Sweet dreams and flying machines

[Delmonico]

From The Northern Great Plains collection, by Fred Hultstrand in 1911, picture b385:





From the picture notes:

"... and by private subscription secured the Kenworthy-McGoey aeroplane from Grand Forks, which entertained the crowds on Thursday and Friday. While Mr. McGoey's engine was acting up, as gasoline engines sometimes will, he made a very successful flight on Thursday and the following day's flight would no doubt have been fully as successful had he cleared the fair buildings in starting. As it was however, his machine caught on the stalls on the north side of the grounds, just as he was starting over the fair grounds, and coming down so suddenly his machine was badly demolished. The aeroplane fell in among the livestock and where a large number of people had been standing only a moment before, but fortunately no one was hurt not even McGoey himself. Regardless of this accident and failure to fly on the second day, the people seemed well pleased with his performance of the preceeding day, when they had an opportunity of seeing a real aeroplane in operation, and no one begrudged the money that had been spent for the attraction"--Cavalier County Republican, August 17, 1911.

A little less than 8 years after the first Wright Brothers flight, a search shows most airplanes were similar to this one.  In a little over four years much advanced design planes would be engaged in mortal combat over The Western Front.

[St. George]

"In pieces on the ground"...

There's an original Wright Flyer in the Deutsches Teknikmuseum in Munchen (Munich), by the way - a most interesting aircraft inan amazingly interesting museum.

Vaya.

Scouts Out!

[Delmonico]

"In pieces on the ground"...

Some how that song always comes to mind when I see that picture.

[Dead I]

I read that the Wright flyer was very hard to fly, and it looks to me like it would be.  No fuselage and short coupled would have made them very pitch and yaw sensitive.  Also they had no dihedral which would have made them want to roll.  In the first models they shifted their weight to warp the wings, it'd work but it'd also be hard to do.  They practiced their flying skills in gliders, so they kind of knew what to expect after launch.

I recall when I was a kid thinking that flying would make one feel free as a bird.  The experience, in actual fact, was far from it.  When flying one has to be very aware of what is happening.  There are many ways one can screw up and kill yourself. Funny thing was that I flew airplanes that were both very fast (Jets) and very slow (Taylorcraft) and there were many more similarities between flying the two aircraft than there were dissimilarities.

I enjoyed the beauty of flying and the unbridled power of flying jet fighters. It was as much fun as you'd think when delivering the ordnance; the rockets, 20 mm canons and bombs, etc... I also enjoyed flying tail draggers with no radio or lights.  I used to take long cross country flights never getting higher than 150 feet.  Birds and wires were always a threat.  I miss flying some, but it's just too expensive now and I'm deaf as a post, so I'd never get my medical. It was fun while it lasted........and I did survive. 

[Delmonico]

More on the airplane:

GRAND FORKS DAILY HERALD
Grand Forks, North Dakota, Thursday, July 13, 1911
GRAND FORKS
AVIATORS ARE
SUCCESSFUL

      Thomas McGoey of Grand Forks, in his Kenworthy-McGoey flying machine, made seven successful flights at the state fair gounds last evening, with about 100 enthusiastic spectators cheering the first successful flight made in a North Dakota machine by a North Dakota Man.
      Word had been passed about last evening that the flight was to be attempted and at 7 o'clock, with weather conditions ideal, the machine was wheeled out into the big open space at the fair grounds and "cranked up."
      Everything was in first class order, but McGeoy did not attempt to fly the first time down the field, being satified with merely "feeling her out" and getting his bearings. The second time the machine was started, however, he worked the elevator easily and the aeroplane gracefully rose to a height of about 40 feet and floated for about 100 yards. Then the local aviator see-sawed up and down and skimmed lightly over the surface, sometimes a few feet up, other times touching and then shooting to a height of 15 or 20 feet. When the end of the field was reached, the engine was stopped, the machine turned around and before the evening's practice was over seven successful flights had been made.
      The Kenworthy-McGoey mahcine now seems an assured success--at least last night's flights demonstrated beyond a doubt that the experimental stage was no more. It is only a question of a week or 10 days of practice, until Aviator McGeoy will be able to successfully turn around in mid-air and make all the turnings and writhings necessary to cover a swallow-like flight--all this, of courses, provided there is no accident, but this possibility seems as remote with McGeoy as with the average aviator, since his first attempt was far beyond the usual success of a beginner.
      The propeller on the local machine rotates 1200 times a minute, the engine that causes these revolutions having been especially made at Rochester, N. Y., for the aeroplane. A little incident last evening shows the terrible force the propeller cuts the air with. While going down the field on one of his flights a ruler dropped out of McGoey's pocket into the propellor. The ruler was cut into little two or three inch pieces and some of the spectators picked them up for 400 feet or more from the path of the aeroplane. As the successful ending of his first evening in the air, McGeoy turned the machine sideways in the air and landed over by the main building, where she was stored for the night. The flights in the future will be as private as possible to avoid the danger of accidents. With a large crowd at liberty on the grounds it is difficult to skim around and practice rurning, and probably many attempts will be made in the early hours of the morning or at unexpected, intervals during the day.
      Immediately upon seeing the immense success of the aeroplane, F. G. Kenworthy, who is financing the venture, wired to several points where contarcts have been pending and received word that the feature would gladly be contracted for at those cities. Due to the fact that the papers have not been signed as yet, the names are not ready for publication.
      Grand Forks people and North Dakotans in general will congratulate the local aviators, if their future successes are in proportion to the first evening of real North Dakota flying. The local venture has been watched by thousands with interest and the stick-to-it-iveness of the local men in the face of many reverses has been the subject of considerable favorable comment.

To Fly at Fair.
      The continued success of the local airship will mean an added attrraction at the Notgh Dakota State fair, beginning July 25. The local machine will be one of the features at this great exposition and will be the first North Dakota machine ever flown before a North Dakota audience with a North Dakota aviator.

[JimBob]

Ya know,that had to take one heck of a lot of intestinal fortitude to climb in one of those things back then.Way more so than a horseless carriage.LOL Although running into another plane in the air was less than it would be than an automobile running into another one on the ground.

[Delmonico]

Ya know,that had to take one heck of a lot of intestinal fortitude to climb in one of those things back then.Way more so than a horseless carriage.LOL Although running into another plane in the air was less than it would be than an automobile running into another one on the ground.

A little more search show he gave it up not long after the picture was taken:


TOM M'GOEY RITES
TO BE HELD MONDAY
     Funeral services for Tom McGoey, 61 hears old, pioneer resident and Grand Fork's first aviator who died Thursday, will be Monday at 9 A.M. in St. Michaels Church with Rev. William McNamee officiating. Burial will be in Calvary cemetery.
     The body will lie in state at the Kasper Funeral Home from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon and at the home, 23 Fenton Avenue from Sunday afternoon until the funeral.
     Active pallbearers will be John K. Ness, J. J. Donley, J. J. Daly, James Lyons Sr., A. P. Stump and WIlliam Hogan. Honorary pallbearers will be William Trearmann, John Burton, William Colson, Willliam Alexander, Martin Colton, Dr. E. P. Robertson, Dr. C. L. Wallace, F. C. Gustafsson, Elmer Urrlauf, Lew Taylor, Charles Dow, Henry Hauges, C. F. Peterson, Peter Grady, Al Dunsmore, J. U. Zorkelbach and Howard Mosley.
     Mr. McGoey had been in the electrical business for 24 years, gracing Grand Forks with his presence on March 31, 1914. He was born in Toronto June 1, 1877.
     For three months in 1911, Mr. McGoey flew exhibitions from North Dakota to Michigan, attracting huge crowds everywhere. He built his plane, the first one here and made his first trip at the state fair grounds July 12, 1911. That trip was a 15-minute jaunt near the Bacon farm.
     With F. C. Kenworthy as his manager and Eugene Ester and Al Forsythe as mechanics, he flew before thrilled crowds at Thief River Falls, Little Falls, Sauk Center, Hillsboro, Langdon, Hibbing, Rochester, Superior and Duluth, and other cities.
     He crashed twice. The first time at the fair grounds here and the second time at Calumet, Mich. in the fall of 1911. He gave up flying then.
     Mr. McGoey was a member of the Elks Lodge and the Knights of Collumbus. His home was 23 Fenton Avenue.

[Trailrider]

Even the Wright brothers' father told them that if God had intended for humans to fly, He'd have given them wings!  As to getting around wing-warping, we owe the invention of ailerons to Glen Curtis.

"I told Orville and I told Wilbur and I'm telling you, it'll never get off the ground!"  "Oh I have slipped ther surley bonds of Earth..."

[JimBob]

Built his own plane.I have no real interest in airplanes or flying,but those early fliers were amazing.Building their own planes,teaching themselves to fly,most with no technical training or the education to do what they were undertaking.Just the ability to look at a problem and find a solution.Simply amazing.And to think 30 odd years after this 4 engine bombers were rolling off the line at the rate of one an hour.

[Delmonico]

The first aeroplane armed with a machine gun was a Wright Biplane flown by Lt. Thomas de Witte at College Park, Maryland on May 7, 1912. The gunner, who was armed with a Lewis gun, was Charles de Forest Chandler of the U. S. Army Signal Corps.

[JimBob]

The first aeroplane armed with a machine gun was a Wright Biplane flown by Lt. Thomas de Witte at College Park, Maryland on May 7, 1912. The gunner, who was armed with a Lewis gun, was Charles de Forest Chandler of the U. S. Army Signal Corps.

Is that guy piloting wearing a football helmet?

My personal experience with early aviation people was an uncle who was an airplane mechanic during the first war.He was in two crashes and survived but working around and on the engines left him pretty deaf.You had to repeat everything about 3 times at the top of your lungs when talking to him.LOL That was after he got a hearing aid.

[Delmonico]

I'd say it is.

[Stu Kettle]

What do you know about this one Del? 

I saw it in the Dawson County Museum in Lexington years ago.  The picture is from one hanging in a museum in California.  All I remember is the man designed, built, and flew this thing around central Nebraska till the government grounded him for not having a license to fly.  Don't remember the year.

[Delmonico]

I've heard the story, I'll do some research. 

[Dead I]

I spoke with an engineer once who had studied the Wright Flyer.  It was in the Smithsonian.  The fellow told me that the plane, though primative, was very well made.  They even made their own engine.  Thirty-six horse power.  I knew a fellow who had a Wright engine and it was an amazing thing to see.  All hand made, even the nuts and bolts were hand turned. The props, which were very hard to make, were chain driven and had to twist through a square tube and not bind.  It took a lot of skill to build that aircraft.  The Wrights had a mass of innovations including their wind tunnel.  While the original aircraft didn't fly for beans, it did fly.  Later models did much better.

Wilber died of diseas (I think it was meningitis.) soon after their flight, but Orville lived until the 50's.  I saw a photo of him inside a B-36 which was a monster airplane.