Adrian Soaring Club to observe Day of Mourning 12/17?

Adrian Soaring Club to observe Day of Mourning
Michigan's Adrian Soaring Club will officially observe a Day of Mourning on the
centennial of the day Wilbur and Orville gave up gliding. Assuming we're not
buried under 20 inches of fluffy water, we'll make as many glider flights as
possible. We're also inviting club members to bring out their aeroplanes, so
anyone inclined (there's at least one in every crowd) can go up in one of them
new-fangled contraptions.
We invite glider pilots everywhere to join us in reminding the public the
Wright Brothers did a masterful job right up until that tiny little faux pas on
December 17th, 1903.

Hmmm....can we build on this?

Adrian Soaring Club to observe Day of Mourning
Michigan's Adrian Soaring Club will officially observe a Day of Mourning on the
centennial of the day Wilbur and Orville gave up gliding. Assuming we're not
buried under 20 inches of fluffy water, we'll make as many glider flights as
possible. We're also inviting club members to bring out their aeroplanes, so
anyone inclined (there's at least one in every crowd) can go up in one of them
new-fangled contraptions.
We invite glider pilots everywhere to join us in reminding the public the
Wright Brothers did a masterful job right up until that tiny little faux pas on
December 17th, 1903.

In 1911 Orville stayed aloft in a glider for nearly 10 minutes,
essentially not moving over the same ground, a record which stood for 10
years and probably the first true "soaring" flight. So I like to think
that he just got sidetracked for awhile. Perhaps we can have a
commemoration of this flight in 2011.

Hmmm....can we build on this?

Hmm. When I get a chip on my shoulder about gliding being deprived of
public recognition, I like to claim that the important day of 1903 was
October 21, when Orville recorded a soaring flight of "1 minute, 1/2 sec."
in the "1902 glider" (I've always been amused by the half-second precision).
That was not only the longest human soaring flight in history (until 1911, I
think!), but it was the longest heavier-than-air flight of 1903 and for a
while after (the longest powered flight of Dec. 17 was 57 sec.).

For that matter, all the longest (in time), lengthiest (in distance),
highest, and probably even fastest (take your pick, airspeed or groundspeed)
heavier-than-air aviation records as of the end of 1903 appear to have been
scored by the Wright Brothers... in their glider.

That's not to mention that almost all historians give the Wrights credit for
their scientific approach of learning to pilot, to control their craft, by
means of kiting and soaring for 3 years, before the very brief engine-driven
experiments of the tail end of 1903. And that the Wright's famous patent
(on control systems, not achieving powered takeoff) was based on the 1902
glider, with nary a mention of the 1903 Flyer.

Another joke to build on about Dec. 17 is that it is the day that the
experienced soaring pilots Wilbur and Orville Wright got around to inventing
the towplane, for which the soaring comunity has ever been grateful (hohoho,
never mind that it wasn't until 1926 or so that anyone attempted the madness
of aerotowing).

As to the Wrights "giving up" soaring in 1903, Orville at least came back to
it in fine style in 1911 with Alec Ogilvie at Kitty Hawk, at a time when
lots of young kids (like, say, Hans Gutermuth, Ralph Barnaby, and Hawley
Bowlus) were flailing around in clones of the 1896 Chanute and 1902 Wright
gliders. Orville blew the record books away with that great sit of 9min. 45
sec. on 10/24/11. I would like to know if Orville ever got in a glider
after that, though. Besides signing all the ABC soaring badges into the SSA
era, he lived long enough that he could have shared a hop in an SGS 2-8 or a
Cinema. The Adrian Soaring Club itself (previously the Toledo Glider Club)
was even in existence for a long time not far away from him.

Makes me remember buying the fine book "Manbirds" by Maralys Wills years ago
(mother of pioneer hang-glider pilots Bob and Chris). It made me chuckle
that the history chapter went sort of like... Lilienthal and Chanute had the
right idea, the Wrights perverted things with power and... flash forward to
1970, never mind 60 years of fabulous achievements in soaring by sailplane
pilots sitting enclosed inside wood and cloth contraptions. For that
matter, books about ultralighting, when that came around, made it seem like
the Wrights, Voisins, Farmans etc. had it right in the 1910s and.. flash
forward to 1980 when true flying was rediscovered, never mind the heavier
and faster perversions of Curtiss, Boeing etc. Interpretation perspective
trumps facts.

Oops, I did it again... that's what I mean by interpretation trumping facts.

I cross-checked my copy of "Wind and Sand" and it looks like the last
powered flight of Dec. 17, 1903 was 852' in 59 sec. So, that appears to
beat their distance record in the glider after all (622.5' in 1902 as far as
I can tell).

For that matter, all the... heavier-than-air aviation records as of the end
of 1903 appear to have been scored by the Wright Brothers... in their
glider.