Hi,
I was in Paris this year when the Tour de France took place. It was
amazing to see TV's in local eateries and brasseries tuned to the race
- and support for the American when he was having difficulties and
when he pulled back out in front was wonderful. I wondered if there
was as much support back in the States for this amazing man in this
grueling contest!
I think the 100 year link between the first race and the Wright
brother's flight is the spirit of adventure that fueled the world. The
gay nineties, the advent of new forms of transportation and the
openness to trying new ideas out that existed at the beginning of the
1900s was in many ways a parallel to the turn of this century. You
remember, before the dot.com crash and terrorist alerts. New
discoveries fueled the belief that the world ahead was going to be
only better. Dreams were encouraged and many became reality!
I think this article is part of an English language tutorial, but it
does a good job of exploring the influence of bicycle mechanics on the
development of the Wright brother's flying machines. Just hit cancel
when the Japanese character box pops up.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Hollywood-Miyuki/1871/data/i03.html
The complete Wright Brother's site has to be Wright Brothers
Information Packet
- what they don't have, there are links to. There isn't much about the
bicycle connection. I think that since the Wrights went with the
glider concept, the machinery aspects were not as obvious.
http://www.libraries.wright.edu/special/wright_brothers/packet/
The NASA site does bring in the connection
(http://spacelink.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/NASA.Educational.Products/The.Process.of.Invention/Process.of.Invention.pdf)...
"The Wright brothers’ experiences with bicycles aided them in their
investigations of flight. They used the technology they learned from
their bicycle business in their airplanes: chains, sprockets, spoke
wires, ball bearings, and wheel hubs. Their thoughts on balancing and
controlling their aircraft were also rooted in their experience as
cyclists."
Another NASA site that links - among other things - to the project to
build a replica of the original plane is
http://www.quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/
Katherine Wright... the sister of the glorious duo, has some space on
the Internet, too. Katharine Wright: A Sisters Legacy to Flight
http://www.womanpilot.com/past%20issue%20pages/2000%20issues/july%20aug%202000/katharine_wright.htm
One last Wright site that's definitely worth visiting is The American
Experience - The Wright Stuff
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wright/wrights.html
This one has a black and white silent movie of, well no, not the
original flight, but one very like it. They also have an interview
with an historian who makes the bike-plane connection very clearly.
The Wrights and Curtis didn't get together to form a company. But you
are right that Curtis did put a motor on a bicycle to increase the
speed and became a major supplier of "training aircraft to the U.S.
government and flying boats to Allied navies."
http://www.flight100.org/history/us.html
For a view of some of the bikes that were around at the time take a
visit to one of these online museums -
http://www.ibike.org/historymuseum.htm
Being used to the racing bikes of today, you'll wonder how they rode
these pre-balloon tire bikes, never mind taking the next step to
flying...
While some aviation historians give the bicycle credit for inspiring
manned flight, bicycle histories don't say much about airplanes.
One site that gives the history of the Tour de France, doesn't notice
any connection (The Origins of the Tour de France:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/veloarchive/races/tour/origins.htm), but
the site's coverage of the Tour makes up for the omission.
The BBC's site (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/2064889.stm)
provides a bit less glamourous view, but the story is captivating and
the pictures are great!
The official site is a bit disappointing
(http://www.letour.fr/2003/presentationus/retro.html), but it does
have a year by year record of the winners and other important facts.
Search terms: Tour de France history bicycles relationship
I hope this answers your question.
Regards,
bcguide-ga |
