................................................................................................
................................................................................................
The Wright Brothers: A History
From Beginning to End
(Biographies of Inventors)
Hourly History
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Well written.
................................................................................................
"“I don’t have any regrets about my part in the invention of the airplane, though no one could deplore more than I do the destruction it has caused.”
"—Orville Wright"
Not "it has caused", but rather, "it has helped to cause" would be correct to say.
After all, men have used knives and fire for massacres of thousands, of millions, as late as 1941-1947; yet these are necessities of every kitchen. It's not a knife or fire that caused the massacres, it's the zealots wielding one and nazis the other.
................................................................................................
My early memories are enriched beyond imagination by the history of family as told us by my mother, and her own mother who took care of us while - whenever - my mother was out, whether for her work or, for a short while, finishing her graduate degree in the then new discipline of psychology.
She threatened me in jedt in later years, describing how, when she'd return late at night from evening classes and had only the night to prepare for the exams next day, I was hot with fever and she had to relieve her own mother, to take me in her lap, ministering through the night - she'd say,
"Now you just wait until you do your graduate work, I'll pull the same stunt on you, see if I don't!"
And she did, too!
Grandmother's stories had more wonders. One was about her - or was it her own mother, my great-grandmother? - asking her brother, wouldn't it be nice if humans could fly? He'd scoff, she said, saying "you women and your imagination! Is it ever likely?"
And humans flew soon enough.
That conversation repeated between grandmother and her brother, about movies becoming talkies - and they did.
As for flight, we lived close to a major airport, and while we hadn't yet flown, flight paths were over our homes. So flight was matter of course.
So it's good reading about Wright brothers and their efforts.
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"As early as 1000 BCE, kites began to swoop through the air in China. In Europe during the late fifteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci worked to develop his famous concepts for flying machines. Less than 300 years later, in 1783, the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloon carried a man into the air. Human imagination had always soared skywards, but now the sky began to seem more accessible. As the eighteenth century progressed, movement toward a machine that could raise humans into the heavens in controlled flight began to take off. From the landmark publication of George Cayley’s On Aerial Navigation in 1809 to the successful flight of a manned glider in 1896, human flight started to look like a real possibility at last.
"Just after the turn of the century, Orville and Wilbur Wright entered the scene with their celebrated first flight at Kill Devil Hills, disproving a famous scientist who had recently declared powered human flight to be impossible. The flight the Wright brothers made in 1903 was not only monumental because it was powered—using an engine to propel the machine—but also because it was sustained, controlled, and made in a heavier-than-air aircraft. The Wright brothers’ landmark achievement proved that the dream of flight, which many had worked toward and believed in, was possible.
................................................................................................
"But the brothers’ first flight is the middle of their story, not the beginning or the end. Orville and Wilbur spent many years working hard and experimenting before they achieved flight. After 1903, they would go on to make further aeronautical history as they first tried to convince the world of what they had achieved and then continued to take part in the development of flight. ... two imaginative and intelligent yet unassuming boys from Dayton turned their attention from printing and bicycles to building flying machines, and ... they changed the world in the meantime."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“We were lucky enough to grow up in a home environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity.”
"—Orville Wright"
................................................................................................
"In 1878, when Wilbur Wright was eleven and his brother Orville was seven, their father, Milton, returned home from a trip with a surprise for the two boys. As the young children watched in astonishment, the toy their father presented whizzed up toward the ceiling, propelling itself through the air. The toy was a tiny helicopter, made by the French inventor Alphonse Penaud. Though the helicopter soon broke, Wilbur and Orville would long remember this moment as a significant one in their lives—the moment when their thoughts first turned toward the puzzle of flight.
................................................................................................
"For young Wilbur and Orville, their lives were characterized by invention and exploration. They had the support of their family as they pursued various endeavors and interests. Orville came up with many creative schemes, which frequently turned a profit—from putting on a quite successful and well-attended circus with the taxidermy animals of a friend’s father to making and selling kites. Orville was clever and advanced quickly in school, though he was a bit of a troublemaker. Wilbur, four years older, read widely and became an excellent writer. The brothers worked together on some projects, such as making a large lathe—one of the first of their mechanical experiments.
"The brothers’ inventiveness did not develop in a void. They came from a family of adventurous individuals. Several of their ancestors were pioneers. Susan, the boys’ mother, was known for her creative ability to adapt any tool at hand to suit her needs. Milton, their father, had moved across the United States to Oregon for two years to teach before returning to Indiana. In 1869, the family, including two-year-old Wilbur and his older brothers Reuchlin and Lorin, moved to Dayton, Ohio. Here, they purchased the house at 7 Hawthorne Street where both Orville and younger sister Katharine were born. Though the family lived in Cedar Rapids and then Richmond, Indiana, from 1878 to 1884, they kept the house in Dayton and were able to return to it. This move back to Dayton impacted Wilbur since he was about to graduate from high school. He did not think the ceremony of graduation was worth the 50-mile trip back to Richmond, and so he never received his diploma.
"Around the time the family returned to Dayton, when Orville was 12, his mechanical interests turned to printing. He tried making woodcuts and prints, at first using a tool he made himself, and later tools that were a gift from Wilbur. To make prints, he used his father’s letter-press. As Orville’s interest in printing continued and increased, his family took note. Wilbur and Lorin traded away a boat they had built in exchange for a small printing press. Milton Wright, the boys’ father, bought Orville a collection of type. While Orville had great fun and earned small amounts of money with this little press, printing pages only four and a half inches high, as time went on, he began to want a larger press. Instead of buying a new press, Orville soon built his own. He also spent two summers working with a printing company in Dayton.
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Bicycling is the nearest approximation I know to the flight of birds.”
"—Louis J. Helle"
................................................................................................
"In 1887, the invention of the safety bicycle, with its equally sized wheels, made the hobby of bicycling more accessible to many than it had been in the days of the dangerous high-wheeled bicycle. Though Orville had previously owned a high-wheeler, now, as bicycling began to take off, he purchased one of the new safety bicycles. Within a few months, Wilbur decided to follow suit. The Wright brothers became avid cyclists, and Orville even began to compete in racing. The brothers also began to develop their skills as bicycle mechanics. In 1892, they started work on a new business venture, opening their first bicycle shop. By spring of 1893, they were open for business. At the shop at 1005 West Third Street, they sold well-known types of bikes, such as Coventry Cross, Envoy, and Halladay-Temple. They also repaired bicycles.
"As the business began to enjoy success, they moved the shop to larger quarters. First, they relocated down the street to 1034 West Third Street, and then, in 1895, to 22 South Williams Street, close to the Wright house. There, they began not only to sell and repair bicycles but also to make their own. They became the Wright Cycle Company and created several different designs: the Van Cleve, the less expensive St. Clair, and the budget-friendly Wright Special. The brothers continued to experiment and invent even as their business grew. They came up with their own equipment for welding, as well as designs for brakes and hubs. They even developed a bell system that let them know when they were building bicycles upstairs if a customer just stopped by to use the bicycle pump by the door or needed to be helped. For fun, they also created a tandem bicycle from two old high-wheelers—a dangerous contraption, certainly, but one that they learned to operate together. Besides the brothers, only one friend was able to stay on the perilous tandem high-wheeler.
................................................................................................
"The Wright Cycle Company not only provided Wilbur and Orville with business success and an enjoyable occupation, but it also gave them the chance to discover principles of mechanics that would become more significant to them later, when they began to experiment with flight. The concept of balance was surprisingly similar between riding a bicycle and operating a flying machine. Most previous attempts in the realm of flying had focused on the inherent stability of the flying machine, and creating a machine that would maintain balance on its own. But Wilbur and Orville, observing the way a cyclist interacts with a bicycle to maintain balance, realized that the pilot’s control would be an essential part of how an aircraft operated. Not only this, but the brothers saw that in the same way that riding a bicycle takes practice, operating a flying machine would also take practice. This was a different mindset than other inventors of their day brought to flying experiments. Additionally, the Wright brothers were gaining the practical skills for working with metal and other materials to create precise and lightweight machines—exactly the skills they would need as they moved on to the attempt to build an aircraft."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.”
"—Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley"
................................................................................................
"In 1895, as the Wright brothers’ bicycle company took off, their interest in the subject of flight was just beginning to grow as well. They heard of an aeronautical innovator in Germany, Otto Lilienthal. Lilienthal had been working on a series of groundbreaking experiments involving gliders, and would go on to become known as “the father of glider flights.” He went through 18 different designs, making more than 2,000 flights, and also published an important book about aeronautics. Wilbur and Orville began to look for more information about Lilienthal and his gliders and to follow his experiments as best they could from the United States. Their interest only grew during the following year, 1896, when they received news of a tragic accident; one of Lilienthal’s gliders had crashed, and the inventor had been killed.
"Orville and Wilbur began to read all they could about flight. Quickly exhausting the relevant materials in the Dayton library, they sent to the Smithsonian for a list of further resources. They received a list of recent works detailing the attempts and advancements made on the problem of flight—books such as Progress in Flying Machines, by Octave Chanute, as well as papers and pamphlets. The brothers began to understand the various experiments made in flight and gliding, especially in the last ten years. Experimenters had been taking a variety of approaches to the problem of stability—how to keep the aircraft balanced in the air. Some, such as Lilienthal and Chanute, had worked on creating machines that not only relied on inherent stability but also on the operator’s ability to shift his weight around to help control the aircraft.
................................................................................................
"As Wilbur and Orville read about the ideas and experiments of the innovators in flight who had come before them, they began to have some of their own ideas. Why, Orville wondered, had no one attempted to use a lateral control to maintain balance? Instead of focusing on the front and back of the machine, he began to make sketches of an aircraft with sectioned wings that could be adjusted, creating different lift on the two wings to help maintain balance. The aircraft operator would adjust the wing sections with levers. This concept would become one of the primary ideas that led to the Wright brothers’ success.
"The brothers recognized that at this point Orville’s idea was not yet anywhere close to usable. Sectioned wings would weaken the structure of the machine far too much. This problem stopped the brothers for several weeks. One day, however, as Wilbur was working in the bicycle shop, he came up with a potential solution. While helping a customer look at an inner tube, Wilbur had been fiddling with the inner tube box. He realized that with the long, narrow box, open at both ends, he could create different angles by bending the two ends while keeping the long lines on the sides of the box rigid. The planes that made up the sides of the box were warped, but still structurally sound. Wilbur and Orville applied this idea to their design for the wings of an aircraft.
................................................................................................
"With a strategy for tackling their biggest problem, the time had, at last, come to conduct some tests. Wilbur built a small model from bamboo that helped to clarify their designs. Then, in late July 1899, the brothers built and tested a kite. The wingspan of the biplane kite was five feet, and they used four cords attached to the wing corners to make the wings adjustable in the way Wilbur and Orville had envisioned. In this way, the operator on the ground could attempt to maintain and restore balance as the kite moved. Wilbur flew the kite at Union Seminary, with an entourage of curious boys who followed along to help him. The method of controlling the biplane kite was a success, and Wilbur and Orville were ready to move on to another level of experiment."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
"—Winston Churchill"
................................................................................................
"In 1900, with their successful kite experiment having proved the potential of their ideas, the two brothers began to lay plans to build a glider large enough to carry a person. Orville and Wilbur thought that if they could attach this glider to a tall crane in an extremely windy place, they would be able to build up the hours of practice needed to pilot an aircraft.
"The brothers’ first step was to write to an expert in the field of aeronautical experimentation, Octave Chanute. Wilbur began this correspondence with Chanute, laying out the brothers’ plans and designs and asking for Chanute’s advice. Wilbur and Orville used a table developed by Chanute to calculate the amount of headwind they would need to make the plans for their glider work—15 to 20 miles per hour. The brothers also got in touch with the U.S. Weather Bureau as they began the search for a location with this type of wind. At the top of the list of windiest weather stations sat Chicago, a place where Chanute had made some test flights. However, Wilbur and Orville thought that a location where their experiments would excite less attention would be more suited to their purposes. Their sights turned to the remote North Carolina location of Kitty Hawk, the sixth windiest station on the list. Kitty Hawk would also provide soft sand dunes, ideal for gentle landings.
"The Wright brothers next wrote to the Weather Bureau employee at Kitty Hawk, Joseph J. Dosher. In response, they heard not only from Dosher but also from his friend William Tate, who promised them a warm welcome. In September 1900, Wilbur began the long journey to Kitty Hawk. He would first take a train to the Virginia Peninsula, then a steamer to Norfolk. Then the 29-year-old took another train to Elizabeth City, North Carolina. At last, he had to find a boat to take him to the Outer Banks and Kitty Hawk. This proved to be no easy task. After three days of looking, Wilbur found a fishing schooner that would take him. The boat was in terrible condition and had to stop for repairs after encountering a storm. Wilbur finally arrived in Kitty Hawk after nine days of travel, bringing parts of the glider with him. The Tate family welcomed him there, as William Tate had promised, giving him a place to stay and helping him to assemble the glider.
................................................................................................
"Near the end of September, having found someone to watch over the bicycle shop, Orville joined Wilbur at Kitty Hawk. The brothers moved their living quarters to a tent and began almost two weeks of testing of their glider at a site called Kill Devil Hills. Their initial ideas proved problematic. It soon became clear that tying the glider to a crane to practice flying was not functional, and beyond that, something was not working with the design of the glider’s wings. According to the brothers’ calculations, based on tables from Lilienthal, the wings should have developed more lift.
"Despite these early disappointments, Wilbur and Orville carried on. They flew the glider as a kite and used the opportunity to make careful measurements. By gathering reams of data, they were able to pinpoint the differences between their observations and the Lilienthal table. They also gave rides to William Tate’s little nephew, allowing them to develop a greater understanding of the additional air resistance a pilot would bring to the aircraft.
"After long days of running tests and collecting data, Wilbur and Orville decided to try some glides off a dune. The first day they meant to attempt this, wind speeds rose to 25 miles per hour. The brothers decided to wait. The next day, with the wind blowing at more reasonable speeds, Wilbur was able to make some glides. In mid-October, having used their first experimental glider to its fullest potential, the Wright brothers left it behind and headed back to Dayton. They told Mrs. Tate she could use the fabric from the wings to make dresses.
................................................................................................
""The brothers’ second glider was larger in an attempt to deal with the lift problems they had encountered in the first glider. They also changed the material for the wing covering and made adjustments to their design. The first glider had weighed about 50 pounds; this second one weighed in at 98.
In July 1901, Wilbur and Orville were ready to head to Kitty Hawk and make glider experiments once again. This time, they built a shed to shelter their glider, and their camp became even fuller with a visit from Octave Chanute himself. The brothers soon began to perform tests. Again, it quickly became apparent that something was not working. The aircraft did not glide far with Wilbur onboard before diving into the ground. The brothers were able to identify the flaw that led to this problem and engineered a solution. But, as they began to make glides of 350 feet or more, they soon saw that their problem with lift remained. Additionally, they became aware of a serious issue with their control system; instead of responding as expected, in certain situations, the wing that should have increased speed and begun to rise would do the opposite, sending the craft spiraling alarmingly downwards in a tailspin.
"Leaving Kitty Hawk in August, the brothers were so discouraged with their results that they despaired of continuing with their experiments. Still, they had set a distance record for gliding and collected even more data than before. In September, Wilbur presented the brothers’ work at the Western Society of Engineers in a talk called, “Some Aeronautical Experiments.” Wilbur and Orville overcame their disillusionment and developed a means of conducting experiments on lift and drag factors. They first built a measuring device they could mount on a bicycle, and then they built a wind tunnel. The bicycle device allowed them to identify the errors in Lilienthal’s table for lift that had affected their calculations. And in the wind tunnel, the brothers could conduct tests with a wide variety of wing designs, testing almost 50 models.
................................................................................................
"Through all these structured experiments and their experiences with their previous gliders, Wilbur and Orville began to develop an improved, more efficient glider design. This third glider would have a wingspan of 32 feet. They adjusted their wing design to fit their discoveries regarding lift and drag, rather than relying on Lilienthal’s table. Additionally, the brothers attempted to solve the problem that had sent the second glider spiraling downwards—an effect of drag called “adverse yaw”—by adding a rudder to the tail of the aircraft. With these improvements in place on their newest glider, Orville and Wilbur were ready to head to Kitty Hawk on August 25, 1902. This time, they would stay until almost the end of October. They added a room to the hangar so that they could move out of the tent, and on September 19, they conducted the first of hundreds of test flights.
"In their early glides, the adverse yaw issue continued to cause problems. Soon, however, the brothers decided to try making the tail rudder controllable, attached to the wing system. This change, at last, solved the problem, and Wilbur and Orville had now created an effective control system for an aircraft, a landmark achievement. This system would become the core of their work, and, in fact, the subject of their later patent. Now that they could control a glider, the brothers were ready to move on to the next challenge: creating a powered flying machine."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”
"—Albert Einstein"
................................................................................................
"As Orville and Wilbur started work on the development of a powered aircraft, two main hurdles stood before them. First, they needed an engine suited specifically to their needs. Second, they needed to design propellers to transfer the engine’s power into air power. The first of these challenges, the engine, proved to be easier. Though engine manufacturers were uninterested in working with the brothers, they soon found another solution. Charles Taylor, the mechanic for the Wright Cycle Company, constructed an engine to their specifications. It weighed 200 pounds, and it could produce 12 horsepower, more than the brothers had calculated that they would need.
"The second hurdle, a design for propellers, was more difficult. Though propellers had been used in other areas of invention, such as on ships, little research on making them efficient had been done. Designing a component that would constantly be in motion presented quite a challenge. Before long, however, the brothers came up with a concept that helped them create a workable design—they could consider each propeller blade to be like a small, rotating wing, and use the mathematical principles surrounding lift and drag that applied to wing design.
"With a wingspan of 40 feet, the aircraft Wilbur and Orville built in 1903 was their largest yet. With the powering system, it weighed five times what their last glider had weighed. In September, the brothers transported their newest flying machine to their base at Kill Devil Hills. They continued to expand and make improvements to their hangar and living quarters, making their camp much more comfortable. But more importantly, they started making test flights. Wilbur and Orville began their 1903 flights not with the new, powered machine, but by making modifications to the 1902 glider and conducting further tests with it. By November 7, they had made around 200 glides. At the same time, they worked to put together their new aircraft.
................................................................................................
"Finally, on December 17, the aircraft was repaired, and wind conditions looked ideal at 20-27 miles per hour. Though the Wright brothers had avoided the attention of the press, they had a small group of local supporters who gathered to watch them make their next attempt at flying. This included three men from the nearby U.S. Lifesaving Service station as well as a lumber dealer and a teenager from the area. At 10:30 a.m., everything was ready, and the brothers started the engine. This time, Orville climbed up to pilot the craft. The airplane ran down the track and took off into the air. It remained in the air for 12 seconds and flew 120 feet. At last, the Wright brothers’ efforts and dreams had paid off—flying was possible! This short first flight was documented in a famous photograph taken by John Daniels, one of the Lifesaving Servicemen. Orville had set up the camera shortly before the flight and ask Daniels to take a picture if anything happened. Orville’s foresight in this area allowed for documentary evidence of the first controlled, sustained, powered human flight in a heavier-than-air aircraft.
"Now that the brothers had achieved a short flight, they spent the day continuing to make test flights, flying farther and farther. First Wilbur increased the flight distance to 175 feet, and then Orville made 200 feet. Around noon, Wilbur made incredible progress and flew the airplane 852 feet. The men who had gathered to watch the attempt helped to pull the plane back to the beginning of the track each time. Unfortunately, more flights with the aircraft in 1903 were not to be. As the group of men stood around in camp later in the day, a sudden gust of wind struck the airplane and tipped it backward. The craft was seriously damaged, far too much for in-camp repairs. The career of the 1903 aircraft was over, but the Wright brothers’ career in flight was just beginning. Back in Kitty Hawk later on December 17, Orville sent their father a telegraph, “Success four flights Thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from Level with engine power alone average speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas.”
................................................................................................
"This telegraph was sent to Dayton by way of Norfolk, where the telegraph operator tipped off a young reporter. This reporter, in a hasty attempt to be the first with the story, sent out a highly inaccurate press release, stating such absurdities as that the Wright brothers had flown three miles and the aircraft had a propeller underneath to hold it up in the air. Only three newspapers in the entire United States immediately picked up this piece. Even as time elapsed, giving the press the opportunity to get a more accurate story, the Wright brothers’ achievement was slow to get coverage. Many newspaper editors were skeptical while others did not realize the significance of the story. This was partially because of the claims of Simon Newcomb, a famous and respected physicist who, supported by other well-known scientists and engineers, had recently published a paper on the impossibility of flight. Also, many people confused the Wright brothers’ achievement with the work of Alberto Santos-Dumont, who was working with lighter-than-air aircraft in Europe.
"Near New Year’s Day, Octave Chanute discussed the Wright brothers’ work in his speech at a conference for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Still the newspapers, even in Dayton, were not particularly interested. Orville and Wilbur wrote a statement themselves and asked the Associated Press to publish it. This statement, with a correct account of the events of the first flight, came out in many papers on January 6. Nonetheless, misinformation continued to be published. This did not stop the Wright brothers, who were not particularly disturbed by the skepticism and misreporting. They had already made history, but they knew that they still had a long way to go to develop their airplane into a practical vehicle."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"After their 1903 success at Kitty Hawk, Wilbur and Orville chose to devote more time to flying. They could imagine many possible uses for airplanes but knew that they needed more practice as pilots and to continue developing their designs. They relied more and more on their mechanic, Charlie Taylor, to keep the bicycle shop running.
"Starting in January 1904, the Wright brothers turned the majority of the attention to the construction of a new plane. They built a different engine, adjusted the wing angle, and tried to make the framework of the aircraft stronger. About eight miles outside of Dayton, they located a 68-acre piece of land called Huffman field, at the time no more than a cow pasture, to use for test flights. The land was near two main roads and a railway line, so there was no chance that their experiments would remain secret. Therefore, Wilbur and Orville went ahead and informed the newspapers of their plans to make their next test of a flying machine on May 23. When the day came, about 12 reporters and around twice as many of the Wrights’ friends arrived to witness the attempt.
"But the wind did not co-operate. First, the wind speed was too high. Then, it died down to almost nothing at all. Neither of these conditions was favorable for a flight, so Wilbur and Orville decided to demonstrate maneuvering the aircraft along its track. Things still did not go right, and the engine began to work incorrectly. The reporters were irritated, and the following day, only two or maybe three came back to see another attempt at flight. This time, the airplane made it off the ground. The engine was still not working as it should, though, and the flight was only 60 feet. The newsmen were not particularly impressed, though they did write about the event. From now on, the Wright brothers would work in Huffman field without being bothered by the press.
................................................................................................
"As 1904 went on, the brothers continued to gain practice in flying. Their total time in the air for the year would only be 49 minutes—seemingly little, yet enough for Wilbur and Orville to continue learning and continue developing their ideas. Eventually, they began to reach new landmarks. On their 49th flight of the year, they flew for one minute and one second, surpassing the record of 59 seconds that they had set at Kill Devil Hills. In late September, they also flew a complete circle for the first time in a flight of one minute, 36 seconds. From these small accomplishments, their achievements began to grow significantly. By the end of the year, they had completed two flights of over three miles.
"Wilbur and Orville began work on their next airplane in May 1905. It would combine a few pieces of their last plane, such as the engine, with new parts. The brothers made changes in the design aimed to make the airplane stronger. They particularly worked to fine-tune their wing design and make their control system more effective, and they chose not to connect the pilot’s control of the wings to the tail rudder. The brothers also adjusted the shape of their propellers to a wider, flatter version that, mathematically, seemed as if it would be more efficient. However, actual tests of the propellers did not fit with the calculations. Wilbur and Orville realized that moving at such a high speed might be distorting the propellers’ shape. To counteract this effect, they tried using what they called “little jokers”—a flat surface attached at an angle behind each blade. This solution worked well, so the brothers subsequently made their propellers with a backward sweep as part of the shape.
"With their third airplane ready to take to the air, Wilbur and Orville were eager to fly. However, June and August of 1905 proved to be wet and muddy, poor conditions for moving the aircraft around and for flying. Their flight attempts in these months were few and short. With improved weather in September came greater success in flying. The distances the brothers were capable of flying began to increase dramatically. Before the end of September, they made a flight of 12 miles. On October 5, Wilbur made a flight of just over 24 miles, only stopping because the airplane was running out of fuel. While many people still thought the Wright brothers were wasting their time out in a cow pasture, it now became clear to Wilbur and Orville that there would be practical uses for the airplane. The brothers made one more short flight later in October and then ended their experiments for the year. The time had come to do more than just improve their new invention."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”
"—Ralph Waldo Emerson"
................................................................................................
"The world continued to be slow to catch on to the Wright brothers’ achievements and the growing potential of the airplane. As the brothers were making their landmark distance flights in 1905, the only publication making their successes known was the small journal Gleanings in Bee Culture, whose founder, A.I. Root, realized the importance of what the two brothers were doing. The editors of more significant publications, such as Scientific American, continued to be skeptical. After the Wrights provided the names of about 60 witnesses of their flights, at last the Aero Club of America and Scientific American began to become interested. The Aero Club published a statement about the Wrights’ achievements in a March 1906 bulletin. And in April and December of 1906, Scientific American published articles describing what the Wright brothers had accomplished. The December article exuberantly praised the importance of Wilbur and Orville’s invention.
"Governments were as slow as the newspapers and the scientific community to catch on to the possibilities of the airplane. The brothers offered their airplane to the United States Army in the fall of 1905, believing aircraft might have scouting purposes. The U.S. Army made it clear they were not interested, and furthermore, they did not even believe the Wrights’ account of the successes of their machine. The British government, on the other hand, expressed their interest, but Wilbur and Orville decided to make further attempts to work with the U.S. government before selling their invention to another country. They wrote to their congressman, describing their experiments and advances. All they received in reply was a form letter that did not even respond to what they had written. Further attempts by the Wright brothers to alert the Board of Ordnance and Fortification of the state of their invention, pursued at the urging of Chanute, were likewise rebuffed. It was clear that the U.S. government was not paying any attention to the two inventors in Dayton. The Wrights corresponded with the British government for some time into 1906, but in the end, the British government also turned down the opportunity.
"As publications began to make the Wrights’ invention more widely known, the news reached an influential man named Godfrey Cabot. He saw the Aero Club bulletin about the Wrights’ work and got in touch with them, asking for information about the use of the airplane for commercial purposes. Hearing about the U.S. government’s flat rejection of Wilbur and Orville’s queries, Cabot contacted the senator from Massachusetts, who was a relative of his. This senator, Henry Cabot Lodge, was finally able to convince the Board of Ordnance and Fortification that they should pay attention to the Wrights. Though the Board was willing to receive another proposition, the Wrights were not willing to make one, given the rude rejections they had received. When President Roosevelt heard of the Wright brothers’ inventions and sent a message to the Board, they reached out to the Wrights with a stiff letter inviting correspondence. Negotiations, however, would still drag on for over a year. Wilbur and Orville did not fly for the entirety of 1906 and 1907 as they tried to convince governments of the validity and value of their discoveries. But they kept experimenting, working on a new engine.
................................................................................................
"Though governments moved slowly, in late 1906, a businessman named U.S. Eddy became interested in the Wrights’ work. He met the brothers in Dayton in November and later introduced them to members of the Flint firm. The Flints became the Wright brothers’ representatives in Europe. To overcome widespread skepticism in the Wrights’ accomplishments, the Flints suggested that they should pay for one of the brothers to go to Europe. So, Wilbur left the United States bound for England and then Paris, in mid-May 1907. His trip was intended to be a relatively short one, and he brought only one suitcase.
"Wilbur negotiated with businessmen and with the government. After almost two months, he asked Orville to join him; on August 1, Orville arrived. The two brothers decided to have a plane shipped to France so that they could demonstrate its capabilities. The brothers enjoyed their time in Paris, but in the end, negotiations with the French government led to nothing. Disappointed, Wilbur headed to Berlin, while Orville followed up a lead in London. He soon went back to the continent to meet Wilbur in Germany. Negotiations with the German government looked positive, and the brothers left the country late in 1907, expecting that in some months they would return to demonstrate their flying machine.
"However, a surprise was in store for the Wright brothers on their return to the United States. The American government had finally decided to take action on acquiring the Wrights’ airplane. Though the process was complicated due to bureaucratic red tape, on February 8, 1908, the contract was finally formalized. The War Department accepted the Wrights’ price of $25,000. Not long after, in early March, the Wrights obtained another huge contract—a French businessman invested in the rights to build and sell the Wright brothers’ plane in France, forming a company called La Compagnie Generale de Navigation Aerienne. Both of these contracts required a demonstration proving that the plane could do all that the brothers had claimed.
................................................................................................
"Since they had not flown for two years, Wilbur and Orville were in need of flying practice. Back at Huffman field, they outfitted their airplane with the innovations they had been developing, such as a way to allow the pilot to take a seated position rather than lying prone. In April, the brothers took their plane to their old practice grounds in Kitty Hawk. They began flights in early May. Then, on May 14, the brothers made history again by making a flight that carried two people. Wilbur flew the plane, and Charles W. Furnas was his passenger. Later, Orville also flew with Furnas.
"After years of skepticism, the press finally decided that these Wright brothers from Dayton might be worth watching after all. A number of reporters and photographers arrived at Kitty Hawk to watch the brothers’ experiments. Thinking that the Wrights wanted secrecy and might not fly if they knew they were being watched, the newspapermen hid in a nearby patch of woods. Orville and Wilbur were entirely aware of the presence of these observers and carried on with their practice flights just as they would have if the press had watched them openly from their camp. A number of prominent newspapers published stories about the feats of the Wright brothers soon after the monumental May 14 flight. But late in the day on May 14, the airplane crashed as Wilbur made a mistake controlling it. The Wrights, not having time to make extensive repairs, packed up the engine and other essential parts of the plane. It was time for the brothers to get on their way to make the all-important flying demonstrations that would show their invention to the world.
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Hide not your talents, they for use were made.
"What’s a sundial in the shade?”
"—Benjamin Franklin"
................................................................................................
"Following their few days of practice at Kitty Hawk, the two brothers started on separate journeys. Wilbur headed to New York and from there to France, while Orville stayed in the United States. Arriving in France at the end of May, Wilbur’s first task was to find a suitable location for flying. An automobile manufacturer named Leon Bollee suggested that Wilbur could probably find a place near his factory in Le Mans. He even offered to let Wilbur assemble the particular plane—which had been waiting in Europe since the brothers’ previous visit—in his factory.
"Wilbur headed to Le Mans and began the search for a flat field. Before long, he was able to make an agreement with the owner of the Hunaudieres racetrack. Even as Wilbur rented the track and began to work on the assembly of the airplane, skeptical newspapers published articles ridiculing him. A few delays, such as an accident in which Wilbur’s arm was badly burned by water from the cooling system, did nothing to correct these opinions. However, Leon Bollee and the workers in his factory all liked Wilbur. Wilbur oversaw the construction of a hangar and a derrick for launching the plane—similar to the one the brothers had used at Huffman field—on the field of the racetrack.
................................................................................................
"Wilbur made his first flight in France on August 8. A crowd of observers from nearby Le Mans showed up; they were newspapermen and members of the Aero Club of France. Some of these observers were convinced that Wilbur would fail. Still, Wilbur, dressed in the grey suit he normally wore, strolled confidently out to the airplane. Two men started the plane’s engine. Wilbur, in the pilot’s seat, had control over the release of the lever that would launch the plane, while another man ran alongside the plane, holding the wing to help keep the aircraft balanced until it took off. Soon after the plane lifted into the air, Wilbur leveled it at around 30 feet. He turned to the left and right, showing off what the machine could do. After a flight of slightly less than two minutes, he brought the airplane back to the ground. The observers were ecstatic. News reporters and previously skeptical members of the Aero Club now became the Wright brothers’ ardent fans. The following day, newspapers were full of praise for Wilbur and the brothers’ accomplishments in flying.
"Wilbur continued making demonstrations of the airplane throughout the next few days. On August 10, he looped the plane in a figure eight and, during a second flight, in circles. He then made several successively longer flights, culminating in a flight of over eight minutes on August 13. On this flight, a wing suffered damage during the landing, so Wilbur’s flying exhibitions were put on hold until he could make repairs. By the time he completed these repairs, on August 21, the French military had invited him to make flights at an artillery testing field about ten miles away from the racetrack. The military field at Auvours was larger and would be better for flying, so Wilbur relocated his efforts there.
................................................................................................
"Wilbur quickly became famous in France. Reporters quoted his every word, and people bought postcards with pictures of Wilbur. He received thousands of letters, and visitors came from all over France hoping to see him fly. The news spread to England, and before long, members of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain were also arriving to find out if the rumors were true. Wilbur carried a passenger into the air on September 16, and in the ensuing month gave more rides to reporters and other important figures, including his friend Leon Bollee. He also made a flight of around 40 miles at the end of September. People enjoyed meeting Wilbur not just because of his groundbreaking expertise in flying, but also because of his quiet modesty. On October 7, Wilbur carried a woman, Edith Berg, as his passenger—one of the first women to fly.
"Wilbur continued to set records and make history as the fall went on. He won awards from both the Aero Club of France and the Aero Club of Sarthe, flying as high as 90 meters. On December 18, he set another record, flying up to 110 meters. On the last day of December, he flew for just over 2 hours and 20 minutes, again setting a record for the longest flight. When the winter weather near Le Mans became too bad to fly, Wilbur relocated his European center of operations to the city of Pau, near the Pyrenees. There he focused on training three Frenchmen as pilots, fulfilling a part of his contract with the new French aeronautical company.
................................................................................................
"While Wilbur was demonstrating the airplane and setting records in Europe, Orville was busy in the United States. He needed to build another aircraft, and then he would head to Fort Myer, near Washington D.C., to make his flying demonstration to the U.S. government. In August, Orville traveled to Fort Myer. He began making flights in September, with his first on September 3. The crowd that came to watch was quite small, as was the area provided to Orville for flying. In fact, the field was the smallest area in which either of the Wright brothers had flown. Orville’s first flight was only a little over a minute. The sight of a feat most had still considered to be impossible astounded the crowd. The next day, Orville made a longer flight, and this time thousands showed up to watch. Orville continued to make flights through September, soon making flights lasting more than an hour. He began to set records with the length of his flights and then continued to break his own records. He also began to carry passengers along, as Wilbur was doing at the same time in France.
"On September 17, Orville took Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge up as his passenger. The pair reached an elevation of around 125 feet. Then, disaster struck. With a sudden noise, the plane began to shake and to swerve unexpectedly to the right. Orville turned off the engine and turned left, angling the plane to a safer spot for an emergency landing. However, as he straightened out the plane facing the landing field, it veered almost straight towards the ground. Orville regained control and began to lift the airplane up 25 feet from the ground. This was just not enough room for the plane to straighten back out, and it crashed into the ground. The crash was a bad one. Lieutenant Selfridge hit part of the plane’s framework, and as a result of his injuries, died just hours later. Orville, too, was injured. At first, his injuries looked like they might also be fatal, but it turned out he broke a leg and four ribs. Much later in life, Orville would discover that the crash had also fractured and dislocated one of his hips, but doctors did not realize this at the time. The accident, Orville discovered as he recuperated, had been caused by the propellers. One of them had cracked, starting a chain of reactions that led to the airplane’s nosedive. Despite this terrible end to Orville’s American flying demonstrations, Wilbur in France and Orville in Fort Myer had clearly shown the world that the age of flight had dawned.
................................................................................................
"Soon after Wilbur’s move to Pau at the beginning of 1909, Orville, recovered from his accident, came to join him. Along with Orville came the Wright brothers’ younger sister, Katharine. During the three siblings’ stay at Pau, they were visited by King Alfonso of Spain and by Edward VII of England. Katharine also had her first opportunity to ride with her brothers, which she did twice. The Wrights stayed in Pau until April, when they relocated to Paris, and shortly after, to Rome. There, in an arrangement with an aviation club and the Italian government, Wilbur began to train two Italian pilots. While flying in Rome, not only did the Italian King Victor Emmanuel come to see them fly, but also the Wrights started to make arrangements for the formation of a German Wright company.
"Traveling back to Paris and then London, Wilbur and Orville received awards and honors as they went. On their return to New York, the Aero Club of America hosted a lunch in their honor. In early May, the Wrights made it home to Dayton. But the celebrations were not over. On June 10, President Taft himself presented them with the medals with which the Aero Club had awarded them. On June 17 and 18, the city of Dayton hosted parades and ceremonies for the brothers. Wilbur and Orville not only received medals from the city of Dayton and the state of Ohio but also received a Congressional Medal of Honor.
"During the rest of 1909, the Wrights continued to make flights and received great acclaim, with Orville and Katharine traveling to Germany and Wilbur staying in the United States. Having persevered through their initial struggle to be taken seriously, Wilbur and Orville Wright were now famous around the world."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“I don’t have any regrets about my part in the invention of the airplane, though no one could deplore more than I do the destruction it has caused.”
"—Orville Wright"
Not "it has caused", but rather, "it has helped to cause" would be correct to say.
After all, men have used knives and fire for massacres of thousands, of millions, as late as 1941-1947; yet these are necessities of every kitchen. It's not a knife or fire that caused the massacres, it's the zealots wielding one and nazis the other.
................................................................................................
"While the Wright name was well-known by fall of 1909, the brothers still had much to accomplish. They had hoped to focus their attention on research and leave the business aspect of aeronautics to others, but Orville and Wilbur soon found themselves enmeshed in business affairs. In November, they founded the Wright Company with the backing of a list of impressive investors. Within the next year, the company built its own factory. Since the airplane was not yet developed to the point of being ready for commercial use, the company would first focus on making money through flying exhibitions. To this end, Orville began to train several pilots. The Wrights located a field near Montgomery, Alabama, where, in 1910, they opened the first flight school; the field is known today as Maxwell Field.
"Back near Dayton at Huffman field, Orville and Wilbur made a number of significant flights in 1910. Wilbur made a short flight on May 21; he did not know when he took to the air that day that it would be the last flight he would ever pilot. A few days later, Orville piloted a flight and Wilbur rode along as his passenger—this was the only flight the two brothers would make together. On the same day, Orville took their father up as a passenger.
"The year 1910 held other milestones, as well. A department store, the Morehouse-Martin Company, commissioned the first commercial delivery by air. They had a bolt of silk flown to a field near their location in Columbus, Ohio, from Huffman field. This delivery was more of a publicity stunt than a necessity, but the store quickly profited by selling pieces of the silk as souvenirs. The following year, yet another aeronautical first occurred when one of the brothers’ planes was flown across the United States by Calbraith Rodgers. Rodgers left New York in mid-September and, due to stops for repairs, arrived in California in early November. Feats like this continued to prove the advance of the airplane, and the Wright brothers’ business turned a solid profit. As flying exhibitions began to lose a bit of their novelty, sales of aircraft to the government and businesses began to increase.
................................................................................................
"Despite the success of the business and the continuing occurrence of new milestones in the world of flight during the years from 1909 onwards, Wilbur and Orville were simultaneously plagued by a difficult situation. They had invented a technology so radical it was already changing the world, and perhaps not surprisingly, the patents on their inventions were not effective in keeping others from using and experimenting with the ideas they had developed. This led the Wright brothers to numerous lawsuits over their patents. The most significant of these conflicts was a long legal battle with the Herring-Curtis Company and its founder Glenn H. Curtiss. This lawsuit would be fought out in the courts until 1914 when it was decided in the Wright brothers’ favor. Even after that, Curtis continued to attempt to find a loophole through which he could come out victorious. His attempts were only ended by the start of World War I. The Wright brothers’ struggle to protect their patents dominated a large part of their lives in the early 1910s, taking away from their potential to keep developing their aircraft designs. Some have argued the Wright brothers’ protection of their patents also hampered the overall development of the airplane in the United States. Additionally, the brothers’ activity in these legal battles was not very good for their reputation—many saw them not as protecting their hard-earned interests, but as tight-fisted.
"Despite these troubles, Wilbur and Orville hoped that with the success of their business ventures from 1909 to 1912, they could at last return to research, the part of aeronautics that they loved most. However, this dream was not to happen. In May 1912, Wilbur, worn out with the effort he put into taking the lead in the brothers’ legal battles, became ill with typhoid fever. And on May 30, Wilbur passed away. He was 45 years old. Orville was left to take Wilbur’s place as president of the Wright Company. Two years later, in 1914, Orville began to buy all the stock from the other shareholders of the company. He aimed to sell the company—a plan he and Wilbur had always had their sights on. In October 1915, a group of businessmen made Orville a good offer, and he took it. The remaining Wright brother was now officially out of the airplane business.
................................................................................................
"Orville piloted his last flight just a few years later, in 1918. However, he remained active in the world of aeronautic exploration, serving on committees such as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. In 1929, he was the first recipient of the prominent Daniel Guggenheim Medal, an award for work in aeronautics.
"Orville lived through the world wars and saw his invention turned into a tool for destruction. In an interview later in life, he compared the invention of the airplane to the discovery of fire: though it could cause great damage, he still thought it was good for humankind that the discovery happened. At last, after witnessing dramatic changes in the world and the amazing development of his invention, Orville suffered a heart attack and died in January 1948. He was buried in Dayton, beside Wilbur."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"In recent years, some controversy has arisen over whether Wilbur and Orville were really the first to make a controlled, powered, sustained flight. However, this debate (in which the majority of scholars still uphold the Wright brothers’ place in history) serves to point out that the brothers’ accomplishments were not limited to making their first flight in 1903. Though this moment is widely remembered and memorialized, it is only a piece of their contributions to the world of flight. To arrive at the point of flying, Wilbur and Orville scientifically approached the problems of flight. They developed experiments and methods of testing previous assumptions, gathering data and basing their inventions on carefully developed calculations. This scientific approach and the discoveries the brothers made through it were a huge offering to the world of flight.
"Many scientific innovators and thinkers, from Ignaz Semmelweis—who proposed that doctors should wash their hands—to Gregor Mendel—pioneer of genetics—have been ignored or ridiculed for their ideas. The Wright brothers, though more fortunate than many others, also had to persevere through the years of fighting to see their ideas recognized in the world. Through the battle for recognition of their achievements, Wilbur and Orville eventually spread the possibility of and excitement about flying around the world, another contribution to the development of airplanes. Because of their travels and demonstrations of flight, the airplane began to be adapted to many uses. Though some of these uses, as Orville noted late in his life, have brought great destruction, still the airplane has played a large part in the growing interconnectivity and globalization of the world. The story of the Wright brothers, pioneers of flight, is certainly worthy of remembrance."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Table of Contents
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Introduction
The House at 7 Hawthorne Street
Flying on Two Wheels
The Dream of Flight
Three Gliders and a Windy Hill
The First Flight
Hard Work, New Records
The Fight for Recognition
Convincing the Skeptics
The Dawn of a New Era
Conclusion
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
REVIEW
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Introduction
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"As early as 1000 BCE, kites began to swoop through the air in China. In Europe during the late fifteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci worked to develop his famous concepts for flying machines. Less than 300 years later, in 1783, the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloon carried a man into the air. Human imagination had always soared skywards, but now the sky began to seem more accessible. As the eighteenth century progressed, movement toward a machine that could raise humans into the heavens in controlled flight began to take off. From the landmark publication of George Cayley’s On Aerial Navigation in 1809 to the successful flight of a manned glider in 1896, human flight started to look like a real possibility at last.
"Just after the turn of the century, Orville and Wilbur Wright entered the scene with their celebrated first flight at Kill Devil Hills, disproving a famous scientist who had recently declared powered human flight to be impossible. The flight the Wright brothers made in 1903 was not only monumental because it was powered—using an engine to propel the machine—but also because it was sustained, controlled, and made in a heavier-than-air aircraft. The Wright brothers’ landmark achievement proved that the dream of flight, which many had worked toward and believed in, was possible.
................................................................................................
"But the brothers’ first flight is the middle of their story, not the beginning or the end. Orville and Wilbur spent many years working hard and experimenting before they achieved flight. After 1903, they would go on to make further aeronautical history as they first tried to convince the world of what they had achieved and then continued to take part in the development of flight. ... two imaginative and intelligent yet unassuming boys from Dayton turned their attention from printing and bicycles to building flying machines, and ... they changed the world in the meantime."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Chapter 1. The House at 7 Hawthorne Street
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“We were lucky enough to grow up in a home environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity.”
"—Orville Wright"
................................................................................................
"In 1878, when Wilbur Wright was eleven and his brother Orville was seven, their father, Milton, returned home from a trip with a surprise for the two boys. As the young children watched in astonishment, the toy their father presented whizzed up toward the ceiling, propelling itself through the air. The toy was a tiny helicopter, made by the French inventor Alphonse Penaud. Though the helicopter soon broke, Wilbur and Orville would long remember this moment as a significant one in their lives—the moment when their thoughts first turned toward the puzzle of flight.
................................................................................................
"For young Wilbur and Orville, their lives were characterized by invention and exploration. They had the support of their family as they pursued various endeavors and interests. Orville came up with many creative schemes, which frequently turned a profit—from putting on a quite successful and well-attended circus with the taxidermy animals of a friend’s father to making and selling kites. Orville was clever and advanced quickly in school, though he was a bit of a troublemaker. Wilbur, four years older, read widely and became an excellent writer. The brothers worked together on some projects, such as making a large lathe—one of the first of their mechanical experiments.
"The brothers’ inventiveness did not develop in a void. They came from a family of adventurous individuals. Several of their ancestors were pioneers. Susan, the boys’ mother, was known for her creative ability to adapt any tool at hand to suit her needs. Milton, their father, had moved across the United States to Oregon for two years to teach before returning to Indiana. In 1869, the family, including two-year-old Wilbur and his older brothers Reuchlin and Lorin, moved to Dayton, Ohio. Here, they purchased the house at 7 Hawthorne Street where both Orville and younger sister Katharine were born. Though the family lived in Cedar Rapids and then Richmond, Indiana, from 1878 to 1884, they kept the house in Dayton and were able to return to it. This move back to Dayton impacted Wilbur since he was about to graduate from high school. He did not think the ceremony of graduation was worth the 50-mile trip back to Richmond, and so he never received his diploma.
"Around the time the family returned to Dayton, when Orville was 12, his mechanical interests turned to printing. He tried making woodcuts and prints, at first using a tool he made himself, and later tools that were a gift from Wilbur. To make prints, he used his father’s letter-press. As Orville’s interest in printing continued and increased, his family took note. Wilbur and Lorin traded away a boat they had built in exchange for a small printing press. Milton Wright, the boys’ father, bought Orville a collection of type. While Orville had great fun and earned small amounts of money with this little press, printing pages only four and a half inches high, as time went on, he began to want a larger press. Instead of buying a new press, Orville soon built his own. He also spent two summers working with a printing company in Dayton.
................................................................................................
"Meanwhile, an accident marred older brother Wilbur’s life. A hockey stick struck Wilbur directly in the face while he and some friends were playing a skating game called shinny. The impact knocked out Wilbur’s top front teeth. Due to the accident, and possibly because of a heart condition as well, Wilbur went from being athletic and energetic to mostly staying at home, caring for his ill mother.
"Orville’s creativity and interest in all things mechanical made him return to the idea of building his printing presses again in 1888 when he was 17 years old. This time, he wanted to make an even bigger press. He began work on the frame, using mainly wood the family already had on hand. However, the task of completing the press proved to be more complicated than Orville had anticipated. Wilbur stepped in to help his younger brother out. Wilbur proved to be especially genius with the mechanical aspects of the press, coming up with solutions that sometimes seemed entirely counterintuitive. Still, it worked, and now that Orville had a press, the younger brother decided to put it to use by starting a newspaper. A perpetual entrepreneur and not one to do things halfway, Orville rented a room for the press and began work on the first issue of the West Side News, which came out in March 1889. The paper started to enjoy success fairly quickly, and soon Wilbur, too, became involved. He began by writing occasional articles to help Orville fill space, but before long, he was listed as the paper’s editor.
................................................................................................
"Just a few months later, in July 1889, tragedy struck the Wright family in the form of the death of Susan Wright. In the space following the death of their mother, Orville and Wilbur spent much time with the family, where they all engaged in activities such as extensive reading. Orville and Wilbur also continued their work together on West Side News.
"Before long, Orville finished high school. He did not consider the last year, spent largely on review, to be worthwhile. Consequently, like Wilbur, Orville never received a diploma. Busy with running a successful newspaper, he decided not to attempt to go to college. A little over a year after the paper’s conception, Orville and Wilbur changed their weekly publication of the West Side News into a daily publication, The Evening Item. However, the competition was becoming intense, and the endeavor only lasted about four more months. Orville and Wilbur did continue to publish a small local paper called Snapshots for several more years. And with the demise of The Evening Item, the brothers were free to move on to exploring a newer interest—bicycles."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Chapter 2. Flying on Two Wheels
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Bicycling is the nearest approximation I know to the flight of birds.”
"—Louis J. Helle"
................................................................................................
"In 1887, the invention of the safety bicycle, with its equally sized wheels, made the hobby of bicycling more accessible to many than it had been in the days of the dangerous high-wheeled bicycle. Though Orville had previously owned a high-wheeler, now, as bicycling began to take off, he purchased one of the new safety bicycles. Within a few months, Wilbur decided to follow suit. The Wright brothers became avid cyclists, and Orville even began to compete in racing. The brothers also began to develop their skills as bicycle mechanics. In 1892, they started work on a new business venture, opening their first bicycle shop. By spring of 1893, they were open for business. At the shop at 1005 West Third Street, they sold well-known types of bikes, such as Coventry Cross, Envoy, and Halladay-Temple. They also repaired bicycles.
"As the business began to enjoy success, they moved the shop to larger quarters. First, they relocated down the street to 1034 West Third Street, and then, in 1895, to 22 South Williams Street, close to the Wright house. There, they began not only to sell and repair bicycles but also to make their own. They became the Wright Cycle Company and created several different designs: the Van Cleve, the less expensive St. Clair, and the budget-friendly Wright Special. The brothers continued to experiment and invent even as their business grew. They came up with their own equipment for welding, as well as designs for brakes and hubs. They even developed a bell system that let them know when they were building bicycles upstairs if a customer just stopped by to use the bicycle pump by the door or needed to be helped. For fun, they also created a tandem bicycle from two old high-wheelers—a dangerous contraption, certainly, but one that they learned to operate together. Besides the brothers, only one friend was able to stay on the perilous tandem high-wheeler.
................................................................................................
"The Wright Cycle Company not only provided Wilbur and Orville with business success and an enjoyable occupation, but it also gave them the chance to discover principles of mechanics that would become more significant to them later, when they began to experiment with flight. The concept of balance was surprisingly similar between riding a bicycle and operating a flying machine. Most previous attempts in the realm of flying had focused on the inherent stability of the flying machine, and creating a machine that would maintain balance on its own. But Wilbur and Orville, observing the way a cyclist interacts with a bicycle to maintain balance, realized that the pilot’s control would be an essential part of how an aircraft operated. Not only this, but the brothers saw that in the same way that riding a bicycle takes practice, operating a flying machine would also take practice. This was a different mindset than other inventors of their day brought to flying experiments. Additionally, the Wright brothers were gaining the practical skills for working with metal and other materials to create precise and lightweight machines—exactly the skills they would need as they moved on to the attempt to build an aircraft."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Chapter 3. The Dream of Flight
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.”
"—Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley"
................................................................................................
"In 1895, as the Wright brothers’ bicycle company took off, their interest in the subject of flight was just beginning to grow as well. They heard of an aeronautical innovator in Germany, Otto Lilienthal. Lilienthal had been working on a series of groundbreaking experiments involving gliders, and would go on to become known as “the father of glider flights.” He went through 18 different designs, making more than 2,000 flights, and also published an important book about aeronautics. Wilbur and Orville began to look for more information about Lilienthal and his gliders and to follow his experiments as best they could from the United States. Their interest only grew during the following year, 1896, when they received news of a tragic accident; one of Lilienthal’s gliders had crashed, and the inventor had been killed.
"Orville and Wilbur began to read all they could about flight. Quickly exhausting the relevant materials in the Dayton library, they sent to the Smithsonian for a list of further resources. They received a list of recent works detailing the attempts and advancements made on the problem of flight—books such as Progress in Flying Machines, by Octave Chanute, as well as papers and pamphlets. The brothers began to understand the various experiments made in flight and gliding, especially in the last ten years. Experimenters had been taking a variety of approaches to the problem of stability—how to keep the aircraft balanced in the air. Some, such as Lilienthal and Chanute, had worked on creating machines that not only relied on inherent stability but also on the operator’s ability to shift his weight around to help control the aircraft.
................................................................................................
"As Wilbur and Orville read about the ideas and experiments of the innovators in flight who had come before them, they began to have some of their own ideas. Why, Orville wondered, had no one attempted to use a lateral control to maintain balance? Instead of focusing on the front and back of the machine, he began to make sketches of an aircraft with sectioned wings that could be adjusted, creating different lift on the two wings to help maintain balance. The aircraft operator would adjust the wing sections with levers. This concept would become one of the primary ideas that led to the Wright brothers’ success.
"The brothers recognized that at this point Orville’s idea was not yet anywhere close to usable. Sectioned wings would weaken the structure of the machine far too much. This problem stopped the brothers for several weeks. One day, however, as Wilbur was working in the bicycle shop, he came up with a potential solution. While helping a customer look at an inner tube, Wilbur had been fiddling with the inner tube box. He realized that with the long, narrow box, open at both ends, he could create different angles by bending the two ends while keeping the long lines on the sides of the box rigid. The planes that made up the sides of the box were warped, but still structurally sound. Wilbur and Orville applied this idea to their design for the wings of an aircraft.
................................................................................................
"With a strategy for tackling their biggest problem, the time had, at last, come to conduct some tests. Wilbur built a small model from bamboo that helped to clarify their designs. Then, in late July 1899, the brothers built and tested a kite. The wingspan of the biplane kite was five feet, and they used four cords attached to the wing corners to make the wings adjustable in the way Wilbur and Orville had envisioned. In this way, the operator on the ground could attempt to maintain and restore balance as the kite moved. Wilbur flew the kite at Union Seminary, with an entourage of curious boys who followed along to help him. The method of controlling the biplane kite was a success, and Wilbur and Orville were ready to move on to another level of experiment."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Chapter 4. Three Gliders and a Windy Hill
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
"—Winston Churchill"
................................................................................................
"In 1900, with their successful kite experiment having proved the potential of their ideas, the two brothers began to lay plans to build a glider large enough to carry a person. Orville and Wilbur thought that if they could attach this glider to a tall crane in an extremely windy place, they would be able to build up the hours of practice needed to pilot an aircraft.
"The brothers’ first step was to write to an expert in the field of aeronautical experimentation, Octave Chanute. Wilbur began this correspondence with Chanute, laying out the brothers’ plans and designs and asking for Chanute’s advice. Wilbur and Orville used a table developed by Chanute to calculate the amount of headwind they would need to make the plans for their glider work—15 to 20 miles per hour. The brothers also got in touch with the U.S. Weather Bureau as they began the search for a location with this type of wind. At the top of the list of windiest weather stations sat Chicago, a place where Chanute had made some test flights. However, Wilbur and Orville thought that a location where their experiments would excite less attention would be more suited to their purposes. Their sights turned to the remote North Carolina location of Kitty Hawk, the sixth windiest station on the list. Kitty Hawk would also provide soft sand dunes, ideal for gentle landings.
"The Wright brothers next wrote to the Weather Bureau employee at Kitty Hawk, Joseph J. Dosher. In response, they heard not only from Dosher but also from his friend William Tate, who promised them a warm welcome. In September 1900, Wilbur began the long journey to Kitty Hawk. He would first take a train to the Virginia Peninsula, then a steamer to Norfolk. Then the 29-year-old took another train to Elizabeth City, North Carolina. At last, he had to find a boat to take him to the Outer Banks and Kitty Hawk. This proved to be no easy task. After three days of looking, Wilbur found a fishing schooner that would take him. The boat was in terrible condition and had to stop for repairs after encountering a storm. Wilbur finally arrived in Kitty Hawk after nine days of travel, bringing parts of the glider with him. The Tate family welcomed him there, as William Tate had promised, giving him a place to stay and helping him to assemble the glider.
................................................................................................
"Near the end of September, having found someone to watch over the bicycle shop, Orville joined Wilbur at Kitty Hawk. The brothers moved their living quarters to a tent and began almost two weeks of testing of their glider at a site called Kill Devil Hills. Their initial ideas proved problematic. It soon became clear that tying the glider to a crane to practice flying was not functional, and beyond that, something was not working with the design of the glider’s wings. According to the brothers’ calculations, based on tables from Lilienthal, the wings should have developed more lift.
"Despite these early disappointments, Wilbur and Orville carried on. They flew the glider as a kite and used the opportunity to make careful measurements. By gathering reams of data, they were able to pinpoint the differences between their observations and the Lilienthal table. They also gave rides to William Tate’s little nephew, allowing them to develop a greater understanding of the additional air resistance a pilot would bring to the aircraft.
"After long days of running tests and collecting data, Wilbur and Orville decided to try some glides off a dune. The first day they meant to attempt this, wind speeds rose to 25 miles per hour. The brothers decided to wait. The next day, with the wind blowing at more reasonable speeds, Wilbur was able to make some glides. In mid-October, having used their first experimental glider to its fullest potential, the Wright brothers left it behind and headed back to Dayton. They told Mrs. Tate she could use the fabric from the wings to make dresses.
................................................................................................
""The brothers’ second glider was larger in an attempt to deal with the lift problems they had encountered in the first glider. They also changed the material for the wing covering and made adjustments to their design. The first glider had weighed about 50 pounds; this second one weighed in at 98.
In July 1901, Wilbur and Orville were ready to head to Kitty Hawk and make glider experiments once again. This time, they built a shed to shelter their glider, and their camp became even fuller with a visit from Octave Chanute himself. The brothers soon began to perform tests. Again, it quickly became apparent that something was not working. The aircraft did not glide far with Wilbur onboard before diving into the ground. The brothers were able to identify the flaw that led to this problem and engineered a solution. But, as they began to make glides of 350 feet or more, they soon saw that their problem with lift remained. Additionally, they became aware of a serious issue with their control system; instead of responding as expected, in certain situations, the wing that should have increased speed and begun to rise would do the opposite, sending the craft spiraling alarmingly downwards in a tailspin.
"Leaving Kitty Hawk in August, the brothers were so discouraged with their results that they despaired of continuing with their experiments. Still, they had set a distance record for gliding and collected even more data than before. In September, Wilbur presented the brothers’ work at the Western Society of Engineers in a talk called, “Some Aeronautical Experiments.” Wilbur and Orville overcame their disillusionment and developed a means of conducting experiments on lift and drag factors. They first built a measuring device they could mount on a bicycle, and then they built a wind tunnel. The bicycle device allowed them to identify the errors in Lilienthal’s table for lift that had affected their calculations. And in the wind tunnel, the brothers could conduct tests with a wide variety of wing designs, testing almost 50 models.
................................................................................................
"Through all these structured experiments and their experiences with their previous gliders, Wilbur and Orville began to develop an improved, more efficient glider design. This third glider would have a wingspan of 32 feet. They adjusted their wing design to fit their discoveries regarding lift and drag, rather than relying on Lilienthal’s table. Additionally, the brothers attempted to solve the problem that had sent the second glider spiraling downwards—an effect of drag called “adverse yaw”—by adding a rudder to the tail of the aircraft. With these improvements in place on their newest glider, Orville and Wilbur were ready to head to Kitty Hawk on August 25, 1902. This time, they would stay until almost the end of October. They added a room to the hangar so that they could move out of the tent, and on September 19, they conducted the first of hundreds of test flights.
"In their early glides, the adverse yaw issue continued to cause problems. Soon, however, the brothers decided to try making the tail rudder controllable, attached to the wing system. This change, at last, solved the problem, and Wilbur and Orville had now created an effective control system for an aircraft, a landmark achievement. This system would become the core of their work, and, in fact, the subject of their later patent. Now that they could control a glider, the brothers were ready to move on to the next challenge: creating a powered flying machine."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Chapter 5. The First Flight
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”
"—Albert Einstein"
................................................................................................
"As Orville and Wilbur started work on the development of a powered aircraft, two main hurdles stood before them. First, they needed an engine suited specifically to their needs. Second, they needed to design propellers to transfer the engine’s power into air power. The first of these challenges, the engine, proved to be easier. Though engine manufacturers were uninterested in working with the brothers, they soon found another solution. Charles Taylor, the mechanic for the Wright Cycle Company, constructed an engine to their specifications. It weighed 200 pounds, and it could produce 12 horsepower, more than the brothers had calculated that they would need.
"The second hurdle, a design for propellers, was more difficult. Though propellers had been used in other areas of invention, such as on ships, little research on making them efficient had been done. Designing a component that would constantly be in motion presented quite a challenge. Before long, however, the brothers came up with a concept that helped them create a workable design—they could consider each propeller blade to be like a small, rotating wing, and use the mathematical principles surrounding lift and drag that applied to wing design.
"With a wingspan of 40 feet, the aircraft Wilbur and Orville built in 1903 was their largest yet. With the powering system, it weighed five times what their last glider had weighed. In September, the brothers transported their newest flying machine to their base at Kill Devil Hills. They continued to expand and make improvements to their hangar and living quarters, making their camp much more comfortable. But more importantly, they started making test flights. Wilbur and Orville began their 1903 flights not with the new, powered machine, but by making modifications to the 1902 glider and conducting further tests with it. By November 7, they had made around 200 glides. At the same time, they worked to put together their new aircraft.
................................................................................................
"Before they even attempted to take the airplane into the air, tests began to reveal problems. First, the shafts for the propellers were damaged by the vibration of the engine. This happened during a test on November 5, and the shafts were not ready for a second test until November 20. Unfortunately, the problem wasn’t solved, and the shafts soon broke again. This time, Orville traveled to Dayton, and rather than just repairing the shafts, he brought back entirely new ones. After installing the new shafts on December 11, the brothers hoped their aircraft would soon be in the air. But another difficulty immediately arose.
"Wilbur and Orville had built a wooden track to use to launch the plane since wheels would have been inefficient on the soft sand. Only a day after installing the new propeller shafts, the brothers did a test run, sliding the airplane down the track at the craft’s top speed. This test caused damage to the plane’s rudder, and Wilbur and Orville were forced to halt their plans to make repairs. On December 14, the airplane was ready for a second attempt at flight. Wilbur took the pilot’s position. As the plane began to lift off the ground, he drove it too sharply upwards, and it fell back down. This time, it was the forward elevator, a component of the control system, which suffered damage. The brothers got to work on repairs yet again.
................................................................................................
"Finally, on December 17, the aircraft was repaired, and wind conditions looked ideal at 20-27 miles per hour. Though the Wright brothers had avoided the attention of the press, they had a small group of local supporters who gathered to watch them make their next attempt at flying. This included three men from the nearby U.S. Lifesaving Service station as well as a lumber dealer and a teenager from the area. At 10:30 a.m., everything was ready, and the brothers started the engine. This time, Orville climbed up to pilot the craft. The airplane ran down the track and took off into the air. It remained in the air for 12 seconds and flew 120 feet. At last, the Wright brothers’ efforts and dreams had paid off—flying was possible! This short first flight was documented in a famous photograph taken by John Daniels, one of the Lifesaving Servicemen. Orville had set up the camera shortly before the flight and ask Daniels to take a picture if anything happened. Orville’s foresight in this area allowed for documentary evidence of the first controlled, sustained, powered human flight in a heavier-than-air aircraft.
"Now that the brothers had achieved a short flight, they spent the day continuing to make test flights, flying farther and farther. First Wilbur increased the flight distance to 175 feet, and then Orville made 200 feet. Around noon, Wilbur made incredible progress and flew the airplane 852 feet. The men who had gathered to watch the attempt helped to pull the plane back to the beginning of the track each time. Unfortunately, more flights with the aircraft in 1903 were not to be. As the group of men stood around in camp later in the day, a sudden gust of wind struck the airplane and tipped it backward. The craft was seriously damaged, far too much for in-camp repairs. The career of the 1903 aircraft was over, but the Wright brothers’ career in flight was just beginning. Back in Kitty Hawk later on December 17, Orville sent their father a telegraph, “Success four flights Thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from Level with engine power alone average speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas.”
................................................................................................
"This telegraph was sent to Dayton by way of Norfolk, where the telegraph operator tipped off a young reporter. This reporter, in a hasty attempt to be the first with the story, sent out a highly inaccurate press release, stating such absurdities as that the Wright brothers had flown three miles and the aircraft had a propeller underneath to hold it up in the air. Only three newspapers in the entire United States immediately picked up this piece. Even as time elapsed, giving the press the opportunity to get a more accurate story, the Wright brothers’ achievement was slow to get coverage. Many newspaper editors were skeptical while others did not realize the significance of the story. This was partially because of the claims of Simon Newcomb, a famous and respected physicist who, supported by other well-known scientists and engineers, had recently published a paper on the impossibility of flight. Also, many people confused the Wright brothers’ achievement with the work of Alberto Santos-Dumont, who was working with lighter-than-air aircraft in Europe.
"Near New Year’s Day, Octave Chanute discussed the Wright brothers’ work in his speech at a conference for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Still the newspapers, even in Dayton, were not particularly interested. Orville and Wilbur wrote a statement themselves and asked the Associated Press to publish it. This statement, with a correct account of the events of the first flight, came out in many papers on January 6. Nonetheless, misinformation continued to be published. This did not stop the Wright brothers, who were not particularly disturbed by the skepticism and misreporting. They had already made history, but they knew that they still had a long way to go to develop their airplane into a practical vehicle."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Chapter 6. Hard Work, New Records
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"After their 1903 success at Kitty Hawk, Wilbur and Orville chose to devote more time to flying. They could imagine many possible uses for airplanes but knew that they needed more practice as pilots and to continue developing their designs. They relied more and more on their mechanic, Charlie Taylor, to keep the bicycle shop running.
"Starting in January 1904, the Wright brothers turned the majority of the attention to the construction of a new plane. They built a different engine, adjusted the wing angle, and tried to make the framework of the aircraft stronger. About eight miles outside of Dayton, they located a 68-acre piece of land called Huffman field, at the time no more than a cow pasture, to use for test flights. The land was near two main roads and a railway line, so there was no chance that their experiments would remain secret. Therefore, Wilbur and Orville went ahead and informed the newspapers of their plans to make their next test of a flying machine on May 23. When the day came, about 12 reporters and around twice as many of the Wrights’ friends arrived to witness the attempt.
"But the wind did not co-operate. First, the wind speed was too high. Then, it died down to almost nothing at all. Neither of these conditions was favorable for a flight, so Wilbur and Orville decided to demonstrate maneuvering the aircraft along its track. Things still did not go right, and the engine began to work incorrectly. The reporters were irritated, and the following day, only two or maybe three came back to see another attempt at flight. This time, the airplane made it off the ground. The engine was still not working as it should, though, and the flight was only 60 feet. The newsmen were not particularly impressed, though they did write about the event. From now on, the Wright brothers would work in Huffman field without being bothered by the press.
................................................................................................
"The first problem the brothers had to deal with was the same one that had plagued their May 23 appearance for the press. They needed a more reliable means of taking off. Due to the unpredictable and often low wind speeds and the unevenness of the terrain, the track was not working very effectively. Wilbur and Orville had to lengthen it to account for the low winds, and they had to frequently move it around to adjust for the direction of the wind. They were reduced to waiting for strong bursts of wind and then hurriedly attempting to take off. This method sometimes worked, but at other times it resulted in accidents. In July, the brothers came up with a new way to get their airplane off the ground. They designed a large derrick that they would use to catapult the aircraft into the air. The device was ready in early September, and the brothers’ ability to launch the plane improved drastically. Their flights became longer as well, and soon they often needed to turn to the airplane to stay in the field.
"This turning brought the brothers right back to a problem they had encountered before. Sometimes the turn sent the plane spiraling, tail end down, toward the ground. This was both dangerous and forced Wilbur and Orville to spend extra time working on repairs, rather than experimenting with flying. Something had to be done. After figuring out the cause of their problem, the brothers came up with an innovative idea. They needed to know the angle the air was moving in relation to the wings, so they used a strategically placed piece of string. The pilot could watch the string and make adjustments.
"The only downside was that the pilot had so many factors to pay attention to that sometimes it was difficult to watch the string as well. However, this very simple addition to the plane was unique in that it was the first aeronautical instrument to guide a pilot while he flew.
................................................................................................
"As 1904 went on, the brothers continued to gain practice in flying. Their total time in the air for the year would only be 49 minutes—seemingly little, yet enough for Wilbur and Orville to continue learning and continue developing their ideas. Eventually, they began to reach new landmarks. On their 49th flight of the year, they flew for one minute and one second, surpassing the record of 59 seconds that they had set at Kill Devil Hills. In late September, they also flew a complete circle for the first time in a flight of one minute, 36 seconds. From these small accomplishments, their achievements began to grow significantly. By the end of the year, they had completed two flights of over three miles.
"Wilbur and Orville began work on their next airplane in May 1905. It would combine a few pieces of their last plane, such as the engine, with new parts. The brothers made changes in the design aimed to make the airplane stronger. They particularly worked to fine-tune their wing design and make their control system more effective, and they chose not to connect the pilot’s control of the wings to the tail rudder. The brothers also adjusted the shape of their propellers to a wider, flatter version that, mathematically, seemed as if it would be more efficient. However, actual tests of the propellers did not fit with the calculations. Wilbur and Orville realized that moving at such a high speed might be distorting the propellers’ shape. To counteract this effect, they tried using what they called “little jokers”—a flat surface attached at an angle behind each blade. This solution worked well, so the brothers subsequently made their propellers with a backward sweep as part of the shape.
"With their third airplane ready to take to the air, Wilbur and Orville were eager to fly. However, June and August of 1905 proved to be wet and muddy, poor conditions for moving the aircraft around and for flying. Their flight attempts in these months were few and short. With improved weather in September came greater success in flying. The distances the brothers were capable of flying began to increase dramatically. Before the end of September, they made a flight of 12 miles. On October 5, Wilbur made a flight of just over 24 miles, only stopping because the airplane was running out of fuel. While many people still thought the Wright brothers were wasting their time out in a cow pasture, it now became clear to Wilbur and Orville that there would be practical uses for the airplane. The brothers made one more short flight later in October and then ended their experiments for the year. The time had come to do more than just improve their new invention."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Chapter 7. The Fight for Recognition
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”
"—Ralph Waldo Emerson"
................................................................................................
"The world continued to be slow to catch on to the Wright brothers’ achievements and the growing potential of the airplane. As the brothers were making their landmark distance flights in 1905, the only publication making their successes known was the small journal Gleanings in Bee Culture, whose founder, A.I. Root, realized the importance of what the two brothers were doing. The editors of more significant publications, such as Scientific American, continued to be skeptical. After the Wrights provided the names of about 60 witnesses of their flights, at last the Aero Club of America and Scientific American began to become interested. The Aero Club published a statement about the Wrights’ achievements in a March 1906 bulletin. And in April and December of 1906, Scientific American published articles describing what the Wright brothers had accomplished. The December article exuberantly praised the importance of Wilbur and Orville’s invention.
"Governments were as slow as the newspapers and the scientific community to catch on to the possibilities of the airplane. The brothers offered their airplane to the United States Army in the fall of 1905, believing aircraft might have scouting purposes. The U.S. Army made it clear they were not interested, and furthermore, they did not even believe the Wrights’ account of the successes of their machine. The British government, on the other hand, expressed their interest, but Wilbur and Orville decided to make further attempts to work with the U.S. government before selling their invention to another country. They wrote to their congressman, describing their experiments and advances. All they received in reply was a form letter that did not even respond to what they had written. Further attempts by the Wright brothers to alert the Board of Ordnance and Fortification of the state of their invention, pursued at the urging of Chanute, were likewise rebuffed. It was clear that the U.S. government was not paying any attention to the two inventors in Dayton. The Wrights corresponded with the British government for some time into 1906, but in the end, the British government also turned down the opportunity.
"As publications began to make the Wrights’ invention more widely known, the news reached an influential man named Godfrey Cabot. He saw the Aero Club bulletin about the Wrights’ work and got in touch with them, asking for information about the use of the airplane for commercial purposes. Hearing about the U.S. government’s flat rejection of Wilbur and Orville’s queries, Cabot contacted the senator from Massachusetts, who was a relative of his. This senator, Henry Cabot Lodge, was finally able to convince the Board of Ordnance and Fortification that they should pay attention to the Wrights. Though the Board was willing to receive another proposition, the Wrights were not willing to make one, given the rude rejections they had received. When President Roosevelt heard of the Wright brothers’ inventions and sent a message to the Board, they reached out to the Wrights with a stiff letter inviting correspondence. Negotiations, however, would still drag on for over a year. Wilbur and Orville did not fly for the entirety of 1906 and 1907 as they tried to convince governments of the validity and value of their discoveries. But they kept experimenting, working on a new engine.
................................................................................................
"Though governments moved slowly, in late 1906, a businessman named U.S. Eddy became interested in the Wrights’ work. He met the brothers in Dayton in November and later introduced them to members of the Flint firm. The Flints became the Wright brothers’ representatives in Europe. To overcome widespread skepticism in the Wrights’ accomplishments, the Flints suggested that they should pay for one of the brothers to go to Europe. So, Wilbur left the United States bound for England and then Paris, in mid-May 1907. His trip was intended to be a relatively short one, and he brought only one suitcase.
"Wilbur negotiated with businessmen and with the government. After almost two months, he asked Orville to join him; on August 1, Orville arrived. The two brothers decided to have a plane shipped to France so that they could demonstrate its capabilities. The brothers enjoyed their time in Paris, but in the end, negotiations with the French government led to nothing. Disappointed, Wilbur headed to Berlin, while Orville followed up a lead in London. He soon went back to the continent to meet Wilbur in Germany. Negotiations with the German government looked positive, and the brothers left the country late in 1907, expecting that in some months they would return to demonstrate their flying machine.
"However, a surprise was in store for the Wright brothers on their return to the United States. The American government had finally decided to take action on acquiring the Wrights’ airplane. Though the process was complicated due to bureaucratic red tape, on February 8, 1908, the contract was finally formalized. The War Department accepted the Wrights’ price of $25,000. Not long after, in early March, the Wrights obtained another huge contract—a French businessman invested in the rights to build and sell the Wright brothers’ plane in France, forming a company called La Compagnie Generale de Navigation Aerienne. Both of these contracts required a demonstration proving that the plane could do all that the brothers had claimed.
................................................................................................
"Since they had not flown for two years, Wilbur and Orville were in need of flying practice. Back at Huffman field, they outfitted their airplane with the innovations they had been developing, such as a way to allow the pilot to take a seated position rather than lying prone. In April, the brothers took their plane to their old practice grounds in Kitty Hawk. They began flights in early May. Then, on May 14, the brothers made history again by making a flight that carried two people. Wilbur flew the plane, and Charles W. Furnas was his passenger. Later, Orville also flew with Furnas.
"After years of skepticism, the press finally decided that these Wright brothers from Dayton might be worth watching after all. A number of reporters and photographers arrived at Kitty Hawk to watch the brothers’ experiments. Thinking that the Wrights wanted secrecy and might not fly if they knew they were being watched, the newspapermen hid in a nearby patch of woods. Orville and Wilbur were entirely aware of the presence of these observers and carried on with their practice flights just as they would have if the press had watched them openly from their camp. A number of prominent newspapers published stories about the feats of the Wright brothers soon after the monumental May 14 flight. But late in the day on May 14, the airplane crashed as Wilbur made a mistake controlling it. The Wrights, not having time to make extensive repairs, packed up the engine and other essential parts of the plane. It was time for the brothers to get on their way to make the all-important flying demonstrations that would show their invention to the world.
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Chapter 8. Convincing the Skeptics
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“Hide not your talents, they for use were made.
"What’s a sundial in the shade?”
"—Benjamin Franklin"
................................................................................................
"Following their few days of practice at Kitty Hawk, the two brothers started on separate journeys. Wilbur headed to New York and from there to France, while Orville stayed in the United States. Arriving in France at the end of May, Wilbur’s first task was to find a suitable location for flying. An automobile manufacturer named Leon Bollee suggested that Wilbur could probably find a place near his factory in Le Mans. He even offered to let Wilbur assemble the particular plane—which had been waiting in Europe since the brothers’ previous visit—in his factory.
"Wilbur headed to Le Mans and began the search for a flat field. Before long, he was able to make an agreement with the owner of the Hunaudieres racetrack. Even as Wilbur rented the track and began to work on the assembly of the airplane, skeptical newspapers published articles ridiculing him. A few delays, such as an accident in which Wilbur’s arm was badly burned by water from the cooling system, did nothing to correct these opinions. However, Leon Bollee and the workers in his factory all liked Wilbur. Wilbur oversaw the construction of a hangar and a derrick for launching the plane—similar to the one the brothers had used at Huffman field—on the field of the racetrack.
................................................................................................
"Wilbur made his first flight in France on August 8. A crowd of observers from nearby Le Mans showed up; they were newspapermen and members of the Aero Club of France. Some of these observers were convinced that Wilbur would fail. Still, Wilbur, dressed in the grey suit he normally wore, strolled confidently out to the airplane. Two men started the plane’s engine. Wilbur, in the pilot’s seat, had control over the release of the lever that would launch the plane, while another man ran alongside the plane, holding the wing to help keep the aircraft balanced until it took off. Soon after the plane lifted into the air, Wilbur leveled it at around 30 feet. He turned to the left and right, showing off what the machine could do. After a flight of slightly less than two minutes, he brought the airplane back to the ground. The observers were ecstatic. News reporters and previously skeptical members of the Aero Club now became the Wright brothers’ ardent fans. The following day, newspapers were full of praise for Wilbur and the brothers’ accomplishments in flying.
"Wilbur continued making demonstrations of the airplane throughout the next few days. On August 10, he looped the plane in a figure eight and, during a second flight, in circles. He then made several successively longer flights, culminating in a flight of over eight minutes on August 13. On this flight, a wing suffered damage during the landing, so Wilbur’s flying exhibitions were put on hold until he could make repairs. By the time he completed these repairs, on August 21, the French military had invited him to make flights at an artillery testing field about ten miles away from the racetrack. The military field at Auvours was larger and would be better for flying, so Wilbur relocated his efforts there.
................................................................................................
"Wilbur quickly became famous in France. Reporters quoted his every word, and people bought postcards with pictures of Wilbur. He received thousands of letters, and visitors came from all over France hoping to see him fly. The news spread to England, and before long, members of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain were also arriving to find out if the rumors were true. Wilbur carried a passenger into the air on September 16, and in the ensuing month gave more rides to reporters and other important figures, including his friend Leon Bollee. He also made a flight of around 40 miles at the end of September. People enjoyed meeting Wilbur not just because of his groundbreaking expertise in flying, but also because of his quiet modesty. On October 7, Wilbur carried a woman, Edith Berg, as his passenger—one of the first women to fly.
"Wilbur continued to set records and make history as the fall went on. He won awards from both the Aero Club of France and the Aero Club of Sarthe, flying as high as 90 meters. On December 18, he set another record, flying up to 110 meters. On the last day of December, he flew for just over 2 hours and 20 minutes, again setting a record for the longest flight. When the winter weather near Le Mans became too bad to fly, Wilbur relocated his European center of operations to the city of Pau, near the Pyrenees. There he focused on training three Frenchmen as pilots, fulfilling a part of his contract with the new French aeronautical company.
................................................................................................
"While Wilbur was demonstrating the airplane and setting records in Europe, Orville was busy in the United States. He needed to build another aircraft, and then he would head to Fort Myer, near Washington D.C., to make his flying demonstration to the U.S. government. In August, Orville traveled to Fort Myer. He began making flights in September, with his first on September 3. The crowd that came to watch was quite small, as was the area provided to Orville for flying. In fact, the field was the smallest area in which either of the Wright brothers had flown. Orville’s first flight was only a little over a minute. The sight of a feat most had still considered to be impossible astounded the crowd. The next day, Orville made a longer flight, and this time thousands showed up to watch. Orville continued to make flights through September, soon making flights lasting more than an hour. He began to set records with the length of his flights and then continued to break his own records. He also began to carry passengers along, as Wilbur was doing at the same time in France.
"On September 17, Orville took Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge up as his passenger. The pair reached an elevation of around 125 feet. Then, disaster struck. With a sudden noise, the plane began to shake and to swerve unexpectedly to the right. Orville turned off the engine and turned left, angling the plane to a safer spot for an emergency landing. However, as he straightened out the plane facing the landing field, it veered almost straight towards the ground. Orville regained control and began to lift the airplane up 25 feet from the ground. This was just not enough room for the plane to straighten back out, and it crashed into the ground. The crash was a bad one. Lieutenant Selfridge hit part of the plane’s framework, and as a result of his injuries, died just hours later. Orville, too, was injured. At first, his injuries looked like they might also be fatal, but it turned out he broke a leg and four ribs. Much later in life, Orville would discover that the crash had also fractured and dislocated one of his hips, but doctors did not realize this at the time. The accident, Orville discovered as he recuperated, had been caused by the propellers. One of them had cracked, starting a chain of reactions that led to the airplane’s nosedive. Despite this terrible end to Orville’s American flying demonstrations, Wilbur in France and Orville in Fort Myer had clearly shown the world that the age of flight had dawned.
................................................................................................
"Soon after Wilbur’s move to Pau at the beginning of 1909, Orville, recovered from his accident, came to join him. Along with Orville came the Wright brothers’ younger sister, Katharine. During the three siblings’ stay at Pau, they were visited by King Alfonso of Spain and by Edward VII of England. Katharine also had her first opportunity to ride with her brothers, which she did twice. The Wrights stayed in Pau until April, when they relocated to Paris, and shortly after, to Rome. There, in an arrangement with an aviation club and the Italian government, Wilbur began to train two Italian pilots. While flying in Rome, not only did the Italian King Victor Emmanuel come to see them fly, but also the Wrights started to make arrangements for the formation of a German Wright company.
"Traveling back to Paris and then London, Wilbur and Orville received awards and honors as they went. On their return to New York, the Aero Club of America hosted a lunch in their honor. In early May, the Wrights made it home to Dayton. But the celebrations were not over. On June 10, President Taft himself presented them with the medals with which the Aero Club had awarded them. On June 17 and 18, the city of Dayton hosted parades and ceremonies for the brothers. Wilbur and Orville not only received medals from the city of Dayton and the state of Ohio but also received a Congressional Medal of Honor.
"During the rest of 1909, the Wrights continued to make flights and received great acclaim, with Orville and Katharine traveling to Germany and Wilbur staying in the United States. Having persevered through their initial struggle to be taken seriously, Wilbur and Orville Wright were now famous around the world."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Chapter 9. The Dawn of a New Era
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"“I don’t have any regrets about my part in the invention of the airplane, though no one could deplore more than I do the destruction it has caused.”
"—Orville Wright"
Not "it has caused", but rather, "it has helped to cause" would be correct to say.
After all, men have used knives and fire for massacres of thousands, of millions, as late as 1941-1947; yet these are necessities of every kitchen. It's not a knife or fire that caused the massacres, it's the zealots wielding one and nazis the other.
................................................................................................
"While the Wright name was well-known by fall of 1909, the brothers still had much to accomplish. They had hoped to focus their attention on research and leave the business aspect of aeronautics to others, but Orville and Wilbur soon found themselves enmeshed in business affairs. In November, they founded the Wright Company with the backing of a list of impressive investors. Within the next year, the company built its own factory. Since the airplane was not yet developed to the point of being ready for commercial use, the company would first focus on making money through flying exhibitions. To this end, Orville began to train several pilots. The Wrights located a field near Montgomery, Alabama, where, in 1910, they opened the first flight school; the field is known today as Maxwell Field.
"Back near Dayton at Huffman field, Orville and Wilbur made a number of significant flights in 1910. Wilbur made a short flight on May 21; he did not know when he took to the air that day that it would be the last flight he would ever pilot. A few days later, Orville piloted a flight and Wilbur rode along as his passenger—this was the only flight the two brothers would make together. On the same day, Orville took their father up as a passenger.
"The year 1910 held other milestones, as well. A department store, the Morehouse-Martin Company, commissioned the first commercial delivery by air. They had a bolt of silk flown to a field near their location in Columbus, Ohio, from Huffman field. This delivery was more of a publicity stunt than a necessity, but the store quickly profited by selling pieces of the silk as souvenirs. The following year, yet another aeronautical first occurred when one of the brothers’ planes was flown across the United States by Calbraith Rodgers. Rodgers left New York in mid-September and, due to stops for repairs, arrived in California in early November. Feats like this continued to prove the advance of the airplane, and the Wright brothers’ business turned a solid profit. As flying exhibitions began to lose a bit of their novelty, sales of aircraft to the government and businesses began to increase.
................................................................................................
"Despite the success of the business and the continuing occurrence of new milestones in the world of flight during the years from 1909 onwards, Wilbur and Orville were simultaneously plagued by a difficult situation. They had invented a technology so radical it was already changing the world, and perhaps not surprisingly, the patents on their inventions were not effective in keeping others from using and experimenting with the ideas they had developed. This led the Wright brothers to numerous lawsuits over their patents. The most significant of these conflicts was a long legal battle with the Herring-Curtis Company and its founder Glenn H. Curtiss. This lawsuit would be fought out in the courts until 1914 when it was decided in the Wright brothers’ favor. Even after that, Curtis continued to attempt to find a loophole through which he could come out victorious. His attempts were only ended by the start of World War I. The Wright brothers’ struggle to protect their patents dominated a large part of their lives in the early 1910s, taking away from their potential to keep developing their aircraft designs. Some have argued the Wright brothers’ protection of their patents also hampered the overall development of the airplane in the United States. Additionally, the brothers’ activity in these legal battles was not very good for their reputation—many saw them not as protecting their hard-earned interests, but as tight-fisted.
"Despite these troubles, Wilbur and Orville hoped that with the success of their business ventures from 1909 to 1912, they could at last return to research, the part of aeronautics that they loved most. However, this dream was not to happen. In May 1912, Wilbur, worn out with the effort he put into taking the lead in the brothers’ legal battles, became ill with typhoid fever. And on May 30, Wilbur passed away. He was 45 years old. Orville was left to take Wilbur’s place as president of the Wright Company. Two years later, in 1914, Orville began to buy all the stock from the other shareholders of the company. He aimed to sell the company—a plan he and Wilbur had always had their sights on. In October 1915, a group of businessmen made Orville a good offer, and he took it. The remaining Wright brother was now officially out of the airplane business.
................................................................................................
"Orville piloted his last flight just a few years later, in 1918. However, he remained active in the world of aeronautic exploration, serving on committees such as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. In 1929, he was the first recipient of the prominent Daniel Guggenheim Medal, an award for work in aeronautics.
"Orville lived through the world wars and saw his invention turned into a tool for destruction. In an interview later in life, he compared the invention of the airplane to the discovery of fire: though it could cause great damage, he still thought it was good for humankind that the discovery happened. At last, after witnessing dramatic changes in the world and the amazing development of his invention, Orville suffered a heart attack and died in January 1948. He was buried in Dayton, beside Wilbur."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
Conclusion
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
"In recent years, some controversy has arisen over whether Wilbur and Orville were really the first to make a controlled, powered, sustained flight. However, this debate (in which the majority of scholars still uphold the Wright brothers’ place in history) serves to point out that the brothers’ accomplishments were not limited to making their first flight in 1903. Though this moment is widely remembered and memorialized, it is only a piece of their contributions to the world of flight. To arrive at the point of flying, Wilbur and Orville scientifically approached the problems of flight. They developed experiments and methods of testing previous assumptions, gathering data and basing their inventions on carefully developed calculations. This scientific approach and the discoveries the brothers made through it were a huge offering to the world of flight.
"Many scientific innovators and thinkers, from Ignaz Semmelweis—who proposed that doctors should wash their hands—to Gregor Mendel—pioneer of genetics—have been ignored or ridiculed for their ideas. The Wright brothers, though more fortunate than many others, also had to persevere through the years of fighting to see their ideas recognized in the world. Through the battle for recognition of their achievements, Wilbur and Orville eventually spread the possibility of and excitement about flying around the world, another contribution to the development of airplanes. Because of their travels and demonstrations of flight, the airplane began to be adapted to many uses. Though some of these uses, as Orville noted late in his life, have brought great destruction, still the airplane has played a large part in the growing interconnectivity and globalization of the world. The story of the Wright brothers, pioneers of flight, is certainly worthy of remembrance."
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
The Wright Brothers: A History
From Beginning to End
(Biographies of Inventors)
Hourly History
................................................
................................................
September 23, 2022 - September 23, 2022.
Purchased September 23, 2022.
ASIN:- B07846FMWT
................................................
................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5002942497
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
