The Wright Brothers Discover Aspect Ratio

National Air and Space Museum curator of aeronautics John Anderson takes viewers through the aerial inventions of the Wright brothers and discusses their discovery of the basic principles of flight. Learn more about the Wright brothers at www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/

[@magnifiedmicrons]

It I had been my privilege that I was reading the book written by this great man . Sir , I would like to say that when I read your book I always feel that it communicates with me as if it were a person. I have never ever read any book written in such expressive , friendly and communicative way. Thank you sir very much........really thanks..a. .. Lot.....

[@pedroleooliveiramarques5445]

I feel exactly the same way. It's an absolute joy to read "Fundamentals of Aerodynamics" and "Modern Compressible Flow" by this great man. I wish I could meet him in person one day to thank him for writing these amazing books!

[@Hareen1980]

He was an awesome professor!!! Thanks Dr. Anderson for all your contributions!!!

[@wilmeaux12]

And the Wright's realization of the need fto control their craft in all three axesis led to their sucess where all others failed. I still love Wilber's words"The most amazing thing is that these facts remained secret therough the ages, waiting for us to descover them:.

[@frankcastle5294]

That is absolutely amazing that the original first Wright brothers plane still exists...and that the Smithsonian has it. Incredible.

[@gghhhfghgh]

Nunca vôo! E igual as réplicas atuais só serve de enfeite!

[@johnwelsh2769]

@@gghhhfghgh It flew on December 17, 1903.

[@brewers12]

I was there this summer and basically sat on a bench right behind Dr. Anderson. Thank you for contribution to aerodynamics. You've made my undergraduate aerospace year challenging yet rewarding.

[@morethan20]

Saw this 1 1/2 ago what an honor to see this in person, big treat!

[@QuizWriterMark]

I love when I visited there, the exhibition was very clear to point out that it’s not a replica, this is the real deal!!!! Loved it 😊

[@aileron48]

I'm a CFI and appreciate Mr. Anderson's explanation of aspect ratio. Thanks to Wilbur and Orville and Air and Space Museum.

[@wilmeaux12]

Equally important is they also discovered the importance of the wing's curve ie, the parabolic airfoil versis a circular airfoil.

[@LarryEKG]

That is exactly what I was going to say!

[@KraussEMUS1]

Thank you so much for this great video about the Wright Brothers and aspect ratio! The first ion propelled model aircraft to lift its own power supply onboard, can be seen by clicking on the purple channel icon to the left. There many news articles stating otherwise, but they did not take the time to thoroughly check the facts.

[@robertlafnear4865]

If the Wright Brothers knew you were taking such good care of the "plane" that started it all........ would love to see it in person, maybe someday before it all ends for me I can do just that. THANK YOU SMITHSONIAN !

[@vampov]

We are so lucky we didn't have telephones or text messages back then. It's thanks to their journals and letters that we have such a detailed history of their lives and inner thoughts. They were extraordinary men that loved to work and did not coitized others but concentrated on what was important.

[@warp13]

Excellent lecture, Thank you for posting.

[@themainproblem]

This was a great video! I learned a lot in a very short time. Thank you.

[@lemeilleurpourlafrance7946]

you learn a lot of Bullshit story, Dumont was first in airplane period

[@friendlyfox4735]

Thank you very much professor, you are a great inspiration!!!!

[@Jager-er4vc]

Simply beautiful.

[@Ector521]

I want more videos like that :-)

[@muhammadshafeeque9264]

Fantastic your right inki suruwat se inteha tak agar gaur se dekha Jaye too charch structure jaisa hi dikhenga it is the most beautiful 🌹 niyutan farmola

[@KainyStyle]

He makes is sound like the Wright brothers actually knew about "tornado effect" was that so? Also, awesome tie!

[@KazenoniKakuremi]

No, Wright's in 1902/03 didn't know the technical/aerodynamic aspects of the phenomena of cylindrical vortices. However, even without knowing about them, they saw their effect in the wind tunnel and knew that certain wing designs seem to increase wake turbulence i.e drag. Although they didn't understand or know about _'cylindrical vortices'_ they knew enough about flight to know they hard to reduce wake turbulence in order to get the proportional lift for flight. So they tested various wing-designs in the tunnel to see which one visually reduced this effect. Trial and error method..... FYI *cylindrical vortices* were see and reported as early as 1907 (England) ....but not understood well enough to mathematically calculate wing-design aspect ratio's to reduce their effect. We still have issue with *cylindrical vortices* NOW...even though we thought we understood them...but they have many many interesting properties that are still being uncovered.

[@crimony3054]

Did the Wrights understand the problem was directly related to Bernoulli's Principle, which was defined in 1738, 161 years before their first glider?

[@boggy7665]

I believe they did. However, it's a long leap between that and an efficient airfoil shape. The Wrights experimented with miniature airfoils in their own home-built wind tunnel, in what was the first use of a wind tunnel in aeronautical design. They measured both lift and drag, understanding that both were critical.

[@Dan0__]

If you look at a cross section of the wings, you can see they understood the Bernoulli Principle. He probably should have mentioned that.

[@cyriaquecharles]

I thought that the very first one was wrecked in a wind storm right after the flight.

[@sharonraizor2839]

Yes sir! After the fourth flight. Boxed up, sent back to Dayton, restored by Orville in 1926 for display in London after the Smithsonian rejected it.

[@32ModB]

Inventing the future of the pre FTL dark age😊

[@whiterottenrabbit]

Hmm.. I know what aspect ratio means when talking about film and video. What does aspect ratio mean, when talking about aeroplanes and flying?

[@GULLYSCOUNDREL]

If you had took the time out to listen to the video, you would’ve gotten your answer.

[@Robert-pg2id]

So what!! The Wright Brothers were not the first in flight!! Gustave Whitehead flew 2 years before the VERY WRONG BROTHERS did, and Whitehead flew in 1901 in Bridgeport Connecticut. this video needs to be pulled and corrected. Whitehead may have flown as early as 1899!!

[@rickdack1197]

Hmm? I thought the original Wright Flyer was destroyed in a Ohio flood.

[@gghhhfghgh]

Se colocar o Flyers 1 de 1903 e o 14 bis de 1906 numa pista nas mesma condições lhe garanto que o 14 bis alça vôo tranquilamente! Já o flyers nunca vôo e nem as replicas com tecnologia modernas também nunca voaram! Kkkkkk

[@767bob]

Where was Dumont when the Wright Flyer was in France in 1908? He was hiding because his plane was not able to fly anywhere near like the Wright's Flyer.. at that point his 14-bis flyer could do was short hops..the Wright's first flyer already have done that in 1903!..In 1908 the French press and many witnesses saw the Wright Flyer fly, flying laps around the field, doing figure eights, flying with a passenger, and not short hops but flights up to 10 to 20 minutes. Not once but multiple flights....remember the French press got to witness all of this while Dumont was hiding behind his mother skirt.

[@767bob]

The reason why the Wright's replica of the first flyer has not been fully flown successfully in today's world is because the pilots has not been trained to fly this aircraft type....back in 1900 to 1903 the Wright brothers practiced many flights to learn how to fly what they have made and also on how to improve it. Since they had done hundreds of glider flights, they had a pretty good idea on how their 1903 flyer was going to behave. If you take a pilot today and expect them to hop on a Wright Flyer and fly it, it will not happen because they have not trained for it.

[@gghhhfghgh]

@@767bob Antes de iniciarmos as comparações, creio eu que você está confundindo o Flyers I de 1903 que pesava 340Kg com piloto e tinha uma potência de apenas 12 HP de potência que fisicamente e impossível de voar com o flyers III que vôo em 1908 com motor comprado na Europa, 2 anos do vôo pioneiro de Santos Dumont com o seu protótipo 14 bis! Respondendo a sua pergunta nessa mesma época Santos Dumont já voava eu seu mais famoso avião o demoselle. Que vale reforçar que foi o primeiro avião construído em série na história e bateu recordes de velocidade e Santos Dumont já visatava amigos com ele!

[@gghhhfghgh]

@@767bobO suposto vôo do Flyers I de 1903 vôo também em linha reta. Mas lhe digo que esse vôo e fake porque fisicamente e impossível voar nesse avião pesado e sem potencia!

[@cardinalRG]

@@gghhhfghgh --Friend, your claims have been debunked so many times, and many people have politely given you correct information. Still, you persist in posting the same nonsense over and over, in multiple threads. Why do you fear better information? Recognizing the achievements of the Wrights does not diminish the great work of your hero Santos-Dumont, because that gentleman’s legacy stands on its own-it doesn’t need your counter-factual help.