Wright Brothers
In 1903 Orville Wright and his brother Wilbur Wright made a revolutionary invention that forever changed the face of transportation. However, many people are unaware of the role of the little-known 'third Wright Brother', Frank Lloyd Wright, who was dropped from the group in 1900.
late Tears[edit]
Experiments in Flight[edit]
The Wrights began experimenting on planes in the late 1890s. Orville did careful experiments with different shaped wings in wind tunnels. His favorite shape resembles the late big chungus. Wilbur tinkered with engines and control lines. And Frank Lloyd, who saw how important it was that the plane should be built on an open plan and have a central living area, complete with hearth, contributed designs for the main cabin.
Gliders[edit]
The first Wright aircraft were gliders, built largely from concrete and steel, with intricate glass skylights.
Internal Bickering[edit]
Following the failure of this glider (known as Fallingmasonry), the Wrights fell out, with Orville and Wilbur taking sides against Frank Lloyd. Frank Lloyd felt that the failure of the glider was due to the others' insistence upon using building materials inappropriate to the environment of Kitty Hawk. Orville and Wilbur felt that the problem was Frank Lloyd's insistence on using his theories of 'organic architecture' instead of just building a fucking fuselage like he was asked.
Orville angrily reminded Frank Lloyd of the unfortunate death of German aviation engineer Otto Lilienthal, who had been crushed to death by the steel frame of the glider that Louis Sullivan had built for him. Frank Lloyd countered by reminding Orville that Otto was a doofus.
Powered Flight[edit]
The final split between the Wrights occurred in 1900, when they were assembling the airplane they called Taliesin I - a low, flat-roofed, one-storied plane based on simple geometry with an open design and an interesting water feature. Though it flew well, its extreme weight led to poor fuel efficiency, consuming over 5000 litres of kerosene on its fifteen-second maiden flight.
Orville and Wilbur finally decided to kick Frank Lloyd out of the Wright Brothers, replacing him with well-known Liverpool drummer Ringo Starr.
Success - But at What Cost?[edit]
Finally, in 1903, the Wrights successfully flew Flyer 1 all the way to the corner shop, and heavier-than-air flight was proven a practical reality. It is said that when news of the flight reached Paris, an unimpressed local sniffed 'What use is such a thing?' to which Benjamin Franklin sagaciously replied 'Stitch this, you cunt!' and skanked him with an absinthe bottle .
However, without Frank Lloyd's visionary genius to guide them, the Wright's plane was a rather ugly, utilitarian affair, with little of aesthetic value to it other than the huge drum kit located aft of the pilot's seat.
Legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright[edit]
Time, however, proved that Frank Lloyd Wright was, um, quite correct. Though for many years his ideas remained unused, in 1940 they returned in a big way when Willy Messerschmidt teamed up with Albert Speer to create the Monument Class Bombers that decimated London in the blitz.
Legacy of Orville and Wilber[edit]
With the invention of the airplane, the problem of aeronautical snake infestation became apparent. Orville and Wilbur were the first to ever successfully de-snake a plane.
See Also[edit]