David McCullough is a master storyteller who has revitalized historical personalities and events for millions of readers and a multitude of viewers of PBS and HBO. The Johnstown Flood; the Roeblings and the Brooklyn Bridge; Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal and Teddy's early years; his vignettes of BRAVE COMPANIONS; his Pulitzer-Prize-winning TRUMAN and JOHN ADAMS; the critical year of the American revolution; American artists in Paris; his American Experience presidents; and much, much more are the historical treasures of our American Clio.
In THE WRIGHT BROTHERS, once again McCullough projects little known individuals into the pantheon of American heroes. We have all heard and admired the Wright brothers without knowing much about them, assuming that their flying the first engine-propelled plane was recognized as an extraordinary accomplishment then and now. How surprising to learn that the first detailed account of their 1903 Kitty Hawk flight appeared in the January, 1905 edition of GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE.
At first glance, Wilbur and Orville seem unlikely heroes. Life-long bachelors, they lived with their father and younger sister in Dayton, Ohio. The brothers were, like Truman, voracious readers, though void of 'higher education.' They were hard working, curious tinkerers.
Early on Wilbur acknowledged that he didn't have the aggressiveness required in business.
Drawing on thousands of Wright letters and a panoply of other documents, McCullough describes how these two seemingly undistinguished brothers became the Fathers of Flight. They initially made a modest living as job printers before becoming caught up in the bicycle craze. Soon they were selling and then making bicycles at the somewhat expanded Wright Cycle Company.
Wilbur became intrigued, after the death of a German glider pilot, by how gliders related to the flight of birds. He and then Orville developed a passion for 'bird flight' and 'read up on aeronautics as a physician would read his books.' This culminated in a May 30, 1899 letter to The Smithsonian Institution stating that they were "convinced that human flight is possible and practical." Flight became their passion, despite no formal technical training, nor experience working with others, nor financial backing, except for what they earned from their bicycle company.
Working diligently during hours not consumed by their bike business, they built a full-sized glider with components costing less than $15. They selected remote Kitty Hawk as the best site to test this glider. It flew, then crashed, and then flew again. Birds were their Baedeker to flight. As Orville expressed it: "Learning the secret of flight from a bird was a good deal like learning the secret of magic from a magician."
For several years, at Kitty Hawk and Dayton, they tinkered with enhancing their glider, while living on their bicycle business revenue. They related their study of birds to determining the appropriate wing curvature. This required them to build a wind tunnel where they tested 38 wing surfaces. Years later an AERONAUTICAL JOURNAL article stated that "Never in the history of the world had men studied the problem with such scientific skill nor with such undaunted courage."
At times their flying passion was interrupted by the necessity of making more bikes. In 1902, after nearly 1,000 glider flights, 'they only had to build a motor.' Charlie Taylor, their bike mechanic, built a motor with an aluminum block in which he crafted the cylinders and cast iron pistons. The brothers worked out the pitch for their clockwise and counterclockwise propellers. On March 23, 1903, they applied to the U. S. Patent Office for a patent on their flying machine.
In the fall of 1903 they tested their flying machine, "Flyer," at Kitty Hawk. Crashes required new designs before, on December 17th, Orville flew 120 feet in 12 seconds. After Wilbur bested these records, a gust of wind destroyed Flyer, which was then stored in Dayton, never to fly again. The brothers' total 1900-1903 cost for travel and materials was less than $1,000, financed by their bike business.
Their historic flights were a media nonevent. Newsmen seemed highly skeptical that such a flight had occurred. A notification to the War Department went unanswered. The brothers kept tinkering to enhance their flying machine with a better motor, wings, and operating devices. Their flights and occasional crashes attracted no media attention. The first accurate account appeared in the January, 1905 edition of GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURES. A copy of this article sent to SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN was ignored. A year later SA published "The Wright Aeroplane and the Fabled Performances," which was undisguised skepticism.
The Wrights kept flying at Huffman Prairie near Dayton. Some British officers stopped by to observe. Wilbur was again stiffed by the War Department and chose not to prursue the matter. 1905 was a breakthrough year with Flyer III. Finally the brothers' accomplishments received growing attention domestically and abroad. The French sought to sign a significant flying machine contract. On April 7, 1906, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN published a laudatory article, "The Wright Aeroplane and Its Performances."On May 22, 1906, the patent for the Wright Flying Machine was approved.
In 1906 Wilbur went to Europe to discuss contracts with the French and others. Flyer III was shipped over, but never uncrated. Orville, sister Katharine, and mechanic Charlie Taylor joined him for what seemed like a European fling for this Dayton foursome. Wilber demonstrated an uncommon knowledge of art and architecture and visited the Louvre sixteen time. The business discussions seemed unresolved. As Wilbur returned to the U. S., he expressed the intention to "getting more machines ready for the spring trade."
After not having flown for 2 1/2 years, Wilbur and Orville had a busy 1908 flying program. Reporters swarmed to observe the U. S. and European flights. Some of the flights related to a War Department interest in a $25,000 contract and serious French interest. The new Flyer was modified to accommodate two operators. Despite setbacks (the Flyer III, still crated in France, was crushed and Wilbur had to meticulously rebuild it), Wilbur captivated Europe with his spectacular flights. Various foreign governments were interested in contracts. Kings and queens, as well as J. P. Morgan and other dignitaries, flocked to his exhibitions.
Wilbur trained three French aviators, received gold medals, and was lauded by the French minister of public works: "Mr. Wright is a man who has never been discouraged even in the face of hesitation and suspicion. The brothers Wright have written their names in human history as inventors of pronounced genius." Orville was setting world records at Fort Myer. His triumphs were marred by a crash in which the passenger was killed and Orville was badly injured. Towards the end of the year. there were big receptions for the Wright brothers in New York and in Dayton.
While constructing a new plane for the Fort Myers trials, the brothers went to Washington for a day to receive a medal from President Taft on June 10, 1909, before rushing back to Dayton. The Wright brothers continued to establish spectacular flying records. The Wright Company business improved with a $35,000 War Department contract and far more from the French.
The Wright brothers had sparked massive competition domestically and abroad. The French had fifteen factories building planes, while Glenn Curtiss had established the rival Curtiss Company to construct flying machines. The brothers seemed less concerned about competition than by patent infringement. They filed nine patent suits and pursued them with a vengeance. As McCullough described it: "It was their reputation at stake that mattered most." Eventually they won every case in the American courts.
Wilbur last flew in June, 1911. His focus was on Wright Company business and the patent suits. He died on May 30, 1912 at age 45. Orville ceased flying in 1918, sold the Wright Company, and established the Wright Aeronautical Laboratory, where he intended to continue his tinkering. Various museums were established to honor the Wright brothers' accomplishments. Charles Lindbergh came to Dayton in 1927 to pay his respects to Orville.Orville died on January 30, 1948 at age 77. Neil Armstrong took a small swatch of muslin from the wing of the 1903 Flyer to the moon.
These two Dayton boys, through their passion, grit, extraordinary creative thinking, and uncommon tinkering, created modern-day flying. It took years for their accomplishments to be recognized. I wonder what might have occurred, if they had been driven by the business aggressiveness that Wilbur earlier had rejected. According to one source, there was not a single American-made combat plane that fought in World War 1. My father, in the Aviation Section of the U. S. Signal Corps, was one of the pilots who flew hand-me-down French SPADs. His diary recorded many training crashes. A severe crash invalided him out of WW1. After serving with the Eighth Air Force in World War 11, he was transferred to Wright Airfield in Dayton.
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