The Secret of Flight; 6; Propulsion
- Series
- The Secret of Flight
- Episode Number
- 6
- Episode
- Propulsion
- Producing Organization
- State University of Iowa
- Contributing Organization
- Thirteen WNET (New York, New York)
- Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/75-12m64026
- Public Broadcasting Service Episode NOLA
- DFLY 000205
- NOLA Code
- SEOF
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/75-12m64026).
- Description
- Episode Description
- After the lift, stability and control problems were solved, propulsive system was needed to make the aircraft fly. The first propulsion device the propeller is still in use today. Dr. Lippisch explains the design of the propeller and demonstrates the lifting propeller the Helicopter Rotor. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Episode Description
- Explains the design of the propeller and demonstrates the principles upon which it functions as a propulsion device. Uses models and the wind tunnel to show the various uses for the propeller including the jet engine. (Description from NET Film Service Catalog 1960)
- Series Description
- The Secret of Flight is a lecture series about the basic problems of flight, explained by visual presentation of flow experiments. As the material of the lectures should be understood by every interested listener, no mathematical or other theoretical knowledge is used for explanation. Every problem is demonstrated by a true-life experiment and purely scientific language is avoided. Each of the lectures deals with a basic problem of flight. The experiments are mostly shown as flow picture but at certain points scale models and flying models are used to ensure easier understanding. As an average there are about eight different experiments in a half hour lecture at the end of each presentation. The lecture series is divided into two main divisions. Lectures one through seven explain the basic problems which lead to the invention of the airplanes. Lectures eight through thirteen point out the more modern problems of aerodynamics and explain some subjects of general interest which are connected with flight and fluid motion. The series was produced by the State University of Iowa and directed by Sam Becker, head of SUIs television department. The host of the series is Dr. Alexander M. Lippisch, a native of Munich, Germany, who was educated in Berlin and Jena. He studied at the Technical College in Berlin and received his doctorate from the University of Heidelberg in 1943. During the First World War he served with the German army and air force. Early in 1918 he joined the technical staff of the Dornier Aircraft factory as an aerodynamicist. In 1921 he joined the German glider movement and in 1925 he was made chief of the technical department of the German Glider Institute. Dr. Lippisch is the designer of the prototype of the modern high-performance sailplane, and he has also worked on Delta wing and sweptback wing aircraft. To work further on jet-propelled high speed experimental aircraft, for research purposes, he joined the Messerschmitt A.G. at Augusburg, where he built and tested the first rocket-propelled high speed swept wing aircraft, ME-163A. A military version of this type, the 163B was developed as an interceptor-fighter. During the last years of World War II, this type was in production at the Junkers plant in Dessau. After the Potsdam Agreement, the Junkers plant was turned over to the Russians who continued the development of this interceptor type, and it is still in production in the USSR. In 1943, Lippisch headed the Aeronautical Research Institute in Vienna where he worked on the development of a supersonic Delta wing aircraft with ramjet propulsion. He left Vienna in 1945, when the town was occupied by the Russians, and came in contact with the US Air Technical Intelligence in May of that year. He worked for ATI in Paris and London until 1946 when he was transferred to this country on the project Paper Clip. He was at Wright Field in 1947, and from 1947 to 1950 he was with the Naval Air Material Center in Philadelphia. In 1950 he joined the Collins Radio company as director of the Aeronautical Research Laboratory. The 13 half-hour episodes that comprise this series were originally recorded on kinescope. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Description
- The Secret of Flight is a lecture series about the basic problems of flight, explained by visual presentation of flow experiments. As the material of the lectures should be understood by every interested listened, no mathematical or other theoretical knowledge is used for explanation. Every problem is demonstrated by a true-life experiment and purely scientific language is avoided. Each of the lectures deals with a basic problem of flight. The experiments are mostly shown as flow pictures out at certain points scale models and flying models are used to ensure easier understanding. As an average there are about eight different experiments in a half hour lecture. The lectures are interconnected by introducing the theme of the following lecture at the end of each presentation. The lecture series is divided into two main divisions. Lectures one through seven explain the basic problems which lead to the invention of the airplane. Lectures eight through thirteen points out the more modern problems of aerodynamics and explain some subjects of general interest which are connected with flight and fluid motion. The series was produced by the State University of Iowa and directed by Sam Becker, head of SUIs television department. After the lift, stability and control problems were solved, a propulsive system was needed to make the aircraft fly. The first propulsion device the propeller is still in use today. Dr. Lippisch explains the design of the propeller and demonstrates the lifting propeller the Helicopter Rotor.
- Broadcast Date
- 1959-00-00
- Asset type
- Episode
- Rights
- Published Work: This work was offered for sale and/or rent in 1960.
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
-
Director:
Becker, Sam
Host: Lippisch, Alexander M.
Producing Organization: State University of Iowa
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: wnet_aacip_2709 (WNET Archive)
Format: 16mm film
Duration: 00:29:00?
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2312273-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
-
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Identifier: [request film based on title] (Indiana University)
Format: 16mm film
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “The Secret of Flight; 6; Propulsion,” 1959-00-00, Thirteen WNET, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 30, 2026, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-12m64026.
- MLA: “The Secret of Flight; 6; Propulsion.” 1959-00-00. Thirteen WNET, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 30, 2026. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-12m64026>.
- APA: The Secret of Flight; 6; Propulsion. Boston, MA: Thirteen WNET, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-12m64026