How two bicycle engineers proved Icarus Wright
On this day in (engineering) history… December 17th, 1903 - The Wright brothers make the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight In Greek myth, father and son team Daedalus and Icarus made wings to escape their prison on the island of Crete (accounts vary). Made from bird feathers, blanket threads, leather and…wax. ‘Follow my flight path and don’t fly too close to the ocean or the sun!’ Icarus followed his father’s instructions until, becoming overconfident, he flew upwards, ever closer to the sun. The wax holding the feathers to the wing frame melted, and Icarus felt the pull of gravity. Thousands of years later, at Kill Devil Hills, for brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, there was no chance of following Icarus. Their heavier-than-air craft, ‘Flyer,’ made four flights. In…
