Wright flight remembered

From the role of precipitation in the construction of aircraft to the fact that an 18-year… From the role of precipitation in the construction of aircraft to the fact that an 18-year old Wilbur Wright lost several teeth in a hockey accident, all kinds of interesting facts about aviation history surprised and enlightened the crowd in Benedum Auditorium last Wednesday.

In honor of the 100-year anniversary of the Wright brothers’ historic first flight, Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University held a symposium in which four experts lectured on the Wrights and important events in aviation history.

The symposium concluded a day-long celebration of the Wright centennial. Throughout the day, CMU displayed a full-size replica of the Wright’s plane on its lawn. Meanwhile, in Posvar Hall, Pitt lowered Aerodrome #6, an early aircraft designed by one-time Pitt professor Samuel Langley in 1896. The invention usually hangs from ceiling the of Posvar.

The first speaker at the symposium, CMU engineering professor Dr. Arthur Davidson, gave a brief biography of the Wrights. He not only spoke of their flight expeditions, but also presented trivia about the Wrights – like the hockey injury.

Next, Dr.William Soffa, a Pitt professor of materials science and engineering, described the importance of another development in flight technology that is marking its centennial: the discovery of precipitation hardening.

“It’s the reason you can sit and drink your Coke and eat your pretzels and not have to worry about the plane falling apart,” he said of the process.

In precipitation hardening, metals are soaked in water and heated in a furnace. They then become firmer while cooling. According to Soffa, the process is essential for producing materials that are sturdy but light, like the metals that make up modern-day aircraft.

Third to speak was Nick Engler, director of the Wright Bros. Aeroplane Company in Dayton, Ohio. The company does not actually build commercial airplanes, but reconstructs the Wrights’ design for educational purposes and runs a museum dedicated to the brothers.

“The Wright story is extremely inspiring to young minds,” Engler said. “They were two uneducated kids with no money who achieved a 500-year-old dream.”

Visibly enthusiastic, Engler gave an hour and 15 minute presentation on the mechanics of the Wright plane and his company’s efforts to reproduce it, while paying little heed to Davidson tapping on his watch.

The last speaker, James Tobin, author of “To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Flight Race,” compared and contrasted Samuel Langley and the Wrights. The historian argued that Langley represented all that could be disadvantageous about education and prestige, while the Wrights represented the value of ingenuous adventurism and spirit.