Smithsonian kinda, sorta admits to a lie

Jake Brodsky wrote:

The Wright brothers also invented a highly effective wind tunnel for
testing different wing types and shapes.

Actually, they did not. A fellow in North Carolina developed one and sent the
Wrights a description and sketches. They *did* add some enhancements.

In effect, they took a
highly rigorous, scientific approach to achieving flight.

That they did.

George Patterson
Great discoveries are not announced with "Eureka!". What's usually said is
"Hummmmm... That's interesting...."

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...

Jake Brodsky wrote:

The Wright brothers also invented a highly effective wind tunnel for
testing different wing types and shapes.

Actually, they did not. A fellow in North Carolina developed one and sent
the
Wrights a description and sketches. They *did* add some enhancements.

As noted, the Wright brothers didn't invent the wind tunnel, but the
enhancement they did invent was the clever balance which measured lift and
drag.

Eric

Eric Miller wrote:

As noted, the Wright brothers didn't invent the wind tunnel, but the
enhancement they did invent was the clever balance which measured lift and
drag.

Again. The credit properly goes to someone else. An article describing this was
published years ago in the World War I Aeroplanes magazine. Period photos of
the NC test gear and communication with the Wrights was presented.

George Patterson
Great discoveries are not announced with "Eureka!". What's usually said is
"Hummmmm... That's interesting...."

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 13:49:41 -0600, "Jim" wrote
in Message-Id: :

One interesting thing about Langley's Aerodrome was that it's engine weight
was about the same as the Wright's but it produced roughtly 90 horsepower.

Unfortunately, Langley's was a steam engine! Imagine stoking the
furnace of your Cessna. :-)

However, Glen Curtiss was a wizard with internal combustion gasoline
engines. It was his 80 HP engine that permitted him to nose out
Bleriot in France and win the speed prize. And, as is quite evident
today, his use of ailerons was vastly superior to the Wright's wing
warping for controllability. In all, Curtiss's designs out performed
the Wright's by a considerable margin, but there's no doubt that
refining an existing design commands nowhere the respect as developing
the original.

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 01:06:37 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote:

Unfortunately, Langley's was a steam engine! Imagine stoking the
furnace of your Cessna. :-)

Langley's models 5 &6 flew on steam. The Great Aerodrome
had the 5-cylinder gasoline engine as described in another post.

Marty