Ohio 1803 ????

Cliff · 26 April 2004, 01:35 PM

Hi

I just found a 2002 American quarter in my change.
On it is a pic of the Wright Flyer , an Astronaut , an outline of Ohio and the title Ohio 1803 -- Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers.
Who is this refering to ?

Cliff

Rod_Filan · 26 April 2004, 03:21 PM

Astronauts: Neil Armstrong? John Glenn? Both I think.

However somebody at the mint thought the Wright Bros were born in Ohio which is only half-right (pardon the pun) Orville was born in Dayton Ohio but Wilbur was born in Indiana.

Technically the coin is correct but excludes Wilbur.

VBR
Rod

AAC Cadet Leader · 26 April 2004, 06:17 PM

18???03?

Hey maybe you've got a rare quarter like that stamp that was printed upside-down.

maten · 26 April 2004, 07:40 PM

Ohio became the 17th state in 1803.

AAC Cadet Leader · 26 April 2004, 07:50 PM

Oh, okay. I thought maybe they goofed by a hundred years on the first flight.

Charlie · 6 May 2004, 09:57 AM

Cliff,
Oh,thank you, thank you for asking.
We in Ohio have taken our geniouses for granted for a long time.
Even tho' the State of North Carolina has declared itself as "First in Flight" on automobile license plates for at least 50 years we Ohioans knew where powered flight came from but made no protest.
The actual case is this. All the Wright brother's developement work and construction was done in Dayton ,Ohio. What Ohio couldn't supply was a consistant supply of high wind in a place that was hell-and-gone fom prying eyes. North Carolina had that in spades. North Carolina was so pre-industrial that the Wrights had to ship their broken sub-assemblies back to Ohio to get them repaired. It was a multi-day trip just to get their stuff into a train car.
When the issue of coins featuring each US state came up the N. Carolinians persisted in trying to suck up Ohio glory even tho' history shows plainly that not one N.C. braincell contribted to the first flight. Unfortunately the "Tarheels" or Bollweevels" or whatever they call themselves got to show the first flight on their benighted quarter.
Once the Wrights had gotten off the ground they left the sand ,the wind, the bugs and the bad diet of N.C. forever.
Wright Fliers were perfected at Hoffman Prairie (now Wright Patterson AF Base) outside of Dayton. Because there was an interurban train that crossed Hoffman Prairie numerous times each day, the Wrights schedualed their test flights so that the train riders wouldn't get a look at their contraption.
Incidentally, many decades ago the US Patent Office combed their records for the place that produced the most patents. No surprise there. It was Dayton, Ohio.
Glad to get that out of my spleen.

Charlie

Philip_Hawes · 20 May 2004, 10:19 AM

although i totally agree with you that ohio is the birth place of powered flight, i think that Sir George Cayley is the father of flight.

timjnf · 20 May 2004, 11:03 AM

It is a fact that the first flight took place in NC. Orville was born in OH, Wilbur was born in IN. Maybe the problem isn't that NC shouldn't be the birthplace of aviation, but that OH and NC should be sharing the birthplace title with IN.

Although the Wrights solved a critical problem, the problem of control, and most of their work was done in Ohio, I think Glenn Curtiss, a New Yorker, did more for aviation in the US, in the early years after the first flight, than anybody else.

It's really a shame that when Curtiss approached the Wrights with his engine, before he ever got involved in building airplanes, they flatly turned him down.
Their biggest (technical) shortcoming was their engine, and that's what Curtiss did best at that time.
What a team they could have made.

If the Wrights had not been so secretive, and greedy, the US would probably have lead the world in aviation instead of being a backwater until after WWI.

jempie · 21 May 2004, 06:37 AM

Hi friends!

Wish not to diaapoint anyone, but the right Brothers were the first to have done a controlled and sustained motorised flight...
But those other pioneers deserve also the honour for their exploits...
It's discussed this I know....
Some tell that Weisskopf (immigrant from Germany) who changed his name into Withehead into the USA should have done the first motorised flight but no real hard proofs for (?)
At the other hand into the USA is greatly forgotten the exploit of Dr. Greth at San Francisco which contructed an airship and made his flight on 18th Octber 1903 there!
In fact he made the first motorised flight into the USA ! Which is proven!
Little time before the Wrights did!
But he was first!

But seen it's an airship and he ditched due to a motorfailure into the
San Francisco Bay...only few people seems remember it!
But San Francisco was "First in Flight"!

VBR

Jempie.

jempie · 21 May 2004, 06:51 AM

Hi !

Here a picture of the motorgondola from Dr. August Greth's airship....

The photos and article were published into the Scientific American of November 7, 1903....
Dr. Greth told he ditched into the bay because if he should have reached and landed at the other side of the bay (as free balloon than, seen the motor stopped running) he had to pay the return transport cost to home over land and he had no funds anymore !
While the salvage operation by the rescue ship, it seems, didn't cost him money...

VBR

Jempie