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By conquering air, Wright brothers unleashed world-altering force
Sun Herald ^ | Dec. 03, 2003 | SETH BORENSTEIN

Posted on 12/03/2003 3:13:25 PM PST by yonif

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1 posted on 12/03/2003 3:13:25 PM PST by yonif
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To: yonif
Is this Bubbas newest posistion?

Its the Wright Brothers fault?
2 posted on 12/03/2003 3:22:13 PM PST by Kay Soze (Liberal Homosexuals kill more people than Global Warming, SUVs’, Firearms & Terrorism combined.)
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To: Kay Soze
It's interesting; the Wright brother's first customer was the US Army. Heh, that's the way it is. Only a Clinton would blame the Wrights for 9/11. I'm just waiting for a "locker room leapfrog" devotee to claim the they were gay, since neither ever married. Yeah, I can hear that crap, now.
3 posted on 12/03/2003 3:28:46 PM PST by You Gotta Be Kidding Me
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To: yonif
Flying isn't just physical. It's metaphysical..

This is most certainly true. Learning to fly was a monumental consciousness raising experience for me. With the exception of family, there is nothing in my life which has given more joy, education and adventure than my flying experiences.

4 posted on 12/03/2003 3:50:16 PM PST by Semper
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To: yonif
here ..... on a blustery Dec. 17, 1903, man first conquered the air...

I'm not so sure.

Do an Internet search on Richard Pearse (New Zealand) & you may not be either.

5 posted on 12/03/2003 4:36:39 PM PST by Republic If You Can Keep It
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To: yonif
The Wright brothers started a revolution, and George W. Bush managed to kill it.

After flying Delta cross country this week, I'll probably never fly commercial again.

Two hour security lines, hand-searched baggage, intrusive pat-downs, everyone having to remove shoes, belts, eyeglasses, rings, non-English-speaking aliens with attitudes, government-issued ID required multiple times, TSA drones everywhere, sack lunches instead of hot meals.

Screw it.

6 posted on 12/03/2003 5:01:55 PM PST by snopercod (The federal government will spend $21,000 per household in 2003, up from $16,000 in 1999.)
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To: yonif
Since there is a conceived "birth date" of the airplane the celebrations and the hyperbole are intense at this centennial. And since there is no singular "birth date" of the automobile, there is no specific celebration of its equally -- or more, I would argue -- history-shattering contributions to mankind, and, thus, its impact goes unappreciated.

I'd like to see the celebrants of the airplane include the automobile in their joy at the Wright brother's centennial. They'd rather not share the glory, even with the airplane's technological benefactor.

While Wright historians have generally assumed it otherwise, there is no coincidence that the Brothers developed the airplane when they did, coming at an explosive moment in automotive design. Without the automobile we have no airplane.

I'm enjoying the Wrights centennial none the less for my ideas on this. I may be alone, though, in including the automobile in it.

Nicollo unmasked: Bromleyisms here

7 posted on 12/03/2003 5:21:19 PM PST by nicollo
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To: yonif
Gates can shut up:
"The Wright brothers created the single greatest cultural force since the invention of writing," Microsoft founder Bill Gates said in 1998. "The airplane became the first World Wide Web, bringing people of different languages, ideas and values together."
Obviously this man who is reinventing the ugly and failed idea of planned obsolescence needs a lesson in history.

Ships were the first world wide web. Militarily, air forces have joined in the the primary function of navies, projection of power, but have not replaced them. No, the airplane does nothing new but fly. The boat, the railroad, the telegraph, the automobile, the telephone, & etc., shrunk time and space before the airplane came along. The airplane is an addition to it, not its invention. We can add the computer and the internet to the list, btw.

Again, I love planes, and I will celebrate the centennial with the best of 'em this Dec. 17.

8 posted on 12/03/2003 5:30:37 PM PST by nicollo
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To: nicollo
Anyone with an interest in flight should go there and stand at the base of that soaring monument, and if they are lucky
they will be able to gaze up at the pale moon and know just
what those two men set in motion.
9 posted on 12/03/2003 7:06:48 PM PST by tet68
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To: tet68
EAA (Experimental Aircraft Asso.) has created a replica of the Wright Flyer and it will attempt (weather permitting) to recreate the historic flight at Kill Devil Hill, NC at exactly 10:35 AM Wednesday Dec. 17th 2003, the 100th anniversary, to the minute, of that event. General Chuck Yeager and other notables will be there, along with thousands of attendees.

The Discovery Chanel will televise coverage at 9PM eastern that evening and also at midnite and again at noon the following day. Should be worth watching.....Jim EAA 6886
10 posted on 12/03/2003 7:36:33 PM PST by TailspinJim
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To: TailspinJim
I tell ya, you go out there, the wind blows just like it did then( they picked it because the wind blows steady like that over 250 days a year), it's enough to give you chill bumps.
It's been many years since I stopped there but am sure glad I did.
11 posted on 12/03/2003 8:13:22 PM PST by tet68
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To: Republic If You Can Keep It
,,, I'm a New Zealander and this topic comes up for debate once in a while. Pearse may or may not have made the first flight, but New Zealanders are generally very quick to acknowledge that the Wright brothers made the first controlled flight.
12 posted on 12/16/2003 7:30:09 PM PST by shaggy eel
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To: shaggy eel
I thought Pearse admitted that he did not achieve flight until 1905 ?
13 posted on 12/16/2003 9:25:40 PM PST by Peace will be here soon (Beware, there are some crazy people around here !!! And I could be one of them !!)
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To: yonif
Wright bros., Bill Gates... just a few Americans who have brought the world some cool stuff...millions more whose names aren't known to many...

What a country!

14 posted on 12/16/2003 9:28:17 PM PST by the invisib1e hand (do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
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To: yonif
Nice article. Now, in the interest of equal time, see the kook/liberal take on the same subject.
15 posted on 12/16/2003 9:38:20 PM PST by Johnny_Cipher (Dimension Zero)
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To: Peace will be here soon
I thought Pearse admitted that he did not achieve flight until 1905 ?

,,, that's a new one on me.

16 posted on 12/17/2003 11:14:04 AM PST by shaggy eel
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To: yonif
By conquering air, Wright brothers unleashed world-altering force

It's just that kind of day.

17 posted on 12/17/2003 11:16:30 AM PST by new cruelty
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To: shaggy eel
,,, that's a new one on me.
"Pearse in a letter to the press mentions the year 1904 when he began studies to achieve aerial navigation, and that true aerial navigation was not achieved until 1905." Are you familiar with this statement he made to the press? I found this info on the web, and the website has conflicting remarks on when his flights occurred. Sounds like it may be possible he could have beaten the Wright Bros. but how can anyone know for sure. Seems most "evidence" being presented now on when these flights occurred are statements coming from individuals recalling seeing these flights when they were children. I don`t know what to think about it myself. It almost seems like one of those deals where it looks like they are drumming up people to recall something that happened a very long time ago to try and change the history books. There is another fellow claimed to have flew even earlier than both Pearse and the Wright Bros.. , a man by the name of Gustave Whitehead.

"Two years, four months and three days before the successful flights of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, a birdlike monoplane took to the air at early dawn on August 14, 1901, near Bridgeport, Connecticut, carrying its inventor and builder, Gustave Whitehead, a distance of approximately a half mile." - Megan Adam, descendant of Gustave A. Whitehead.


I personally think the first person to achieve flight was some french guy, I can`t recall his name off hand, but I believe he built a " hand glider" type craft and was "flying" well before the Wright Bros, Pearse , or Whitehead. In fact, I would have to research it, I believe the Wright Bros. conversed with this guy on a regular basis while they were building their aircraft. I remember the guy crashed and made some statment about "sacrifices have to be made" before he died in the street.
18 posted on 12/17/2003 1:42:12 PM PST by Peace will be here soon (Beware, there are some crazy people around here !!! And I could be one of them !!)
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To: Peace will be here soon
,,, well, I'm not sure after reading that. Santos du Mont and others were having a crack at it too, all around the same era. Great minds were thinking alike at the time.
19 posted on 12/17/2003 3:33:34 PM PST by shaggy eel
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To: yonif
They didn't Conqer anything. They played hookie while Mother Nature wasn't looking.
20 posted on 12/17/2003 3:36:51 PM PST by Dead Dog
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