Tue, Sep 16, 2003
Online Effort To Commemorate Charles Edward Taylor
Mechanics get no
respect. Take, for instance, the man who built and maintained the
motor on the airplane that made man's first powered flight.
May 24th is the birthday of Charles Edward Taylor, the first
aircraft mechanic who designed and built the engine that powered
the Wright Flyer into history. Now, there's a nationwide move afoot
to remember Aircraft Maintenance Day on Taylor's birthday.
Joe Escobar, editor of Aircraft Maintenance Technology
Magazine, worked closely with Wisconsin State Representative David
Ward, along with Richard Dilbeck, a safety program manager for the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to get the 2003 Assembly to
pass Joint Resolution 28.
"Charles Taylor is an unsung hero whose achievements and
importance have been overlooked until now," says Escobar. "Although
just about every child knows Orville and Wilbur Wright, most have
never heard of Charles Edward Taylor and we hope to change
that."
On April 30, 1903, at the Wright Brother's bicycle shop in
Dayton (OH), Charles Taylor began working on the first engine built
for Orville and Wilbur Wright's airplane named "The Flyer." Mr.
Taylor pioneered uncharted theories of engine design by using only
a lathe and drill press to construct a 4-cylinder piston engine
weighing 179 pounds and producing 12 horsepower -- a feat
accomplished in just six weeks.
On the morning of December 17, 1903, at the base of Kill Devil
Hills (NC), south of the village of Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brothers
made aviation history by successfully flying the first powered
airplane. This achievement would not have been possible if it were
not for Charles Edward Taylor, the man responsible for designing,
building, and maintaining their engine.
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