Russian Aviation IV: The First Flight Traditional Geocache
Lis_Its: Due to potentially dangerous situation for players in Russia.
Russian Aviation IV: The First Flight
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
The cache is located where the first engine-powered, human-controlled aircraft made its first takeoff. Length of the flight was only about 30 meters - not bad for 1882 A.D.! The plane was constructed by Gen. Alexander F. Mozhayskiy.
Alexander Mozhayskiy (born in 1825 in Rochensalm (now Kotka) in southern Finland), was a Russian naval officer, aviation pioneer, researcher and designer of heavier-than-air craft. Mozhayskiy was developing concepts for heavier-than-air flight. During 1884, Mozhayskiy's monoplane made a failed attempt at a lift-off.
His feat is generally distinguished from that of the Wright brothers on the basis that his design seems to have relied upon a ramp rather than wings to generate lift. This conclusion is implied by the fact that Mozhayskiy's wing design lacked the curvature necessary to generate lift. While it is possible that Mozhayskiy's wings slowed his monoplane's descent, they were unlikely to have ever provided upward movement unless used at angles of attack that would have been unsustainable given the engines available to Mozhayskiy. He also experimented with different angles of attack.
In the USSR Mozhayskiy's plane was widely considered as the first plane in the world. But more likely Mozhaysky's vehicle was probably the first one to have all major components of a modern airplane: fuselage, wing, propulsion, empenage and chassis.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx haqre gur ovt fgbar