| Wright Flyer unveiled at
Vishweshwaraya Center |
The Wright
Flyer I replica constructed by NAL team at the Vishweshwaraya Industrial and Technological
Museum. |
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The Hindu, Dated Dec 17, 2003
At last, Wright Flyer replica is ready
By Our Staff Reporter
Air Mashal P. Rajkumar unveiled a
replica of the Wright Brothers Flyer at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological
Museum in Bangalore on Tuesday.
Bangalore Dec. 16. What seems simple
often turns out to be complicated. Scientists here found it tough to re-create the powered
aeroplane the Wright brothers built about a century ago. R. Sunil Kumar, curator at the
Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) here, said building the replica
was difficult as "all parts of the original were handmade".
Besides, Mr. Kumar, part of a 15-member
VITM team that built the replica of the Wright Flyer, said Orville and Wilbur were bicycle
makers, not professional engineers. Eventually, the team used drawings created by
"reverse engineering" at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington. "The
institute had dismantled the plane to make drawings," he said while the replica was
unveiled at the VITM on Tuesday, on the eve of the "100th anniversary of the first
powered flight".
The project was originally the idea of T.S.
Prahlad, the then Director of the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and Chairman of
the Executive Committee of VITM. Since Dr. Prahlad wanted the replica to be
authentic, Mr. Kumar and K.S. Raman, a scientist with NAL, had to find wood equivalent to
that used in the original plane. The Wright brothers had used ash and spruce wood; here
silver oak and teak were used.
But before the replica was built, VITM made
a quarter-scale model for the Nehru Science Centre in Mumbai (which also comes under
VITM's parent body, the National Council of Science Museums). "It will be unveiled at
the new Aerospace Gallery on Wednesday," Mr. Kumar told The Hindu.
But work on the full-size replica
progressed slowly: for one thing funds were slow in coming, and for another, midway
through the project, Mr. Raman died of a heart attack. Eventually, the project took nine
months and Rs. 15 lakh to complete.
"The brothers took nearly a year to
build the original plane," the curator said.
The replica, with a wingspan of 40 ft. and
four inches, was recreated from a set of 50 authentic drawings from the Smithsonian
Institute. The replica is made out of 60 cubic feet of wood, 400 m. steel wire, and
170 m. cotton cloth. Everything is authentic, except the engine. "Ours is a geared
motor mounted inside the engine and fires the two propellers," Mr. Kumar said.
On December 17, 1903, the original Flyer
flew four times. The first flight at 10.35 a.m. piloted by Orville lasted 12 seconds and
travelled 120 feet. The last flight, piloted by Wilbur, lasted 59 seconds and the plane
went 852 feet. But the VITM-NAL replica cannot fly.
Original Report:
-http://www.hindu.com/2003/12/17/stories/2003121702070400.htm
Other Links:
- http://www.warbirdsofindia.com/wbblore.html
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