1.
What impact did flight have on life in the twentieth century?
In
the twentieth century, flight impacted life in numerous ways. For example, one of the most obvious ways is
that it became the definitive weapon, which expanded the battlefields and allotted
for more combatants. Flight allowed
families to maintain personal contact via visits, and it opened countless
opportunities in the workplace as well as in education. Not to mention, flight played a vital role in
nation building, especially within the unification of China.
As
for some of the other less obvious ways, flight profoundly impacted psychology
in the twentieth century. By being
envious of birds and their ability to fly – to achieve mastery, to control our
fate, to escape restraint, and to soar over obstacles, flight liberated the
power of technology and us as humans. It
allowed us to be able to control our own fate and to be free, which we all know
freedom is the most sacred and yet, deepest aspiration.
Therefore,
even though Charles Lindbergh and Richard Potts felt as if the invention of
flight caused more harm than good by destroying wilderness, increasing
pollution, disrupting world peace, and going against God, I choose to look at
its impact in a more positive and optimistic light, like Orville Wright. In fact, I find his comparison of it to that
of fire to be incredibly intellectual and true.
With all good things comes potential for bad, but how one chooses to either
accept or decline its flaws and/or its potential for destruction is what makes
its impact. After all, if we were to
destroy or get rid of every creation that had an error or some bad associated
with it, what would we have left? Where would
we get the diversity of our nation if nothing was allowed to prosper just
because it could be used for
destruction? I bet Lindbergh did not
think twice before consuming an alcoholic drink or a rich dessert, even though
it had the potential to harm his physical health.
Thus,
even though Potts felts as if we as a society and as humans have gone against
God to alter our species, I believe that we have just proven that we or anyone
is capable of anything. So, whether one
fears or commends it, I feel that the greatest impact flight has had on life
then [and continues to have now] is that it shows anyone can go higher than the
mere expectation(s). Thus, the sky is
not the limit – you are.
4.
What three methods of solving the challenge of flight emerged by the late
nineteenth century and how effective were they?
By
the late nineteenth century (1875-1899), three methods of solving the challenge
of flight emerged. These included: constructing
full-scaled, piloted, and powered aircraft, rather than relying on research;
designing and testing model airplanes; and designing and testing piloted
gliders. In the first approach, the
experimenters switched directly from an educational study to a more vocational
or technical one, where they decided to just build an aircraft rather than
think of its build. With this approach,
the French and British took the reign.
Felix du Temple de la Croix, a French naval officer, and his brother first
built a model that was propelled by a small steam engine. Likewise, Alexander Fyodorovitch Mozhaiski, a
Russian naval captain, reached one hundred feet with I.N. Golubev on board in
his full-scale, steam-powered flying machine. In addition, Ader created a steam-powered,
tailless monoplane that he named Eole,
which means god of the winds. His
aircraft surpassed Mozhaiski’s success by sixty feet, but its flight was
uncontrollable. Although this method
provided short soaring trips of success, it did not accomplish much else.
As
for the second method, which was to design and test model airplanes, Sir George
Cayley led the way with Henson and Stringfellow, along with D.S. Brown and
others, as followers. However, Alphonse
Pénaud achieved the
most success. He flew his “planophore” –
a stable aircraft powered by twisted rubber strands that was equipped with wing
dihedral (lateral stability) and a horizontal/vertical tail surface (inherent
stability). By completing a circular
flight 130 feet in the air, it is regarded as the first public demonstration of
a successful heavier-than-air machine. However,
the actual achievements from this method went unnoticed. In fact, the failure to obtain financial
support with the public jokes of his ideas, Pénaud became discouraged and took his own
life. The only positive out of this
method is that Pénaud’s
ornithopter and rotary-wing models yielded inspiration for the Wright Brothers’.
Lastly,
the third method was the idea of designing and testing piloted gliders. Again, Cayley paved the way. In 1849, he had flown himself, his coachman,
and a young boy. Two French men,
Jean-Marie Le Bris and Louis Mouillard, also dabbled with this method, but only
flew once. Bris broke his leg flying his
glider, Albatross. Setting a world record of 138 feet, Mouillard
flew his uncontrollable hang glider. He
then returned to the laboratory, where he died before completing his second
machine. As for the Americans, John
Joseph Montgomery was first to leave the ground via an aircraft from Otay Mesa,
California. Thus, all three methods of
solving the challenge of flight that emerged by the late nineteenth century
were not very effective. In fact, in
almost all cases, they only instilled more fear or discouragement in those
pilots or inventors who challenged them.
6. How
did the United States government and other countries respond to the Wrights’
efforts to sell their invention?
The
United States government and other countries all responded to the Wrights’
efforts to sell their invention [the airplane] in similar manners. From the beginning, the United States
government and Army had little interest.
Specifically, they dismissed the claims of its success, and thereby,
potential because there was nothing to prove it. There were neither pictures nor demonstration
flights to serve as proof that the airplane did in fact fly and was in fact a
successful invention that could prove useful to the army and government. Not to mention, the Langley project
(1898-1903), which resulted in an embarrassing, public failure, did not
help. In fact, at that point, the United
States Army felt as if military aviation was a mere pipe dream since they had wasted
precious resources on the latter huge
failure.
On
the other hand, at first, the European government was interested in the Wrights’
invention. In fact, the Colonel John E.
Capper, the head officer for aeronautics of the British army, even visited the
brothers to try to investigate and negotiate the matter. Because the Wrights’ still refused to perform
a demonstration flight, he too refused to sign the contract to buy their
invention.
Since
the Wright brothers failed to sell their aircraft on their own, they turned to
Charles Flint & Company for assistance.
Charles Flint & Company was a firm that sold arms and new technology
to governments all over the world.
Despite their visit to Europe in 1907, where they met with military and political
authorities to try to bargain their invention, the brothers again failed to
sell their airplane.
However,
in January 1908, the Wrights’ luck changed.
Once the United States Army created performance specifications for a
plane, they then accepted a bid from the two brothers. Similarly, the Wrights’ signed a second
contract two months later. With the
second signing, they sold their invention – an airplane – to a French
syndicate, who had the right to manufacture and sell their airplane(s) under a
license.
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