egerton to larsen- test pilots separated by a century

8/12/2019 Egerton to Larsen- test pilots separated by a century

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Draft 02 by Jim Rait 15/06/2014

“You have control Mr Larsen.” “Thank you Mr Egerton.”

Two versions of the Wright Flyer and their testing

programmes separated by almost a century.100 years ago the 'sport' of flying heavier than air machines was about totake off. It took courage and considerable skill to be a pilot, but there wasanother thing needed – deep pockets. Hand-crafted airframes and lightweightengines do not come cheaply, and even when the determined flyer has madeit into the sky there is always a risk that they will damage, or even write-off,their expensive machines with a single rough landing.

The Short-built Wright Flyer A -1909.In 1909 five British sportsmen - Charles Rolls, Alec Ogilvie, Frank McClean,

Maurice Egerton and Cecil Grace - ordered Wright Flyer A‟s (an improvedversion of the Wright Flyer III). The Wright brothers, encouraged by CharlesRolls and Griffith Brewer (patent agent to the Wrights), contracted out theirmanufacture to Shorts. The Short brothers were astonished to find theWright‟s did not have the drawings of their Flyer so in February 1909 Horacetravelled to Pau, Wilbur Wright‟s winter flying ground, to make drawings ofthe machine (Horace‟s sketchbook is now in the care of RAeS). For eachcomplete machine with a French-built Wright engine the pilots paid £1,000(nearly £100,000 in today‟s money).

One of these pioneering pilots left a logbook of his experiences whilst learningto fly his Short-Wright Flyer No 4 at Shellbeach, the Royal Aero Club flyinggrounds on the Isle of Sheppey. Now lost, the logbook survived long enoughfor the Xerox machine to be invented, and a copy to be made, in 1979, forGordon Bruce, who has kindly made a copy of a copy for me. MauriceEgerton‟s logbook brings to life the collaborative, competitive spiritengendered by the aviators as they pushed at the boundaries of an ill-definedflight envelope during those pioneering years 1909 to 1914.

How could Utah State University celebrate the centenary of Orville and Wilbur’s firstsuccessful powered flight? Other organisations were carefully producing faithful

reconstructions of the Flyer so how could USU do something different whilst

remaining faithful to Orville and Wilbur Wright's vision of flight?

Dave Widauf, an associate professor at USU's College of Engineering, asked himself

what the Wright brothers would have done if they had access to today's technology.

He sat down with a colleague, Charles Larson, and together they realised that thei

brothers’ vision could reach new heights if they built a version of the Wright Flyer

using composite materials.




"We knew we could keep the essence of the airplane but make it lighter and stronger,"

the colonel said.

After reviewing plans for the 1903 flyer — the one that flew at Kitty Hawk, N.C. —

and determining it would not fly for long periods, they decided to build a modern

version of the lesser-known 1905 Wright Flyer III.

"We didn't want to build something that wouldn't fly," Widauf said. "Even the Wright

brothers said the 1903 Flyer was impossible to fly, so they came back and changed it."

The Wright brothers came to the conclusion about their aircraft the hard way. After

making history by keeping their 1903 Flyer in the air for 12 seconds Dec. 17, the

brothers went back to Ohio discouraged after a crash damaged the craft beyond repair.

They went back to the drawing board, redesigned their aircraft and made history again

with the 1905 model, which flew for 39 minutes, 24 seconds and covered a distance

of almost 24 miles, longer than all their previous flights combined.

Widauf and his colleagues, working with USU's Space Dynamics Laboratory, decided

to make the project a community affair by involving students and faculty from various

areas in the College of Engineering along with a group of senior citizens who had

worked on aircraft before and local high school students.

"We changed some things," Widauf said. "It's actually closer to the 1909 Military

Flyer with two seats and the landing gear."

The project took 4,000 hours to design and 6,000 hours to build, he said.

Even with the extra seat and gear, the USU Wright Flyer is lighter than the 1905 Flyer

because of the composite materials used to build it. Composites, which are very

strong structurally and lightweight, are a blend of two or more materials in which the

individual elements are still distinguishable. Composites, such as Kevlar and graphite,

are commonly used in sports equipment, cars, and aircraft like the B-2 and F-22.

Widauf and his students used fiberglass and Kevlar-coated foam to replace the wood

and cloth used on the original Flyer. Another departure from the original plan is the

addition of a Harley-Davidson twin-cam 88B engine replacing the original built by

Charles Taylor for the brothers. One of the most difficult challenges of the project

was to take all these modern materials and equipment and create an aircraft that still

looks like the Wright brothers' 1905 Flyer.

Some aviation enthusiasts were upset by the group's plans to modernize the flyer.

However, Widauf said they worked with attorneys for the Wright family, and the

Wright Brothers Foundation eventually sanctioned the aircraft.

We had a wonderful showing at the Air Power 2003 event May 9-10 at Wright-

Patterson AFB (Ohio)," Widauf said. "A gentleman walked up and introduced himself

as Stephen Wright, the Wright brothers' great-grandnephew. He sat in the airplane and

loved it. They (members of the family) invited us to Kitty Hawk in December (for the

100th anniversary celebration of the Wright brothers' first flight) and are very excited

about the airplane. The unique thing is this is not an exact replica, and we never meantit to be."




The USU Wright Flyer made its debut flight at Utah's historic Wendover Airport

March 12, staying airborne for 23 seconds and traveling 800 feet. Since then, it has

been on a whirlwind tour throughout the West, impressing spectators at every turn.

Perhaps more impressive than the technological achievement is the emotional

response the aircraft elicits from people by bringing past and present together.

Adapted from:

The Wright Stuff by Capt. Anita Pavey

Citizen Airman - The Official Magazine of the Air Force Reserve

May 22 2003

Utah State University/ NCC Wright Flyer III- 2003Nearly one hundred years after Maurice Egerton and his fellow flyers taughtthemselves to fly Dr. Widauf, at the Utah State University, caught the sharedvision of the Wright brothers by building a replica of Orville and Wilbur‟s 1905Flyer III using composite material.

The USU Wright Flyer‟s test flights began on March 11 and 12, 2003. The

Flyer‟s first flight lasted about eight and a half seconds. The Flyer travelledapproximately 140 feet using a test runway about 8,000 feet long and wideenough to provide the necessary room required for the controlled flightsbeing conducted by test pilot Wayne Larsen and the Utah State support team.The second flight lasted nearly 135 seconds and covered almost 3000 feet ofthe runway, powered by a Harley V88 engine. Larsen was able to dip thewings with the wing warping controls and maintain a stable, straight flightdown the runway.The Wendover Test Flight Operations Log for March 10-12, 2003 has beenpublished and an extract of both logbooks are compared below.

The entries highlight the similarities of the test pilots‟ experiences eventhough there is a gap of 94 years between the flights. Whilst the “new” Flyerhas greater structural integrity the issue of flight stability and engine reliabilityare still challenging for the pilot.




Maurice Egerton in his Short-Wright Flyer No 4, ready for takeoff in 1909/10.

An early test flight of the USU/NCC Wright Flyer III in 2003.




Wendover Test Flight OperationsMarch 10-12, 2003Tuesday March 11, 2003Operations began at 7:00am. Someadjustments were made from data and

concerns gathered the previous day.Inspections were complete around 10:00amand high speed taxi tests resumed until1:30pm. At 1:30pm the aircraft and allobservers were moved to the far side of runway120.First flight (2:20pm) – lasted 9 seconds duringwhich the aircraft travelled approximately 350feet at a height of 4 feet AGL. Airspeedrecorded by the pilot was 40mph; wind steadyat 090 degrees at 7 knots; 5.5 on the Hobbsmeter at the end of the flight; airport densityaltitude 5500 feet.The weather was mostly clear with

temperatures near 70 degrees. The airplaneappeared very stable in all respects as observedfrom the ground. The pilot reported the samebut that control pressure and pilot workloadwas high. The canard lifted at about 32mph onthe airspeed indicator and the lift off occurredat about 38mph. The ground speed recorded bythe chase vehicle was approximately 35mph.Second flight (2:33pm) – 4 seconds long thentouched down; flew 15 seconds; about 4-5 feet

AGL for 1200-1500 feet; engine rpm 4200;airport elevation 4240 feet; density altitude5500 feet.Third flight (2:43pm) – 22 seconds; 10 feet

AGL; 1500+ feet.Fourth flight (3:40pm) – 1 minute 26 seconds;10 -15 feet AGL; 6000+ feet; take off roll 900feet; landing rollout 300 feet.Fifth flight (3:50pm) – 1 minute 34 seconds; 20+ feet AGL; 6000+ feet; shorter take off roll.Sixth flight (3:56pm) – 1 minute 22 seconds;exceeded 25 feet AGL; full length of runway(8500 feet) including take off and landing rolls.This was the last flight of the day. Hobbs metertime was 6.5 hours. Note: the oil temperatureand CHT were near red line.

Wednesday March 12, 2003Operations began at 6:30am. We installed anoil cooler to help lower the engine operatingtemperatures.

Shellbeach Dec, 1909-June 1910December 5, Sunday 1909 I got out to my shed about 8.15 am; andstarted my first journey at 9.15.

A beautiful frosty morning, the wind, when

Short came by, was only 4 mph, andoccasionally at first dropping to an almost deadcalm.Rose off the rail first time, and flew for perhaps60 yds, and nearly every time increased thedistance up to my 6th trip, when I had to stoponly on account of bad ground just in front -130 yds, Short's pacing -but got badly turnedround, right-handed; Short said I had got myrudder set the wrong way all the time - quitelikely - as at present I can only think ofelevating and warping.My 7th trip, the engine started missing half-waydown the rail, and I hopped to the ground,

yanked on the elevator, rose, lost all way, andlanded rather heavily, tail to the wind, as usual;hit my right wing pretty hard; Short said, butluckily no damage done. 8th and 9th journeysnot very grand.10th. Engine ran very well, I made a clean rise,and flew windward, till I came close to theditches and the sheep - 200 yds the men said -which is about correct. The advance spark wasin the 5th notch after No. 5 run, hence mygood flight on the 6th trial. Much easier to risewith the added power, without excessiveelevating.11th and 12th. Motor missing, so switched off

on landing off the rail. Then the wind got up,and Green said I mustn't fly in it; so having agood morning, decided not to wait for it to godown as the tide had just turned, so knock offfor the day. Took off the petrol pump in theShed and found a piece of cork in the Pipe!

June 2, Thursday 1910In the afternoon we took some men over toShellbeach, and got out my Wright. The engineran without a miss, as soon as the air was outof the petrol-pipes, so I went straight off therail to Eastchurch, landing near my shed. Wind

probably 6 or 7. Time probably 7 mins.Made another flight of 9 mins. ----- 14 mins,the crankcase was then beastly hot, so Idecided to bring her in; and Chapman is to puton a new oil pump tomorrow.




The challenge of flying a fairly large aeroplane at between 30-40 mph is justas challenging today as it was a century ago. The rules of aerodynamics,thermodynamics and the skill needed to control these „beasts‟ do not alterwith time. After flying as a passenger with Wayne Larsen in the USU WrightFlyer former Space Shuttle astronaut Jake Garn described the skills and

physical stamina required by the pilot. “The Flyer has no ailerons to help it turn,” Garn explained. “The pilot has touse the wing warping stick to turn the entire wing, which takes a lot of effort.In the Flyer, both wings have to be turned mechanically. There‟s no powersteering. You have to hold the stick constantly. It wears you out.”

egerton to larsen- test pilots separated by a century

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