Old Wright Bros aero history in 1909
 

Some may have seen this before.

For aviation history buffs.
Old Wright Bros aero history in 1909

This film clip is fascinating and in very good condition for
its age being as it shows the Wright Bros demonstrating the
Flyer to a group of European officers and officials in 1909.
Only runs for 4 mins. The shots of the plane in flight are
the best I have ever seen of this machine showing a degree of
speed and smoothness I did not think would have been possible.

Excellent starting sequence with the linen covered props and
easy start, but the outstanding sequence being the take off
along the rail. You can't see the actual weight drop to pull
it along the rail but in some shots you see the tower.
The small piece of string on the forward elevon was put there
by the Wrights to ascertain degree of side slip as you are
aware the plane basically turned flat, and although they
eventually put in a form of wing warping it was always a
difficult plane to handle in turns, so they kept it as flat
as possible because any side slip over a certain angle was
unrecoverable. This was the two seat version as you can see
and designed for a hopeful military use. It could only fly
in very calm conditions.

The in flight shots were something else again and possibly
the earliest aerial movie shots ever taken. When you think
he had to fly the plane and also hand crank the camera,
I think it must have been fixed in position as the camera
stays motionless and in any case cameras were heavy in
those times and the plane had little spare capacity, but
I could be wrong. Note the take off ramp. Loved the old
Italian Roman ruins in the final shots the approach speed
was very slow indeed.

Thought you might be interested in this film clip from the
Austrian archives about the Wright Brothers demonstrating
their plane in Italy in 1909. What is even more fantastic
is there was an on-board camera on the Wright plane and the
last part of this film shows it.

Wilbur Wright is at the controls on both of the flights.
Its a GREAT video considering it's 100 years old and the
quality/weight of the equipment of that day.

100 year old film.!!

Wilbur Wright und seine Flugmaschine - 1909 - Europa Film Treasures