Wright Brothers: English Reading Text and Exercise for Comprehension [Grade - Nine]

Wright Brothers

Wilbur (1867-1912) and Orville Wright (1871-1948) were brothers. They lived in Dayton, Ohio, USA. Their father, Milton, was a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Their mother, Susan, made toys for her children and encouraged their curiosity. One day, Milton Wright brought home a small toy "helicopter" made of wood with two twisted rubber bands to turn a small propeller. Wilbur and Orville played with it until it broke, and then made new copies of the toy themselves.

They also sold toys to their friends, including handmade kites. The Wright brothers did things together from the time they were small boys.

Bicycle Business

The Wright brothers went into the printing business together in 1889. Three years later, they opened their first bicycle shop. Initially, they sold and repaired bicycles. They would replace spokes, fix broken chains, and sell accessories. In 1896, they began to build their own brand of bicycles. Their experiences with bicycles aided them in the investigations of flight. They used the technology they learned from their bicycle business in their airplanes: chains, sprockets, spoke wires, ball bearings, and wheel hubs.

Their thoughts on balancing and controlling their aircraft were also rooted in their experience as cyclists.

Flight Control System

Orville and Wilbur Wright were convinced of the need to control an aircraft in three axes of motion. An elevator, or horizontal control surface, in front of the wings on their aircraft, enabled the pilot to control climb and descent. The elevator was controlled by a lever in the pilot's left hand.

A "wing warping" system controlled the aircraft in a roll. To initiate a roll, the pilot would shift his hips from side to side in a cradle on the lower wing, "twisting" the wings left or right or restoring them to level flight. Orville and Wilbur developed this idea from observing birds in flight. They observed the buzzards keeping their balance by twisting their wings and sometimes curving one wing more than the other.

In 1902, the brothers added a vertical rudder to the rear of their machine to control the left and right motion of the nose of the aircraft.

Aeronautical Experiments

The Wright brothers began their aeronautical research in 1899. Their first aircraft was a small kite with a 5-foot wingspan that was used to test their notions of aircraft control. In 1900, they built their first machine designed to carry a pilot and chose Kitty Hawk, N.C., as a suitable testing ground. With its strong steady winds, open areas, and tall sandy dunes, the area was perfect for their experiments.

When their 1900 aircraft produced less lift than expected, the Wright brothers flew it as a kite and gathered information that would enable them to design improved machines. They returned to Kitty Hawk in 1901 with a new glider that did not perform as they expected. While they had learned a great deal with their first two machines, they had also encountered new puzzles and dangers.

To simulate flight conditions, the Wrights tested small model wings in a wind tunnel they had built. The wind tunnel was a box with a fan at one end that blew a steady stream of air over model wings mounted on a special "balance" inside the tunnel. Using this device, the brothers were able to gather information that could be used to design the wings of the gliders and powered aircraft that would carry them into the air.

The wind tunnel provided them with information on the most satisfactory wing shape. It also enabled them to calculate the size of wing that would be required to lift them into the air, the performance of their propellers, and the amount of power that their engine would have to produce. They based the design of their next glider on this information.

During the 1901 glider tests, the Wright brothers had discovered that "wing warping" created unequal drag on the two wings. The key to solving the control problem was the addition of a rudder to the glider design in 1902. They developed a direct linkage between the rudder and warping system. With the success of this system design, the Wrights were ready to move onto a powered aircraft.

The First Powered Flight (1903)

At Kill Devil Hills, N.C., at 10:35 am, the Wright 1903 Flyer took off under its own power with Orville as the pilot. It flew 12 seconds and went a distance of 37 meters. Orville and Wilbur took turns making three more flights that morning. Wilbur was at the controls for the fourth and longest flight, traveling 260 meters in 59 seconds. The Wright 1903 Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard.

Today, this amazing flying invention can be viewed as it is suspended overhead, at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Huffman Prairie – Mastering Flight (1904-1905)

Having achieved success in North Carolina, the Wright brothers decided to continue their experiments closer to home. They built and flew their second powered airplane at Huffman Prairie, a pasture eight miles east of Dayton, Ohio.

Progress was slow without the strong, steady winds of Kitty Hawk, but the brothers did achieve the first circular flight of an airplane on September 20, 1904. This first complete circle flight lasted only 1 minute 36 seconds and covered 1,244 meters.

Stability problems still plagued their invention. The modifications made during 1904 helped but did not solve the stability problem. This Flyer was the world's first practical aeroplane. During more than 40 flights at Huffman Prairie, the machine was repeatedly banked, turned, circled, and flown in figure eights. On two occasions the flight exceeded half an hour.

Wilbur and Orville Wright, brilliant self-trained engineers, had overcome complex technical problems that had barred the way to mechanical flight for centuries. Think about how their invention has changed our world.

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📝 Exercise A – Word Meanings

A. The meanings of the words are given below. Find the words from the text.

1. a. accessories – equipment that are useful but not essential
2. b. descent – an action of going down
3. c. aeronautical – connected with the science or practice of building and flying aircraft
4. d. steady – fixed in a place or position, supported or balanced; constant
5. e. experiment – a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery
6. f. plague – to cause pain or trouble to somebody over a period of time

📝 Exercise B – Matching

B. Match the following words with appropriate pictures.

a. propeller b. spokes c. elevator d. buzzard

[Note: In a visual medium, pictures would appear here with letters a, b, c, d below each.]

📝 Exercise C – True or False

C. State whether the following statements are true or false.

1. a. The Wright brothers sold copies of toy helicopters in the market. – False (They sold toys to friends, including handmade kites, but not copies of the helicopter in the market)
2. b. They had a printing business in their cycle shop. – True (They ran their printing shop on the second floor of their bicycle shop)
3. c. The experience of cycling helped them to generate ideas for controlling and balancing aircraft. – True (Their work with bicycles influenced their belief that an unstable vehicle could be controlled with practice)
4. d. Wing warping system controls the aircraft in a roll. – True (The wing warping system enabled the pilot to raise or lower either wing tip at will)
5. e. They learned more about balancing by watching other aircraft fly. – False (They observed birds in flight, particularly buzzards)
6. f. Their first experimentation was with a kite. – True (Their first aircraft was a small kite with a 5-foot wingspan in 1899)
7. g. Wilbur Wright was the pilot of their 1903 Flyer. – False (Orville was the pilot for the first flight; Wilbur piloted the fourth flight)
8. h. Their aircraft could make zigzag movements, flew straight. – False (The 1903 Flyer made only straight flights; turns were achieved later at Huffman Prairie in 1904)

D. Put the following events from the text in chronological order.

1. d. Milton Wright brought home a toy helicopter. (1878, when family lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
2. f. The children made copies of the toy helicopter. (Shortly after receiving the toy)
3. h. The Wright brothers started a printing business. (1889, after their mother's death)
4. b. They opened a cycle shop. (1892, Wright Cycle Exchange opened)
5. g. The Wright brothers began their aeronautical research. (1899, with a small kite)
6. e. They built their first machine designed to carry a pilot. (1900, first glider tested at Kitty Hawk)
7. a. Their first Flyer took off under its own power with a pilot. (December 17, 1903)
8. c. The Wright brothers developed a machine overcoming complex technical problems. (1905, with the Flyer III, the world's first practical airplane)

📝 Exercise E – Questions and Answers

a. What services did the Wright brothers give from the cycle shop?

The Wright brothers sold and repaired bicycles. They would replace spokes, fix broken chains, and sell accessories. Later, they began to build their own brand of bicycles, the Van Cleve and the St. Clair. They invented the self-oiling hub and devised left-hand threads on the left pedal to prevent it from coming unscrewed.

b. How did their cycle business help them to build an aircraft?

Their experiences with bicycles aided them in the investigations of flight. They used the technology they learned from their bicycle business in their airplanes: chains, sprockets, spoke wires, ball bearings, and wheel hubs. Their thoughts on balancing and controlling their aircraft were also rooted in their experience as cyclists. As experienced cyclists, the Wrights preferred to place complete control of their machine in the hands of the operator.

c. How did the brothers develop the idea of balance and control in the flight of an aircraft?

They developed the "wing warping" system from observing birds in flight. They observed buzzards keeping their balance by twisting their wings and sometimes curving one wing more than the other. They also used a wind tunnel to gather data on wing designs. In 1902, they added a vertical rudder linked to the warping system to solve control problems.

d. What was their first aircraft like?

Their first aircraft (1900) was a glider designed to carry a pilot. It was a biplane featuring 165 square feet (15 square metres) of wing area and a forward elevator for pitch control. It developed less lift than expected, so they flew it as a kite to gather information. Their second glider (1901) had increased wing area of 290 square feet (26 square metres). The third glider (1902) performed as expected and included a movable rudder.

e. What did they do to create the flight conditions?

To simulate flight conditions, the Wrights built a small wind tunnel in their bicycle shop. It was a box with a fan at one end that blew a steady stream of air over model wings mounted on special "balances" inside the tunnel. They tested between 100 and 200 wing designs, gathering information on lift, drag, and the most satisfactory wing shape.

f. What is "wing warping"?

Wing warping was a system the Wright brothers developed to control an aircraft in a roll. By twisting the wings—inducing a helical twist across the wings in either direction—they could increase lift on one side and decrease it on the other, enabling the pilot to raise or lower either wing tip at will. The pilot would shift his hips from side to side in a cradle on the lower wing to activate the system.

g. When and where did the first Flyer take off?

The first Flyer took off on December 17, 1903, at 10:35 am, at Kill Devil Hills, about four miles (six kilometers) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville Wright was the pilot, and the flight lasted 12 seconds covering 120 feet (37 meters).

h. What progress had they made by 1904?

By 1904, flying at Huffman Prairie near Dayton, Ohio, the Wright brothers achieved the first circular flight of an airplane on September 20, covering 4,080 feet (1,244 meters) in 1 minute 36 seconds. They made 105 flights in 1904, including flights lasting up to five minutes and covering several miles. They also developed a catapult launching system using a falling weight to accelerate the aircraft for takeoff.

i. How was the world's first practical airplane?

The Wright Flyer III (1905) was the world's first practical airplane. During more than 40 flights at Huffman Prairie, the machine was repeatedly banked, turned, circled, and flown in figure eights. On two occasions, the flight exceeded half an hour. By October 1905, Wilbur made a 39-minute, 24-mile (39 km) nonstop circling flight. This airplane solved the stability problems that had plagued earlier versions and could be controlled effectively in all axes.

📌 Additional Information

Who Were the Wright Brothers?

Wilbur and Orville Wright were famous inventors who grew up in Ohio, USA. Wilbur was born in 1867 and Orville was born years later in 1871. The brothers are famous for being the first people to build and fly an airplane with an engine.

What Was Their Early Life Like?

Wilbur and Orville's father encouraged them to read lots of books and think carefully about the things that they found interesting. Orville spent several summers learning the printing trade and together they opened a printing shop. The brothers became well-known for the printing presses that they designed, built, and sold. In 1892, the brothers opened their own bicycle repair shop. They began to build and fly airplanes while working in the shop. The Wright brothers learned from people who had already created flying machines.

What Was the First Aeroplane Like?

Wilbur and Orville tested many designs to try to work out how to make an airplane fly. They realized that the design of the wings was important to get the airplane off the ground. They built wings with different lengths, shapes, and tip designs to find out which would work the best. In 1903, they chose their best plan and built an airplane with wings and propellers. It also had a rudder to help the pilot to steer and an engine to give it power. The airplane's first flight lasted for 12 seconds. There were five spectators.

What Happened After the First Flight?

After the first flight, the brothers carried on building aeroplanes. By 1905, they had built an aeroplane that could fly for 39 minutes and it could even fly in circles. Wilbur and Orville continued to make aeroplanes while other people struggled to keep up with their designs. The brothers made aeroplanes for the US army which could fly for at least one hour. Years later, they opened a flight school in Ohio where pilots were trained.

🔑 Key Takeaways

1. Early Life: Born in Dayton, Ohio; sons of Bishop Milton Wright; encouraged to pursue intellectual interests.
2. Business Ventures: Printing business (1889), then bicycle shop (1892) – funded their aviation experiments.
3. Control Innovation: Three-axis control system (wing warping, elevator, rudder) – key to solving "the flying problem".
4. Kitty Hawk: Ideal testing ground with steady winds, open spaces, and soft sand dunes.
5. Wind Tunnel: First to use systematic wind tunnel data for wing design (1901-1902).
6. First Flight: December 17, 1903 – 12 seconds, 120 feet, four flights that day.
7. Practical Airplane: By 1905, the Flyer III could turn, circle, fly figure eights, and stay airborne for 39 minutes.