Trivia Quiz v 2.0

[Duke Maddog]

Looks like you posted a stumper Mike! I am super poor at guessing things like this from pics or partial pics. I'm surely interested in finding out what this is. Be sure you post the controversy when you confirm or reveal the answer.

[jeaton01]

I might have known there would be a New Zealand connection!

[BlackSheep214]

That is cool Looks pretty flimsy to actually fly.

[scorpiomikey]

I might have known there would be a New Zealand connection!

Thats the one.

The controversy.
Eyewitnesses describe Pearse crashing into a hedge during 1903. His monoplane may have risen to a height of at least 12 feet (3.7 m) on each occasion. Evidence exists that on 31 March 1903 Pearse achieved a powered, though poorly controlled, flight of several hundred metres.

The Wright brothers didnt acheive their first powered flight until december of that year. The controversy came when some people tried to claim pearse flew first.
However in a letter written by pearse in 1915 he states.

The honour of inventing the aeroplane cannot be assigned wholly to one man; like most inventions, it is the product of many minds. After all, there is nothing that succeeds like success, and for this reason, pre-eminence will undoubtedly be given to the Wright Brothers, of America, as they were the first to make successful flights with a motor-driven aeroplane. At most America can only claim to have originated the aeroplane. The honour of perfecting it and placing it on its current footing belongs to France

And a later letter he wrote in 1928 says.

At the trials it would start to rise off the ground when a speed of twenty miles an hour was attained. This speed was not sufficient to work the rudders, so, on account of its huge size and low speed, it was uncontrollable, and would spin round broadside on directly it left the ground. So I never flew with my first experimental 'plane, but no one else did with their first for that matter

So there you go. New Zealands little claim to aviation fame.We challenged Orville and Wilbur Wright for the first powered flight.

Over to you Jeaton.

[keavdog]

John knows everything about every plane ever made. Amazing. Encyclopedia Eaton.

[jeaton01]

Well, John, I had never heard of this one and it does not appear in any of the many books I have on early flight, nor was it ever the subject of any discussion at the Hiller Museum in San Carlos, which I was associated with during its development and early operations. Stanley Hiller wanted his museum to concentrate on early flight and modern cutting edge developments, bookending what most museums do. So I did what we all do and resorted to Google. I put in the search for "monoplane that flew before the wright brothers", and this link was about 4th down the page.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... BS8_TUyNWr

All of the discussions about who flew first I find rather specious, as everyone concentrates on the machines and not the process to develop them. The Wrights were really the first to have available the potential of sufficient power in a light enough package, they were able to work through Lilienthal's error in measuring air density (by a factor of two), they developed a wind tunnel to analytically develop a workable airfoil appropriate to the power and thus speed available, and then, perhaps their most important contribution was the development of propeller theory and thus a propeller design that fit the rest of their parameters. Their starting point was ship's screws, but in researching that they found only empirical development, no theory to use as a basis for something similar to use in the air. Much is made of wing warping, but really that was but a minor matter compared to the rest of their work, and in the end it was of limited use and detrimental to a necessary rigid structure later once once flutter was discovered.

But you have to give it to all the guys like Pearse who were willing to endure ridicule and the drain on their purse to pursue their dreams.

In any event, the best value of this thread is widening our collective aviation horizons, not who may have the best general knowledge. As I age I am often reminded that the old noggin my be losing some of what it once held.and eventually it will all just evaporate, as it does for all of us (so far).

[jeaton01]

Here you go:

[jeaton01]

Jeez, guys! Crickets!

Here's a hint, it's 1945 and that's the cockpit.

[Duke Maddog]

Well, to me it looks like the cockpit canopy of a B-36, possibly the prototype. Then again, not enough facets.

Like I said, I'm not very good at this...

[jeaton01]

Nope, but thanks for trying!