The Wright Brothers and their Flying Machine (HBS 9-811-034)

Question 1
What technological bottlenecks needed to be resolved for manned flight to become a realistic possibility?

The possibility to fly with an object heavier than air had first to be proven. Scientists first try to understand how birds were flying, and many computations were done, mainly based on assumptions.
In 1800’s, George Cayley designed an airplane with wings, and Otto Lilienthal realized that the wing shape was the key to maintain lift. The biggest technological problem was how to design this wing so that it could lift an object. The Wright Brothers in the end of the 19th century realized that the primary problem with past planes and gliders was that of balance. They developed the concept of “wing warping”, a way to present wings to the air at different angles of incidences and thus secure unequal lifts on the two sides.
Finally, one of the last technological aspect to be resolved for developing a manned flight was to be able to understand and compute the lift of a wing. Lilienthal already began by creating table of results from his experiment, but the Wright Brothers couldn’t use it at first because they were not in the same conditions as him.

Question 2
How would you characterize the process of technological discovery leading to the development of the Wright brothers’ flying machine?

The process of technological discoveries relied a lot on exchange between scientists, engineers and inventors. Indeed, Wright brothers were in contact with Chanute, and used his discoveries based on double decker. They also used Lilienthal’s tables and mathematical formulas for lift. Having feedback and cheering from their mentor Chanute helped them a lot in continuing their investigations. I can also say that their process of discovery was mainly empirical. Indeed, they did several