Wright Brothers National Memorial

Orville and Wilbur Wright of Dayton

In the early 1890s the Wright Brothers had settled into a respectable life as proprietors of a small business in Dayton, Ohio. But the brothers nurtured a dream, which at the time was barely respectable: the possibility of flight. Wilbur, four years older, was quiet and intense, a dreamer who could lose himself in books. Orville Wright was outgoing, talkative, and an immaculate dresser. Both combined intuitive mechanical ability with analytical intelligence.

In 1892 they opened a bicycle shop. While they prospered in their business, they were restless, particularly Wilbur. Their energies were focused by two events of 1896: the death of Otto Lilienthal, the celebrated German glider experimenter, in a flying accident, and the successful unmanned powered model flights of Samuel Langley. The Wrights’ serious work in aeronautics began in 1899 when Wilbur wrote the Smithsonian for literature. Dismayed that so many great minds had made so little progress, the brothers were also exhilarated by the realization that they had as much chance as anyone of succeeding. Wilbur took the lead in the early stages of their work, but Orville was soon drawn in as an equal collaborator. They quickly developed their own theories, and for the next four years devoted every spare moment to the goal of human flight.

Kitty Hawk

The brothers were dressed in coats and ties that December morning at Kitty Hawk NC – a touch of private ceremony for an event that would alter the world. The pools around their camp were icing up, and the break in the weather might be their last chance of the season. Words were impossible over the engine’s roar, so they shook hands and Orville positioned himself on the flyer. Then, on this remote, sandy beach, in the year 1903, he broke our bond to the earth. He flew. It lasted only 12 seconds, and the distance of the flight was less than the length of an airliner. But for the first time, a manned, heavier-than-air machine left the ground by its own power, moved forward under control without losing speed, and landed on a point as high as that from which it started. Within two generations we had taken to the air for routine travel, seen an aircraft break the sound barrier, and watched a man walk on the moon.

Samuel Langley

The Wrights labored in relative obscurity at Kitty Hawk and in Dayton, while the experiments of Samuel Langley of the Smithsonian were followed in the press and underwritten by the War Department. Yet Langley, as others before him, had failed to achieve powered flight. They relied on brute power to keep their theoretically stable machines aloft, sending along a hapless passenger and hoping for the best. It was the Wrights’ genius to see that humans would have to fly their machines, that the problems of flight could not be solved from the ground. In Wilbur’s words, "It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill." With over a thousand glides from atop Big Kill Devil Hill, the Wrights made themselves the first true pilots. These flying skills were a crucial component of their invention. Before they ever attempted powered flight, the Wright brothers were masters of the air.

The Wright Brothers Showing the World

"They have done it! Damned if they ain’t flew!" said a witness to the first human flight. But so often had this claim proven hollow that the public was skeptical of yet another, especially after the spectacular failure of Langley’s flying machine 9 days earlier. Undismayed, the Wright brothers built an improved flyer and refined their flying skills in Ohio, making 105 flights in 1904. In the 1905 flyer – the first practical airplane – circling flights of up to 38 minutes became routine. But when the Wrights offered the flyer to the U.S. Army, that institution, dubious of their achievement, refused to meet with them. Unwilling to show their control system without a contract in hand, the Wrights did not fly for another 3 years.

Despite the break in their progress, the gap between the Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright and European aviators remained substantial. After 1903, the French built gliders based on the Wright 1902 Glider. But by 1906, none had remained aloft for more than a few seconds of ragged flight. Not until 1907 did a European plane stay in the air as long as the Wrights had in 1903.

But the Wrights’ refusal to fly caused even early believers to doubt their success. By 1908, a French pilot had flown for over 20 minutes. The Wrights brothers finally signed a contract with the U.S. Army and France that year and showed the world what they could do – Wilbur in France, Orville in America. After Wilbur flew a circle under good lateral control and landed gently, no one questioned that the Wrights had truly mastered flight. The French attempts were still shaky, on the edge of control. What Wilbur had done was effortless, graceful, decisive. In other flights he flew over two hours and reached an altitude of 360 feet, demonstrating the Flyer’s reliability and endurance. "We are as children compared with the Wrights," said one French pilot.

By 1910 the rest of the world had caught up. The French rapidly introduced refinements to the Wright design: monoplane wings, closed body, front propeller, rear elevator, single stick control, wheels, and ailerons. But the principal behind the Wrights’ control system was unchanged. A 1911 Wright Model B reflecting some of these changes is the prototype for every plane in the air today.