Scientific & technical aspects of the Wrights’ achievement by Prof. D. I. A. Poll

Summary: Though Wilbur and Orville were the first to build and fly a powered aircraft, what contribution did the Wright Brothers make to aeronautics? In this paper, Ian Poll takes us through the progress that had been made up 1903 in four key technical areas which had to be addressed if powered, controllable flight was to be achieved: structures, aerodynamics, stability and control & propulsion, before judging the contribution made by the Wrights in those four key areas. The lecture concludes with a general question and answer session The lecture was part of a seminar, “The beginnings of powered flight: The Wright Brothers contribution to aviation”, which was organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 10 May 2003. The podcasts were edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and they were digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.