The events leading to the realization of flight were many. For man to realize such a dream, however, man must first dream of flight. While this is surely and ancient concept, one must look at the inspirations for flight, namely, the observations of flight in the natural world; flight-capable animals. Such animals achieve flight by the vibrating or flapping of their wings. Never had man seen an animal float above the ground by being lighter than the surrounding air, and therefor never had man dreamed of flying in this, the simplest of all ways. Even flight with wings was not as simple as the birds would make it seem though, as is evident by the first flying machine being very dissimilar to any animal of nature. One cannot fly by simply strapping on some artificial wings and flapping his arms in the wind. The evolution of flight among animals came from years of small innovations in design, and so would the evolution of artificial flight. Though the materials far preceded the realization of flight, it is not enough to possess the materials if you do not understand the principles underlying the general concept, thus was the realization of flight so delayed.
5. Why did Wilbur and Orville Wright achieve success before
their contemporaries?
The success of the Wright brothers was many faceted, but in my opinion is largely contributed to their conquering of one of the most trying of all problems related to flight, controlling the machine. What led to the failure, discouragement, and occasionally even the untimely end of so many others, was their inability to control their machines, inevitably leading to crashes and injuries, requiring complete reconstruction of their machine, and physical and mental healing of themselves. Amidst all of this trouble, it is no surprise that the most enthusiastic of engineers would get discouraged. The Wright brothers early conquering of the control problem is one of the primary means of their success. However, one cannot ignore their background in cycling which was often likened to aviation at the time, as well as their general sense of ingenuity which developed over their entire careers of manufacturing.
6. How did the United States government and other countries
respond to the Wrights’ efforts to sell their invention?
Initial response by government officials to purchase the Wrights' invention was not good. Though the enthusiasm for heavier than air flight was alive and widespread and the use of aviation for political and military purposes was well conceivable, it was the result of circumstance that delayed proceedings. Not only was the government recovering from bad press over their sizable investment in a complete failure of aviation engineering, but the Wrights themselves were attempting to fly under the radar and keep the workings of their flying machine a secret to defend their profitability off of it. With such a high time of aviation inventors, unfortunately, came a height of patent infringement. Unsurprisingly, selling a large scale, first of its kind, flying machine sans proof of flying capabilities, did not prove fruitful, in any nation. The brothers did, however, manage to elicit notable sales following long awaited demonstrations of their aircraft.
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