Jack Wright - Famous Flyers and Their Famous Flights

The Captain had first to fill his pipe, andstretch his legs before he began his story.

“Of course,” he said, “we can’t really saythat the Wrights were the first men to fly,or to build a machine that would fly. Evenin the middle ages Leonardo da Vinci drewup plans for a flying machine. Just beforethe Wright’s experiment Langley had stayedup in the air in a machine invented andbuilt by himself. If he had not died at sounfortunate a period in his experimental life, perhaps he might have been the inventor ofthe airplane.

“The Wrights invented the airplane inthe same degree that Thomas Edisoninvented the electric light. Men had experimentedwith both inventions for many years.But it took the genius of the Wrights, thegenius of an Edison to bring together theseexperiments, to think through logically justwherein they were right and where they werewrong, and to add the brilliant deductionsthat brought their experiments to a practicaland successful end. Edison’s discovery wasdependent upon the finding of the properfilament for his bulb; the Wrights’ successhinged upon their discovery of the warpedwing, which gave them control over theirplane.

“The fact that the Wrights were not thefirst to fly does not detract from the thingthat they actually did. At the time thatthey were making their first flying machine, any man who tampered with the subject offlying through the air was looked upon ascrazy. And this was not more than a quarterof a century ago. Seems funny, doesn’tit? But they were not to be discouraged.They knew that they were right, and theywent ahead. They had many set-backs.Their planes were wrecked. What did theydo? They just built them over again, andwere glad that they had learned of some newdefect that they could re-design and correct.

“You notice that I always talk of ‘theWrights’ as though they were one person; everybody does. In fact, they almost wereone person. They were always together; lived together, played together, although theydidn’t play much, being a serious pair, andworked together. They never quarreled, nevershowed any jealousy of each other, neverclaimed the lion’s share of praise in the invention.They were just ‘the Wrights,’ quiet, retiring men, who did much and talked little.

“From early childhood it was the same.Wilbur Wright, the elder of the two, wasborn in Milville, Indiana, and lived thereuntil he was three years old with his parents,Milton Wright, bishop of the United BrethrenChurch, and Susan Katherine Wright. In1870 the family moved to Dayton, Ohio, and in 1871 Orville Wright was born. Froma very early age the two were drawn to eachother. Their minds and desires were similar.

“When Wilbur decided that he wouldrather go to work after being graduatedfrom High School, Orville decided that he, too, would give up his formal education, and devote himself to mechanics.

“They were born mechanics, always buildingminiature machines that actually worked.They did not stop studying, but took toreading scientific works that were of morehelp to them than formal education. In thisway they learned printing, and built themselvesa printing press out of odds and endsthat they assembled. On this they beganto publish a little newspaper, but they gavethis up when another opportunity presenteditself.

“Bicycles were coming in at that time, and the Wright brothers set up a little shopto repair them. From the repair shop theydeveloped a factory in which they manufacturedbicycles themselves. Their businesswas very successful, and they were lookedupon as young men who were likely to getalong in the world. This was in 1896.

“That year Otto Lilienthal, a famous Germanexperimenter, was killed in his glider, just at the peak of his career. Wilbur readan account of his death in the newspaper, and discussed it with his brother. The eventrenewed the interest that they had alwayshad in flying, and they set about studyingall of the books that they could find on theproblem of flight. They soon exhausted allthat they could get, and decided that theirgroundwork had been laid. From then ontheir work was practical, and they discoveredprinciples that had never been written, and which resulted in the first flight.

“The first things that they built were kites, and then gliders that were flown as kites.The Wrights were after the secret of thebirds’ flight, and felt that they could applyit to man’s flight. Their next step was theconstruction of a real glider. But the countryaround Dayton was not favorable forflying their craft. They wrote to the UnitedStates government to find a region that hadconditions favorable to their gliding. Thatis how the obscure Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, came to be the famous place that it is.It happened to have just south of it threehills, Kill Devil Hill, Little Hill, and WestHill. Between the hills was soft drifting sand, that would provide a better landing placethan hard earth in case of a spill. The windswere steady and moderate.

“To Kitty Hawk the Wrights went. Herethey glided to their heart’s content, untilthey decided that they had learned to controltheir flights, and were ready to build aplane with power. They went back to Daytonin 1902. They designed and supervisedthe building of the motor themselves, onethat would generate twelve horsepower. Satisfied, they set out once more for KittyHawk, with the motor and parts of theirplane carefully stowed away.

“They got down there in the early autumn, but found so many difficulties toovercome, that they could not make thefirst tests until December. In the first place, they discovered that a storm had blown awaythe building which they had built to workin when they first got to Kitty Hawk. However, everything was at last ready, the weatherfavorable, and the plane was hauled upKill Devil Hill, and guided toward the singletrack of planks that had been laid downthe hill.

“Who was going to get the first chanceto pilot the plane? Who was going to bethe first man to fly? Orville insisted thatWilbur be the one; Wilbur insisted thatOrville should be the first. They decided itby flipping a coin. Wilbur won. He gotinto the plane, unfastened the wire that heldthe plane to the track, and started down. Heended in a heap at the bottom of the hill, uninjured, but with several parts of the planedamaged.

“The Wrights were nothing daunted.They repaired the plane as quickly as possible, and on December 17, they were readyfor the second trial. It was Orville’s turn,of course. He unloosened the wire; the planestarted down the hill; at the end of a forty-footrun it rose into the air. It kept ongoing, in a bumpy, irregular course, nowswooping up, now diving down, for 120feet, then darted to earth. The flight hadtaken in all just twelve seconds, but theWrights had flown.

“I suppose you’ve seen pictures of thatfirst plane. It wasn’t much more than a boxin shape, a biplane, with no cockpit at all, just the wings held together by struts, anda seat in the center for the pilot. A man hadto be tough to fly one of those planes. Thewonder is that any of them escaped withtheir lives. They had to sit up there exposedto all the elements, and pilot the clumsyplanes. And yet they grew into skilfuland expert pilots, and could loop the loopand figure eight in them! The Wrightsthemselves were excellent flyers. This seemsonly natural, with their natural born giftfor mechanics. It was well that they weregood flyers, because it was up to them toprove to the world that their craft was safe, and practical.

“It was hard at first. People were skepticalas to whether the Wrights really had aship that flew. Some of their tests were unsuccessful, and they were laughed to scorn.However, France, who had been more advancedthan the United States in the matterof experimentation in flying, became interestedin the new flying machine, and sentrepresentatives over to the United States toinspect it. With the French approving ofit, the United States became more interested.The government offered a prize of $25,000, for anyone who would build a plane thatwould travel 40 miles an hour, carry enoughfuel and oil to cruise for 125 miles, andfly continuously for at least an hour, withtwo persons weighing together 350 pounds.The Wrights built such a machine, and thegovernment not only gave them the $25,000, but an additional $5,000 besides.