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This article published
in 2003 discusses the first flight of the Wright brothers and the 100
year anniversary of the flight. Read the article and then answer the
questions that follow. |
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A Century in the Sky The Wright flights in
1903 changed the world |
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The morning of December
17, 1903, was cold and windy in |
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Orville and Wilbur Wright
hoped to get their latest invention off the ground. They had built an
engine-powered plane, called the Flyer, in their bike shop in |
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At 10:35 a.m., with
Orville piloting, the Flyer became airborne. Orville stayed in the air
for 12 seconds. He flew only 120 feet, but it may have been the most
remarkable journey in history. He was the first person ever to fly in a
machine-powered aircraft. |
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The Wright brothers made
three more flights that day. The last one was the longest: Wilbur stayed
in the air for 59 seconds and traveled 852 feet. So began a new age of
discovery. |
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This year marks the 100th
anniversary of the brothers' flight. From December 12 to 17, Orville and
Wilbur will be honored with a centennial celebration in |
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The
Sky's the Limit |
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"Though different,
the Wright airplane is the father of every thing that flies today,"
says Ken Hyde, a pilot and airplane mechanic who founded the Wright
Experience. Hyde recently finished building a reproduction of the Wright
Flyer, which will be flown during the celebration. |
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To make the new Flyer,
Hyde and his team analyzed information that the Wright brothers left
behind. Hyde and his team also studied the original Flyer, which now
hangs in the Smithsonian National Air and |
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The
Wright Stuff |
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Orville and Wilbur first
looked to the sky as young boys, playing with kites and a flying toy.
Their interest took off in 1896, when Orville was 25 and Wilbur was 29.
They were fascinated by reports of Otto Lilienthal, who was flying
gliders in |
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Orville and Wilbur
studied the records of people who had gone before them. They made
gliders and, in 1901, built a wind tunnel to test wings of different
shapes and sizes. Then they turned to the real experts. "We got
plenty of flying fever watching the birds," Orville said. |
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The resulting ideas
helped them to succeed where others had failed. They created "wing
warping," twisting the wings to make turning easier. With wing
warping, the craft could be steered and controlled. Instead of copying
boat propellers, as others had done, the Wrights made curved propellers
that worked liked rotating wings. These propellers helped to lift and
move the plane forward-right into history. |
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On December 17, 2003, a
Flyer will take off once more. Hyde hopes that the Wright Experience
will help young inventors find their wings. "If we can get another
Orville or Wilbur Wright out of this generation," he says,
"that would be a great payoff." |
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Think!
What would life be like if the Wright brothers had not invented the
airplane? |
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8.
According to the article, what part of the Wright brothers' plane caused
them to be successful? A.
the curved wings |
R-6-7.2
(key details) Item
Type: MC - related
to passage Alignment
to GLE R-6-7.2: Demonstrate initial understanding of informational texts
(expository and practical texts) by…
Using information from the text to answer questions related to key
details Depth
of Knowledge: Level
1 - Locate or recall facts or details explicitly presented in text |
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9. What first
caused Wilbur's interest in flying? A.
a toy |
R-6-7.2
(key details) Item
Type: MC - related
to passage Alignment
to GLE R-6-7.2: Demonstrate initial understanding of informational texts
(expository and practical texts) by… Using
information from the text to answer questions related to key details Depth
of Knowledge: Level
1 - Locate or recall facts or details explicitly presented in text |