On 11/26/2013 4:02 PM, Rich Cooper wrote:
> the Wrights... did their demonstration at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
> due to the stead wind and the soft sand dunes which make crashing
> easier. By the others who “could only fly in a straight line” above, do
> you mean the dirigibles and balloon crafts of that day? (01)
Kitty Hawk was their first powered flight. But it got very little
attention. (02)
> By the others who “could only fly in a straight line” above, do
> you mean the dirigibles and balloon crafts of that day? (03)
No. I mean *all* the other attempts at powered flight. The designers
concentrated on designing engines with more and more power, but they
couldn't control their planes. For example, (04)
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers
> Facing much skepticism in the French aeronautical community and outright
> scorn by some newspapers that called him a "bluffeur," Wilbur began
> official public demonstrations on August 8, 1908 at the Hunaudières
> horse racing track near the town of Le Mans, France. His first flight
> lasted only one minute 45 seconds, but his ability to effortlessly
> make banking turns and fly a circle amazed and stunned onlookers,
> including several pioneer French aviators, among them Louis Bleriot.
> In the following days, Wilbur made a series of technically challenging
> flights, including figure-eights, demonstrating his skills as a pilot
> and the capability of his flying machine, which far surpassed those
> of all other pioneering airplanes and pilots of the day. (05)
Note that this was in 1908 -- five years after their first flight
at Kitty Hawk. Nobody else could even fly in a simple circle. (06)
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_warping
> Wing warping was a common feature of early aircraft, including:
>
> The Wright Flyer (1903)
> The Blériot XI (1909) following modifications introduced by Raymond Saulnier
> The Etrich and Rumpler Taubes (1910), the first mass-produced military
>plane in Germany, originally used a cable-warped horizontal stabilizer
>trailing edge to give elevator functionality as well
> The Morane-Saulnier N (1915), a World War I French scout
> The Fokker Eindecker (1915), the very first German fighter plane
> The Antoinette V (1908), a wing-warping variant of the Antoinette IV
> The Antoinette VI (1909), an aileron-equipped variant of the Antoinette V.
> Its designer was not satisfied with its handling and later converted
> it back to wing-warping operation (07)
Note the dates: One year after the Wright brothers gave their demo
in France, all the successful designers adopted wing warping. (08)
Ailerons later became the norm because they were simpler to build
and control. But note that computer control has lad to some modern
versions of wing "morphing": (09)
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_warping
> Wing morphing is a modern day extension of wing warping in which the
> aerodynamic shape of the wing is modified under computer control.
> The technique, it is hoped, will give improved control at flying speeds
> near the speed of sound where traditional control surfaces are less effective (010)
Jack P.
> According to a video history of the Wright brothers, they were just
> high school educated. That video made it clear that they did, in fact,
> mimic wing warping. It seems unlikely to me, though I have no proof
> either way, that they knew of the Bernoulli concept. (011)
Many of the early airplane designers had strong backgrounds in
math & physics. But the Wright brothers did a lot of hard work
in observing birds, flying kites, and flying gliders. (012)
I'm all for using math. But theory + observation + experiment
beats theory. (013)
To return to the theme of cognitive architecture, see Peirce's cycle
of pragmatism: slide 32 of http://www.jfsowa.com/pubs/goal5.pdf (014)
Peirce knew math & logic. But he also did a lot of hard work in
experimental physics, engineering, and lexicography. Unlike most
armchair philosophers and linguists, he was an associate editor of
the _Century Dictionary_, for which he wrote, revised, or edited
over 16,000 definitions. (015)
John (016)
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