Evento

How Humans Learned to Fly -- Bruce Wright

Orville and Wilbur Wright (my distant cousins) usually get the credit for inventing and flying the first successful powered and controlled heavier-than-air airplane in 1903.

Most accounts give the impression that they alone had the idea and easily made it a reality. The truth is that their success was built on more than 400 years of research, trial and error, and failed attempts.

People have dreamed of flying since ancient times. About six thousand years ago drawings on tombs in Egypt showed gods that could fly. Leonardo da Vinci, who lived five hundred years ago, was very interested in flight and believed the way to do it was to flap wings as birds do. He drew numerous pictures of flying machines, but never tried to build any.

The invention of the steam engine changed everything and contributed to the development of flight. Machines could make products such as new kinds of steel, cloth and metal wire. Inventors used these materials to try and build flying machines.

This course will trace the path from Leonardo de Vinci to Kitty Hawk.

Bruce Wright spent over 50 years in the Aerospace Industry, 34 with the Skunk Works (the official alias for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs/Projects). During that time he participated in the design and development of 31 aircraft and spacecraft. He led the development teams in 19 of those. He is the "father" of the F-22 Raptor, USA's front line stealth fighter. He has taught aircraft design and history of air and space at Cal Poly for the last eight years.

Friday, November 18 2016, 9:30am-12pm SLO Library Community Rm

If you would like to have the password for the member price for this course, go to www.lifelearnerscc.org for information on how you can become a member.