Amazing Wright Facts

Did you know:

A propeller is simply an airplane wing traveling in a circle, and in the air is a spiral?

The shape of a propeller changes while it's spinning in the air?

The thrust generated by a propeller when standing stationary isn't the same as the thrust when in motion?

When two propellers are used and they turn in opposite direction, the gyroscopic action of one will neutralize that of the other?

Orville and Wilbur Wright had to calculate the above facts on their own and come to exact scientific conclusions before they flew?

The brothers placed the motor to the side of the aircraft, in case the plane plunged head first, the motor wouldn't fall upon the pilot?

The first Wright Flyer was really just an up-scaled 1902 glider with power and landing skids added? Some changes were necessary, but none of the major parts had changed.

The most difficult calculations involved the propellers' thrust moving backward, the aircraft moving forward, and the propellors moving, well, as Orville put it, "sideways?"

That with the brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk, the wind was blowing at over twenty miles per hour, and so cold that when they woke that December 17th morning, ice had formed on the puddles around the area?

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