Page 400 - (DK) The Ultimate Visual Dictionary 2nd Ed.

SEA AND AIR

Pioneers of flight FRONT VIEW OF WRIGHT FLYER, 1903
Pusher propeller (rear-
Biplane elevator mounted propeller)
FLIGHT HAS FASCINATED MANKIND for centuries, Chain drive to Fuel tank
and countless unsuccessful flying machines have starboard propeller
been designed. The first successful flight was made
by the French Montgolfier brothers in 1783, when
they flew a balloon over Paris. The next major
advance was the development of gliders, notably
by the Englishman Sir George Cayley, who in 1845
designed the first glider to make a sustained flight,
and by the German Otto Lil ienthal, who became known
as the world’s first pilot because he managed to achieve Propeller-shaft
bracing strut Offset pilot’s
controlled flights. However, powered flight did not become a
cradle
practical possibility until the invention of lightweight, gas-driven Takeoff and
internal combustion engines at the end of the 19th century. Then, landing skid Side-mounted
engine to balance
in 1903, the American brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the pilot’s weight
first powered flight in their Wright Flyer biplane, which used a
SIDE VIEW OF CURTISS Nine-cylinder
four-cylinder, gas-driven engine. Aircraft design MODEL-D PUSHER, 1911 Salmson radial
advanced rapidly, and in 1909 the Frenchman engine
Louis Blériot made his pioneering flight across Pusher propeller
(rear-mounted
the English Channel (see pp. 400-401). The
propeller)
American Glenn Curtiss also achieved
Aileron
several “firsts” in his Model-D Pusher operating
and its variants, most notably winning arm
the world’s first competition for
airspeed at Reims in 1909. Wing strut
Fuel Oil filler
Body cradle that filler cap
pivots to control cap
ailerons
Fuel and
Rudder Elevator oil tank
control wire for
wheel diving
Lap
strap

Control
column

Throttle
Nose-wheel Aileron
brake
Turnbuckle
Fuel pipe
Footrest

Pneumatic
Elevator wire Thin, tire
Seat support strut for climbing cambered
lower wing
Rubber-tired Wing-protecting Starboard main
nose-wheel Pilot’s seat skid landing gear
Engine and propeller
thrust frame

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