1902
Wright Glider Tests Help Prepare for 1903 Wright Flyer
June 7, 2002 - A significant step takes place this week for the 1903
Wright Flyer reproduction being built for EAA’s Countdown to
Kitty Hawk, presented by Ford Motor Company. Wind tunnel tests were
conducted on a 1902 Wright glider at Old Dominion University’s (ODU)
Langley Full Scale Tunnel in Hampton, Virginia. “This will be the first
time any one has put a Wright 1902 glider in a wind tunnel to test
performance on the airfoil and the full wing,” said The Wright
Experience’s Ken Hyde, builder of the reproduction. “The results of
these tests will provide for us the information that will allow us to
build a real-time simulator, which will assist the four pilots in their
training preparation to fly the 1903 Flyer.”
The Wright Experience has been
contracted by EAA to re-create the ’03 Flyer, which will be the
centerpiece of a touring exhibit next year before making the only
authorized flight at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 2003, 100 years to the
moment after Orville and Wilbur Wrights’ first powered flight.
“When we have the
opportunity to bring our work here to the NASA Langley Full Scale Tunnel
operated by ODU, we find out so much about the efficiency and performance
of the Wrights’ work,” Hyde continued. “What we continue to find out
is that these two brothers were extraordinary engineers.”
The wind tunnel tests,
underwritten by the NASA Langley Research Center, are part of ODU and The
Wright Experience’s ongoing research. Several Wright propellers’
reproductions have been built in their quest to “reverse engineer” the
1903 Wright Flyer and other early Wright aircraft.
“The
1902 glider represents the culmination of three years of experimentation
and analysis to define aircraft control,” said Rochester Institute of
Technology’s Dr. Kevin Kochersberger. “Sailplane pilots recognize the
November 1902 glides as the centennial of controlled, motorless flight
that up to then were sled rides down a hill. The Wrights were able to turn
their 1902 glider in a predictable manner that agreed with theory.”
Wright test program manager
for ODU, Professor Robert Ash, noted that since the Wrights never tested
this airfoil design, these will be the first wind tunnel tests for this
particular airfoil. “We know that the 1902 glider was their first flying
machine that behaved according to their theories,” Ash said. “The
information we will gather from these tests will tell us what convinced
them to attempt controlled, powered flight the following year.” The
Wrights made nearly 1,200 test glides between September 19 and October 24,
1902, increasing their record for distance to 622 ½ feet, for time to 26
seconds, and for angle of descent to 5 degrees for a glide of 156 feet.
