The History of Early Flight

Overview

Dr. Lippisch's theme is the historical development of the flying machine. He begins his lecture with a short demonstration of Penaud's model. He shows how the invention of the cambered wing led to the first man-carrying aircraft, the glider. The next problem, the problem of control, was not conceived until the Wright Brothers began their pioneering glider experiments in Kitty Hawk, and Dr. Lippisch shows a scale model of their last (1902) glider and its control arrangement is demonstrated. As he shows film clips of the Wright Brothers' airplane, he explains the function of this first power aircraft.