The Wright Story
Wilbur Wright,
1867 to 1912
Orville Wright,
1871 to 1948
“To simply say that the Wright Brothers invented the airplane doesn't begin to describe their many
accomplishments. …., The first fixed-wing aircraft -- a kite mounted on a stick -- was conceived and flown almost a
century before Orville and Wilbur made their first flights. The Wrights were first to design and build a flying craft that
could be controlled while in the air. Every successful aircraft ever built since, beginning with the 1902 Wright glider, has
had controls to roll the wings right or left, pitch the nose up or down, and yaw the nose from side to side. These three
controls -- roll, pitch, and yaw -- let a pilot navigate an airplane in all three dimensions, making it possible to fly from
place to place. The entire aerospace business, the largest industry in the world, depends on this simple but brilliant idea.
So do spacecraft, submarines, even robots. More important, the Wright Brothers changed the way we view our world.
Before flight became commonplace, folks traveled …just, north and south, east and west, crossing the lines that
separate town from town, nation from nation. Seen from above, the artificial boundaries that divide us disappear.
Distances shrink, the horizon stretches. …… This three-dimensional vision has revealed a universe of promises and
possibilities. The world economy, our awareness of our environment, and space exploration are all, to some degree, the
results of the inventive minds of the Wilbur and Orville Wright. Here, in brief, is their story. To explore any part of it in
greater detail” go to the above website.
“AN UNUSUAL CHILDHOOD - Wilbur and Orville were the sons of Milton and Susan Wright and members of a warm,
loving family that encouraged learning and doing. Milton was a bishop in the United Brethren Church, and was often
away from home on church business…..In 1878, he brought home a rubber band-powered helicopter, and young Wilbur
and Orville immediately began to build copies of it.
In 1884, Bishop Wright moved his family to Dayton, Ohio, the political center of the United Brethren Church. About the
same time, his wife Susan fell ill with tuberculosis. Wilbur, just out of high school, put off college and nursed his sick
mother. Orville began to lose interest in school and learned the printing business. Susan Wright died in the summer of
1889, the same year that Orville dropped out of high school to open his own print shop.
CAREER CHOICES - In 1890, Wilbur joined Orville in the printing business, serving as editor for The West Side News, a
weekly newspaper for their west Dayton neighborhood. It was modestly successful, and the Brothers began a daily, the
Evening Item, in 1891. However, they couldn't compete with larger, more established daily newspapers, and after a few
months they went back to being simple job printers.
In 1894, Wilbur and Orville were caught up in the bicycling craze that swept the nation. To augment the income from
their printing trade, they began repairing and selling bicycles. This soon grew into a full-time business, and in 1896 they
began to manufacture their own bikes. The Wright Cycle Company returned a handsome profit, but the brothers cared
little about the money. They were already thinking about trading their wheels for wings.
INVENTING THE AIRPLANE - In 1896, the newspapers were filled with accounts of flying machines. Wilbur and Orville
noticed that all these primitive aircraft lacked suitable controls. They began to wonder how a pilot might balance an
aircraft in the air, just as a cyclist balances his bicycle on the road. In 1899, Wilbur devised a simple system that twisted
or "warped" the wings of a biplane, causing it to roll right or left. They tested this system in a kite, then a series of
gliders.
They made their first test flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on the shores of the Atlantic where the strong winds
helped to launch the gliders and the soft sands helped to cushion the fall when they crashed. Their first two gliders,
flown in 1900 and 1901, failed to perform as the Wrights had hoped. The gliders did not provide enough lift nor were
they fully controllable. So during the winter of 1901-1902 Wilbur and Orville built a wind tunnel and conducted
experiments to determine the best wing shape for an airplane. This enabled them to build a glider with sufficient lift,
and concentrate on the problem of control. Toward the end of the 1902 flying season, their third glider became the first
fully controllable aircraft, with roll, pitch, and yaw controls.
During the winter of 1902-1903, with the help of their mechanic, Charlie Taylor, the Wrights designed and built a
gasoline engine light enough and powerful enough to propel an airplane. They also designed the first true airplane
propellers and built a new, powered aircraft. Back in Kitty Hawk, they suddenly found themselves in a race. Samuel P.
Langley, …. To add to their frustrations, the Wrights were delayed by problems with their propeller shafts and the
weather.”… “ both attempts failed miserably. On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first
sustained, controlled flights in a powered aircraft.
Back in Dayton, Ohio, the brothers found they had much to do to perfect their invention. While the 1903 Wright Flyer
did indeed fly, it was underpowered and difficult to control. They established the world's first test flight facilities at
Huffman Prairie, northeast of Dayton (today, the site of Wright Patterson Air Force Base). For two years they made flight
after flight, fine tuning the controls, engine, propellers, and configuration of their airplane. …….by the end of 1905, they
were flying figure-eight's over Huffman Prairie, staying aloft for over half an hour, or until their fuel ran out. The 1905
Wright Flyer was the world's first practical airplane.
The invention of the airplane did not occur in 1903. In actuality, it was a 6-year-long program lasting from 1899 to 1905.
It began with a simple model glider, which Wilbur Wright flew as a kite and ended with the development of the first
practical airplane, the Wright Flyer III. The Wright Patent – the "grandfather" patent of the airplane – was granted in
1906. The Wrights patented their control system – this was the focus of their inventive efforts.
SHOWING THE WORLD - After the 1905 flying season, the Wrights contacted the United States War Department, as well
as governments and individuals in England, France, Germany, and Russia, offering to sell a flying machine. They were
turned down time and time again -- government bureaucrats thought they were crackpots; others thought that if two
bicycle mechanics could build a successful airplane, they could do it themselves. But the Wright persisted, and in late
1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps asked for an aircraft. Just a few months later, in early 1908, a French syndicate of
businessmen agreed to purchase another.
Both the U.S. Army and the French asked for an airplane capable of carrying a passenger. The Wright brothers hastily
adapted their 1905 Flyer with two seats and a more powerful engine. They tested these modifications in secret, back at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for the first time in several years. Then the brothers parted temporarily -- Wilbur to France
and Orville to Virginia.
In 1908 and 1909, Wilbur demonstrated Wright aircraft in Europe, and Orville flew in Fort Meyer, Virginia. The flight
went well until Orville lost a propeller and crashed, breaking his leg and killing his passenger Lt. Thomas Selfridge. While
Orville recuperated, Wilbur kept flying in France, breaking record after record. Orville and his sister Kate eventually
joined Wilbur in France, and the three returned home to Dayton to an elaborate homecoming celebration. Together,
Orville and Wilbur returned to Fort Meyer with a new Military Flyer and completed the U.S. Army trials. A few months
later, Wilbur flew before over a million spectators in New York Harbor -- his first public flight in his native land. All of
these flights stunned and captivated the world. The Wright Brothers became the first great celebrities of the twentieth
century.
THE AIRPLANE BUSINESS - As their fame grew, orders for aircraft poured in. The Wrights set up airplane factories and
flight schools on both sides of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, once they had demonstrated their aircraft in public, it was
easy for others to copy them -- and many did. The Wrights were dragged into time-consuming, energy-draining patent
fights in Europe and America. ……. In 1912, Wilbur Wright, worn out from legal and business problems, contracted
typhoid and died. Orville, his heart no longer in the airplane business, sold the Wright Company in 1916 and went back
to inventing. (This article is from: http://www.wright-brothers.org/General/Museum_Entrance/Museum_Entrance.htm)