Page Content (OCR)
Areplica of the Ezekiel flying machine at the Northeast Texas Rural Heritage Museum in Pittsburg, Texas. Northeast Texas Rural Heritage Museum adjoining pasture and, by rights, this should have been recorded as the world’s first pow- ered flight. However, Ezekiel was damaged when Stamps made a hard landing and there were insufficient funds available to effect immediate repairs. In early 1903, Cannon agreed to have the aircraft shipped by rail to Texarkana, Texas in an attempt to drum up publicity. The under- carriage had been fixed and another flight would be undertaken there. Depending on the outcome, Ezekiel would then be moved to St Louis for the World Fair, which had origi- nally been scheduled to open in late 1903 (but was finally postponed until 30th April 1904). However, events never progressed this far. While Ezekiel was being shipped by train to Texarkana, a severe storm blew the aircraft from the freight platform and it was com- pletely destroyed. Details of Ezekiel and its his- toric flight soon faded into obscurity, although a Texan engineer called Bob Loughery built an exact replica of the aircraft in 1986. This can now be seen at the Northeast Texas Rural Heritage Museum in Pittsburg, Texas. On the 17th December 1903, Orville Wright good enough to secure a slice of this devel- undertook a twelve-second flight at Kitty oping market and he invested a great deal of Hawk, North Carolina and covereda distance _ time, effort and money into the project. of 120ft (36.5m), thus assuring him and his The aircraft had a span of 28ft (8.5m) and it brother Wilbur a place in the aviation hall of | was powered bya Fothergill 30hp (22kW) six- fame. With the arrival of propeller-driven air- cylinder engine driving a pair of two-blade craft, this quickly led to the design of circular pusher propellers, with two vertical pro- wings that attempted to provide stability and __pellers fitted for lift. Hopelessly overweight at maximum lift without the penalty of a sub- —1,0001b (454kg), totally underpowered and stantial span. rather poorly conceived, Donovan’s aircraft One of the first constructors to build an air- was barely able to move along ground under craft using this wing shape was Captain engine power and he finally abandoned the Joseph Donovan, who prepared his machine _ idea. for testing at West Hartlepool, England in The following year John George Aulse- October 1909. Louis Blériot had crossed the brook Kitchen, who was an engineer and English Channel on 25th July, the Wright — inventor living in Scotfort, Lancashire, built a Brothers were touring Europe, and there was __ biplane with annular wings. Most parts of the now considerable interest in building the first aircraft were exposed to the elements, with truly commercial aircraft. Donovan hoped _ his design taking the form of a simple open that his unusual-looking machine might be — framework and wings. Propulsion was pro- 13 Above: Otto Lilienthal, the German glider pioneer of the late 19th century. via Bill Rose Above right: Otto Lilienthal undertakes a glider test. Exact date unknown. via Bill Rose Early Circular-Winged Aircraft