<p> The ‘Wright’ Way to Fly</p><p>By: Mr. Mangin</p><p>In an era when driving an automobile was hard to fathom, flying a machine in the air was an impossible dream. However, this is exactly what Wilbur Wright and his younger brother, Orville, were the first in history to accomplish. </p><p>Wilbur Wright was born on April 16, 1867, in Millville, Indiana, and later moved to Ohio. He was the third of seven children. His parents were Milton (Dad) and Susan (Mom). His dad was a bishop and his mom was a well-educated woman who helped pique Wilbur’s interest in mechanical affairs by secretly letting him use his dad’s “good tools.” Wilbur had two older brothers (Reuchlin and Lorin), a younger brother (Orville), and a younger sister (Katharine). Two of his younger siblings, twins named Otis and Ida, died when they were infants.</p><p>In 1889, Wilbur joined his younger brother, Orville, in his printing press business. Their four-page newspaper was called The West Side News and lasted for about eight years.</p><p>Wilbur and Orville then were partners who owned two bicycle shops because the “bicycle craze” was sweeping the nation. Their father gave the brothers $1,000 to get their business up and running. Eventually, their successful company produced three different models of bikes – the Van Cleev, St. Clair, and the Wright </p><p>Special. In addition to making new bike models, they also repaired and raced bicycles. The profits made by the brothers’ bicycle shops surprisingly funded all of their aerial achievements; no outside support was necessary.</p><p>The two brothers then decided to experiment with flying. Little did they know at this time that they were about to change the history of the world.</p><p>“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who...looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space...on the infinite highway of the air,” Wilbur Wright said. When Wilbur was almost 30 and still living with his dad, he realized that he wanted to do something more with his life. So he, along with the help of his brother, received lots of information and read for hundreds of hours about flight. They also started experimenting with kites and gliders. Things didn’t always run smoothly for the dynamic duo; learning the intricacies of the wings, wind tunnels, and control systems proved to be very difficult to perfect. </p><p>The Wright brothers were credited with inventing wing warping (left or right control), the forward canard (up or down control), wind tunnel test of their airfoil sections, moveable rear rudder, and an efficient propeller (66% efficiency).</p><p>Then on a cold December day in 1903, Wilbur’s brother, Orville, tried to successfully fly a motorized airplane near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville only managed to fly 120 feet for 12 seconds on his first try. </p><p>Wilbur nearly doubled this feat by flying 200 feet on his first attempt. On Wilbur’s second attempt, he did even better. He was able to fly about three football fields for 59 seconds! Amazingly, it cost less than $1,000 to create their original plane and make their dreams come true. </p><p>The brothers flew together only once to show their father of their monumental achievement. However, they never did that again because if they would have crashed, no one would have been able to carry on their work and legacy.</p><p>On May 14, 1908, Wilbur let a passenger ride along with him. Charles W. Furnas was the first airplane passenger, traveling 1,968 feet for 28.6 seconds. Later that same morning, Wilbur took Furnas on a 2.5-mile flight lasting 3 minutes and 40 seconds.</p><p>Their achievements didn’t stop there. Only seven and a half months later on New Year’s Eve, Wilbur set another world record by flying for 2 hours and 19 minutes in France! </p><p>The first airplane sold to the U.S. government was the Wright brothers’ Miss Columbia. They made </p><p>$25,000 and a bonus of $5,000 for having it travel more than 40 miles per hour. Unfortunately, Wilbur died on May 30, 1912, because of a fever.</p><p>There are a lot of adjectives that could be used to describe Wilbur Wright, but I think the best descriptors for him are: courageous, savvy, intelligent, creative, and detail-oriented. He was courageous because he was willing to attempt to fly when the concept was extremely dangerous and incomprehensible at the time. </p><p>Wilbur was savvy because he took a $1,000 loan from his dad and turned it into a successful bicycle shop and a resource that funded all of his airplane parts and expeditions. He had to be intelligent in order to comprehend all of the flight reading material and turn it into something productive. It takes a lot of intelligence to be as mechanically inclined as he was. Wilbur was creative because he had the foresight of the importance of aerial travel. He certainly was detail-oriented because he was constantly tweaking parts and concepts in order to eventually find scores of successes.</p><p>Here are a couple of little known facts about the Wright brothers. Although Kitty Hawk, N.C., is most associated with the Wright brothers’ flights, most of the actual flying took place four miles to the south in a nearby town called Kill Devils Hill. Another interesting tidbit is that Wilbur and each of his siblings did not have middle names.</p><p>In recent years, flying on an airplane or taking the space shuttle to the moon are considered second nature. We can thank Wilbur and Orville Wright for making this a reality. Bibliography</p><p>ALAA Wright Flyer Project. Wright Facts,” ALAA Wright Flyer Project, http://www.wrightflyer.org/Background/facts.html, April 23, 2012.</p><p>Public Broadcast System: Nova. “Wright Brothers’ Flying Machine,” Public Broadcast System: Nova, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wright/inventors.html, April 23, 2012.</p><p>Shrader, William E. “Wright Brothers,” World Book Encyclopedia, 1986, Volume 22, pp. 420- 422.</p><p>Tobin, James E., To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight, New York: Free Press, April 14, 2003.</p><p>Wright House. “The Wright Brothers: William and Orville Wright,” Wright House, http://www.wright-house.com/wright-brothers/Wrights.html, April 23, 2012. Historian Research Paper Rubric</p><p>Self- Category Points Assessment Teacher's Assessment Interesting Title 5 Attention-Grabbing Introduction 5 Date & Year Famous Person Was Born and Died (If Possible) 5 Opinion about Person or Major Event Is Provided Including Detailed Evidence 10 Main Historical Reason Why Person Is Famous 5 At Least 10 Other Interesting Facts about Famous Person 20 At Least One Quotation or Part from Primary Source 5 5 Adjectives Describing Person Including Detailed Evidence 10 Effective Conclusion 5 Separate Page for Bibliography -- At Least 1 Print Reference (Book or Encyclopedia) & At Least 2 Website References 5 At Least 2 Typed Pages (Times New Roman, Size 12, Double-Spaced) 10 Writing Is Organized 5 At Least 5 Powerful Words Are Used 5 Correct Use of Paragraphs, Spelling, Grammar, & Mechanics 5 Total 100 Bibliography Directions and Samples</p><p>Book Bibliography Author’s name (last name first), book title, city: publisher, date.</p><p>Tobin, James E., To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight, New York: Free Press, April 14, 2003.</p><p>Encyclopedia Bibliography Author’s name (last name first). “Article title,” Encyclopedia title, copyright date, volume number, page numbers.</p><p>Shrader, William E. “Wright Brothers,” World Book Encyclopedia, 1986, Volume 22, pp. 420- 422.</p><p>Website Article Bibliography Author’s name (last name first) or publishing company. “Article title,” website title, URL, access date.</p><p>Wright House. “The Wright Brothers: William and Orville Wright,” Wright House, http://www.wright-house.com/wright-brothers/Wrights.html, 31 December 2008. </p><p>Public Broadcast System: Nova. “Wright Brothers’ Flying Machine,” Public Broadcast System: Nova, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wright/inventors.html, December 31, 2008.</p><p>(Indent the second and each additional line of each bibliography citation and alphabetize the first word of each author’s name.) Sample Wax Museum Script Wilbur Wright</p><p>Hi, I’m Wilbur Wright. I was born on April 16, 1867, in Millville, Indiana, and later moved to Ohio. When I was almost 30 and still living with my dad, I wanted to do something more with life. So, I received lots of information about flight and started experimenting with kites and gliders. </p><p>Then on a cold December day in 1903, my younger brother, Orville, and I tried to successfully fly a motorized airplane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. And did we fly – at least I did. My little brother only managed to fly 120 feet for </p><p>12 seconds on his first try. I nearly flew 200 feet on my first attempt. On my second try, I did much better! I was able to fly about three football fields for 59 seconds! Five years later, I set another world record by flying for 2 hours and 19 minutes in France! </p><p>“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who...looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space...on the infinite highway of the air.” </p><p>I died on May 30, 1912, because of a fever. Historian Wax Museum Presentation Rubric</p><p>Self- Teacher's Category Points Assessment Assessment</p><p>Date & Year Famous Person Was Born and Died (If Possible) 5 </p><p>Historical Reason Why Person Is Famous 20 </p><p>Appearance (Dressed Like Famous Person) 35 </p><p>Appearance (Spoke Like Famous Person) 5 </p><p>Famous Quotation or Line from Speech 10 </p><p>At Least 3 Other Interesting Facts 15 </p><p>Time (Between 45 seconds and 1:30) 10 </p><p>Total 100 </p>