Wright 1902 Glider - Seattle, WA - Static Aircraft Displays on Waymarking.com

Located at the Museum of Flight are a large number of static aircraft on display. One of them is a Wright 1902 Glider. The Museum of Flight website contains a page devoted to this aircraft and it reads:

Controlled Flight
Why is this called the most significant aircraft ever built and flown? No, it's not the plane that made history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903. However, that aircraft owed its success to the nearly 1,000 stability and control flights the Wrights made with this type of glider. The Wrights' experiments with gliders solved the main problem of heavier-than-air manned flight: control.

The original 1902 Wright glider did not survive. It was left at Kitty Hawk and was destroyed by the elements. In 1960, a team of University of Washington Aeronautical Engineering students built this reproduction, supervised by Professor R. G. Joppa.

The Wright Brothers
Orville and Wilbur were always fascinated with machines. Together, they built and sold mechanical toys, published a paper with Orville's own press, and rented and sold bicycles. The brothers became interested in flying after reading of Otto Lilienthal's death in 1896. When their first gliders didn't provide the lift that Lilienthal's calculations said they should, the Wrights built a wind tunnel and compiled the first reliable tables of air pressures on curved surfaces. Their next glider, the 1902 version, had much-improved aerodynamic qualities and led the way to their first powered flights the following year.

Axes of Flight
Wires on this glider connect the wing tips to a U-shaped cradle beneath the pilot's hips. When the pilot moves the cradle, he twists the wing tips in opposition to each other, and the glider rolls for a turn. Different wires connect the rudder in back to this "wing-warping" mechanism, thus controlling yaw. The pilot controls pitch by rolling the bar in his hands, which changes the position of the elevator in front.

Flight Fact
Originally, the Wrights' 1902 glider had fixed double vanes for a tail. Later, it was modified to a single movable rudder for better control (as in the Museum's reproduction).

Type of Aircraft: (make/model): Wright 1902 Glider Tail Number: (S/N): None Construction:: replica Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Museum of Flight inside / outside: inside Other Information:: Not listed Access restrictions: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Photo of aircraft (required - will be interesting to see if the aircraft is ever repainted or progress if being restored)
Photo of serial number (required unless there is not one or it is a replica)
Photo(s) of any artwork on the aircraft (optional but interesting)

Tell why you are visiting this waymark along with any other interesting facts or personal experiences about the aircraft not already mentioned.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   08/26/2022 r.e.s.t.seekers visited it 08/02/2022 Ulven7470 visited it

View all visits/logs