Wilbur Wright and his flying machine

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Movie
German title Wilbur Wright and his flying machine
Country of production France
Publishing year 1909
length 3:28 minutes
Rod
Director Unknown
production Société Générale des Cinématographes Eclipse
music Eric Le Guen

Wilbur Wright and His Flying Machine is a silent film from 1909. Its significance lies in showing the first moving aerial photographs taken from an airplane . It was commissioned by the French "Société Générale des Cinématographes Eclipse" on April 24, 1909 on a balloon launch site near Rome. The film was restored by the »Filmarchiv Austria« and made accessible again.

The Wright Flyer A at Le Mans, 1908.

The Wright brothers traveled to France in May 1908 at the invitation of the "Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérienne" and Léon Bollées to fly their Wright Model A in Le Mans and to dispel any doubts that still existed about their powered flights . The belief that the reports from the US were a bluff was widespread, as few people had seen the "Wright Flyer" in the air. With their first flights in August 1908, which were also followed by Louis Blériot , the Wrights were able to successfully counter the allegations. After a stopover in Pau in the south of France, they traveled to Italy in April and also held flight demonstrations there. In May 1909 they return to the USA.

The film opens with a shot of Wilbur Wright starting the engine. An assistant (probably Orville Wright ) stands in front of the aircraft, which can then be seen in flight. Wilbur Wright controls it, a passenger flies with it. You can see fly-bys, frontal approaches just above the camera, take-offs and landings. Civil and military observers follow the flight. After 1:34 minutes, a fade-in announces “Recordings made from the flying machine”. Preparations for take-off are shown again, the recordings from the aircraft begin after almost 2:00 minutes with the flyer taking off from the launch pad. The camera is mounted on the lower left wing next to the pilot, which is why the elevator at the front always covers parts of the landscape filmed in flight.

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