts to solve the problem of human flight, and that this problem of equilibrium in reality constituted the problem of flight itself’” (pg. 59). Later competitors trying to recreate the design of the Wright flyers would often fail due to their lack of knowledge and precision in balancing the air craft. Balance, along with new, correct, data they had collected from their own wind tunnel machine allowed them to make breakthroughs never before seen.