We seem to get lots (read 2 or 3 a day) of google hits from people searching for “early aeroplane”, or something similar. I love early airplanes (especially pioneers antiquity-1914), and pretty much all early technology, so hopefully this will point some future people in the right directions.
In my experience, the best readily available broad overview of early aviation is Richard Hallion’s Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age, from Antiquity through the First World War. It does an excellent job of bringing together lots of information for many different sources. The bibliography is also huge, so if something in the text sparks your interest, it can point you in the direction of more readings along those lines.
A book more directly related to WW1 aviation, is The First Air War by Lee Kennett. While it is rather dry, it does a fantastic job of tracing the evolving role of the aeroplane throughout the first World War.
Contact! The Story of the Early Birds by Henry Serrano Villard does a wonderful job of following the pioneers. He lived through this era, and in addition to explaining the airplanes, he does a great job following the early air races, which inspired the movie Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. The cheapest way to buy it is probably on eBay.
A book which fits nicely between Contact! and Taking Flight is Arch Whitehouse’s Early Birds: The Wonders and Heroics of the First Decades of Flight. I found my copy at a used book store, though I have seen some floating around on the internet (eBay and Amazon) as well.
Another fantastic resource (although it is not a book) is www.theaerodrome.com. It is home to a huge community of folks who really know what they are talking about when it comes to WW1 and prior. Some of them are replica builders (i.e. full sized), some of them are model builders, and some of them just enjoy the history. It culminates in a community that can pretty much answer any question.
And if you ever want to talk early airplanes, feel free to shoot me an email at etotheix (AT) gmail (DOT) com.
When Iwas an accepted student, I really wanted to know about RPI’s DBF club. In short, we build remote control airplanes to compete in the AIAA DBF competition. Of course, nothing was really available on the internet. I figured I’d put something here, and maybe someone will stumble across it if they are googling. DBF used to have a website, but no one ever updated it, so it went the way of the Dodo.
We meet twice a week during the fall semester, and twice a week for the first quarter of the spring semester. Then we move to the build lab, where we meet everyday. Of course, you aren’t obligated to come daily, just as much as you’re free/want to. For some reason, people stop coming when we start building, and building is far more exciting than designing.
Anyways, this years plane is known as Arthur Baskins. He has a moustache and a monocle. You can watch his test flight below. There is lots of laughing, because we expected a 40′ takeoff roll and because of the headwind it was more like 2′.
All the cosmetic work was done after the final test flight, which explains why it looks a little different.
Two weeks ago, Tony and I drove down to D.C. to deliver an automobile. Lots of fun was had cruising along the eastern seaboard in a PT Cruizer. While we didn’t get to visit a Tesla Store or SpaceX’s offices in D.C., we did otherwise have a good time. Being total nerds, we went to both the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall and the Udvar-Hazy Center and took a Segway Tour (which I’d highly reccomend!).
Inspections being performed on the Enterprise.
The Udvar-Hazy center is absolutely incredible. The centerpiece of their space collection is the Space Shuttle Enterprise, which isn’t exactly a Space Shuttle. When the Shuttle was being built, no one was really quite sure how well the Shuttle would fly. This necessitated the construction of the Enterprise (which was going to be named the Constitution before a plethora of Star Trek fans wrote in requesting the name change). The Enterprise was flown to altitude on the back of a modified 747 (which is still around today, it is used to shuttle Shuttles across the country when weather requires it to land at Edwards Air Force Base instead of Kennedy Space Center). The 747 then dove away and the shuttle glided* down to the run way.
*The Shuttle is a notoriously poor glider, it’s really more like falling with style.
Originally, NASA planned to retrofit the Enterprise for spaceflight. However, changes made to the design of subsequent orbiters made it expensive, and it was ultimately decided not to be worth the trouble. So, once NASA was done testing, the test orbiter made a worldwide tour. When it returned stateside, it was donated to the National Air and Space Museum. It was put on display at the Udvar-Hazy center, where it has remained.
As you probably know, NASA is set to retire the Shuttle fleet over the course of this year, and likely next year as the schedule slips. Well, NASM wants a real shuttle for their collection, and NASA is mostly willing to give it to them. However, the Udvar-Hazy Center doesn’t have room for a pair of Space Shuttles, so they need to remove the Enterprise.
FACT: The Enterprise was flown into Dulles on the back of a 747 in the mid 1970s.
This means that the Enterprise hasn’t flown in nearly 30 years. So a team from NASA went by to make sure the Orbiter could be safely reattached to a 747 for a flight somewhere else. While we were there, everything was in okay shape to fly, so you may see an orbiter near you!
Mine differs in that I didn’t feel like drawing and cutting the fuselage out of 1/32″ balsa sheet, so I substitute a 1/8″ square stick of balsa the same length of the original fuselage. I wasn’t comfortable in my ability to glue two 1/32″ flat plates together at a 90 degree angle, so I made my tail out of 1/8″ sticks with a tissue covering. Now, let’s get to builder her, shall we?
Ribs The plan specified slicing the ribs out with a drafting curve. I have no such tool, and tried cutting a few out freehand. This was a total no go. They are so thin (with spar depth of 1/16″) than any deviation from the curve simply cut the rib in half. Not to be discouraged, my Dad is also a hobbyist, and built a CNC machine for kicks several years ago. He uses it to make signs for gifts, and occasionally attempts something commercial. (For those interested in home built CNC machines, I suggest www.CNCzone.com)
So, I drew a simple outline of the rib in NX6 and converted it into G-code using Vetric’s VCarve Pro. Then it was off to the CNC machine, as can be seen to the left. It took a few tries to get the cutting path right, as the material was so thin. In the first pass all of the ribs broke, but during the second attempt we cut deeper into the backing material giving the piece a little more support, as well as placing a little support past the halfway point once the bit passed by. This gave me 12 good ribs to use!
As you can see, the machine cut the spline (the curve), and then I removed them from the blank using a razor. This also gave me the straight edges I needed to glue them to the spar.
This wing needed to be constructed in three segments because it has polyhedral (i.e. the flat center section and upward slanting outer sections). To do this, I laid out a piece of parchment paper over some foam core board and drew two parallel lines 2″ apart. The spars are held down with pins as can be seen in the picture, and it was relatively straightforward to drop the ribs in and glue them in place. I used Loctite brand Super Glue Control Extra Time and was very pleased with the results.
At left is the end result of the center section. Simply repeat with the additional two outer sections. To attach the three sections as the original author drew would require lots of fancy cuts, though it would be the strongest method. However, because I didn’t feel the need to calculate out the angles, I simply set the wing sections on the plans and sliced the spars of the outer sections such that they would nicely meet in the inner section at the correct angle, and glued them. This results in less surface area in contact and a weaker bond, but it has worked reasonably well for me. Should this joint break when the glider crashes (mine has) the tissue does a good job in keeping it in alignment so it is easy to glue back into the correct shape.
One outer section attached
Covering the wing is straightforward. Simply cut a piece of tissue paper to about the size of the wing. Coat the top of the wing lightly (glue is heavy stuff at this scale!) with Elmer’s glue. Stick the tissue paper on, and allow it to dry thoroughly (if the tissue is still wet with glue, it will likely tear), then cut off the extra. Do not use superglue for this task! It doesn’t stick nearly as well to the paper and wood, and is a general mess, as it is very good at sticking human flesh to paper.
Instead of cutting out the fuselage and vertical stabilizer per the plans, I modified it to take the lazy way out. I used an 1/8″x1/8″ piece of balsa as my fuselage, and two struts covered with tissue paper as my tail. This made it easier to glue the horizontal stabilier as well (which I did make per the plans, except I beveled the front edge as opposed to rounding it.
Once it was all set and done, my initial test flights were appalling. It didn’t fly, it simply flipped over and looped to the ground. I didn’t have any clay to use as a weight, but I did have some scotch tape and a penny, which served the purpose well.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a large enough space to test fly it at home. It seems to require a pretty good clip to keep airborne, a nice run seems to do it. Unfortunately, it requires very still air, so it’s almost impossible to do outside on the coast of Maine (it’s very windy here!). So, I have yet to fly it as a walk along glider, but it’s made some pretty decent flights across my living room, and has survived a large number of crashes!
(See top of the post for finished craft!)
I also apologize for the lack of decent pictures/video, my camera is at school so these pictures were taken with my cell camera!
RPI takes an extraordinarily long Winter break. I’m leaving my dorm room on Friday (8/18) and won’t return until (1/22ish). I want to be an engineer when I grow up, but outside of the FIRST Robotics Competition, and restoring aircraft at the Owls Head Transportation Museum. I haven’t had a whole lot of hands-on experience. I spent a couple of weeks at Fisher Engineering in high school, but most of my work experience has been in an office. I helped organize a $1.5 million car auction last summer, which was pretty awesome (and I will hopefully be working their again this summer), but it’s not engineering. After all, it doesn’t make much sense to hire a highly skilled accountant to lead the design team of the next Space Shuttle.
So, I brainstormed some things to do.
CAD an airplane. A really old airplane. WW1 Aero, is a highly informative magazine on the early aeroplane, filled with both stories of the early aviators and technical goodies. Sadly, they may have printed their last hard copy issue, but they maintain a list of drawings nontheless. Not quite sure, which airplane, I’d like to do, but I’ll need a full set of drawings. Right now the front runner seems to be the 1909 Wright Military Flyer, as it has complete drawings. I’d like to do something a little less well known, but I’d gladly settle for a Wright.
CAD a rotary engine. Rotary engines were the gold standard of aviation from 1909-1918. Airplanes need power to fly through the air, and to get that much power, you need engines that generate significant amounts of heat. They needed some sort of cooling system, and water cooling was simply too heavy. The Seguin brothers from France developed the rotary engine. The cylinders are located radially around the crankshaft. However, instead of mounting the engine block to the airframe, they mounted the crankshaft to the airframe! That is, the cylinders spin with the propeller. Scroll down on this page and look at the big picture for a still of one in action (this is a slightly different engine. I would CAD a Le Rhone 80 HP, they built a 100 HP Oberusel). WW1 Aero has the full set of drawings for an 80 HP Le Rhone, which is what leads me in that direction.
Human Powered Flight. Okay, so this sounds really crazy. But I’m quite convinced it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Jesse van Kuijk just flew last year, doing almost all of the work himself. He’s 19 and started when he was 17. I’ve emailed with him a few times, and also Bryan Allan, pilot of Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross fame. No doubt it would be a huge amount of work, and probably span the next two summers. Luckily, most of the “hard” things (airfoil, basic structural issues) have been done before. It would also be undeniably cool.
Rockets I lurk on the aRocket mailing list. If you are at all interested in amateur rocketry, I suggest you google it and join. Lots of really smart people doing really incredible things. It’s a lifelong goal of mine to build a liquid propellant rocket, but building one is a little expensive for a poor college student. Perhaps some early design work?
Whether you’re a pilot, aerospace engineer, student, or just a random person on the street, it’s hard to ignore the majesty of a flying machine. It’s always nice to have posters to hang on your wall. Posters from Walmart or another big box store are pretty generic. Luckily, if you like flying things, be they airplanes or rockets, the National Air and Space Museum’s Archive Division has the service for you! They’ll ship you technical drawings for incredibly low prices. While they are essentially large black and white photocopies, they still look fantastic.
*Regardless of how many drawings you order, you’ll want them shipping in a tube to avoid the creases. So, you might as well order at least $20 worth of posters!
Human Powered Flight. Okay, so this sounds really crazy. But I’m quite convinced it’s not out of the realm of possibility. 
Rockets I lurk on the aRocket mailing list. If you are at all interested in amateur rocketry, I suggest you google it and join. Lots of really smart people doing really incredible things. It’s a lifelong goal of mine to build a liquid propellant rocket, but building one is a little expensive for a poor college student. Perhaps some early design work?
