Cub Driver wrote:
Mike Marron wrote:

With a long enough runway it could take off in calm air. But since
Kitty Hawk is only about 500 miles from their bicycle shop in Ohio
whereas the Bonneville Salt Flats is more than 1500 miles away,

Given that the first flight was shorter than the wingspan of a modern
jetliner, are you sure about this? Perhaps it would have run out of
gas or fallen apart or the pilot jolted off before becoming airborne?

Perhaps. But then, neither of us can definitively state one way or
another that it would NOT have been possible to takeoff under
its own power in calm air given a long enough runway.

The temps on the salt flats would have been a hindering factor as
well, both aerodynamically and mechanically.

I just checked the mean temperatures of the Wendover UT area
(closest I could find to the salt flats) and didn't see any reason why
temps would have been a hindrance (esp. in the wintertime).

-Mike Marron