Part 2

A world that has convinced itself something cannot be done, yields slowly to the realization that the “impossible” has been achieved. When the Wrights approached their own government with the suggestion that their invention might be useful for scouting purposes their proposal evoked no interest. Actually, appreciation of the implications and possibilities of the new device came more quickly from Europe than America. England and France were among the first to seek information on the machine that had so thoroughly proved its ability to fly. As early as 1905 a member of the French military had at least made unofficial inquiry as to the cost of a plane, but for a time this led to nothing.

In 1907 the United States government realized that the Wrights had proved the practicability of flying. The Signal Corps drew up specifications and asked for bids. The Wrights offered to build a test plane for $25,000. Their bid was accepted in February, 1908. Three months later they signed a contract with a French syndicate to sell or license the use of the plane in France. The Wrights were now in the international picture.

About this time the Wrights, always seeking better performance, made a notable improvement in their plane. In their first historic flight and during the experiments on Huffman Prairie, they rode “belly buster” just as a boy does when coasting on a sled. They now made a different arrangement of levers which enabled them to sit up while piloting the plane. A seat for a passenger was also provided. Interestingly enough, recent experiments with high-speed planes have brought some return of the prone position for the pilot.

On May 14, 1908, newspaper men saw a history-making flight at Kitty Hawk. The remodeled 1905 machine under perfect control carried two men. Flights for the army followed in September and the last trace of skepticism disappeared. Unfortunately, on the last flight Lieutenant Selfridge, the passenger, was killed and Orville severely injured.

The year 1908 was notable in the saga of the Wrights. Wilbur made a series of flights abroad that not only won all observers but aroused wide interest and admiration throughout Europe. His quiet demeanor, his unassuming modesty and his proved skill, stirred the popular imagination. The French exalted him to the status of a hero. The great of the world flocked to meet him and see him fly. They included King Edward VII of England, King Alfonso XIII of Spain, and the Dowager Queen Margherita of Italy. Invitations to fly came from Rome and Berlin. In Rome King Victor Emmanuel watched him fly.

In December, 1908, Orville and his sister, Katherine, went to Europe to join Wilbur. The weather at Le Mans where Wilbur had been flying became unsuitable for further flights and operations were transferred to Pau in southern France. Here Orville and Katherine joined Wilbur. Many flights were made and many distinguished visitors came to see the modern miracle of human flight.

Honors were heaped upon the Wrights. They received among many other distinctions, the gold medal of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain and the Aero Club of the United Kingdom. The French Aero Club of the Sarthe gave them a bronze trophy. Later the Aero Club of America bestowed medals on the flyers. A few weeks afterward, President Taft received the Wrights at the White House and the brothers returned to Dayton where a tumultuous welcome awaited them.

Welcome home!

Probably nothing stirred the Wrights quite so deeply as their welcome when they returned to Dayton from their foreign triumphs. The “homecoming” lasted two days, June 17 and 18, 1909. Whistles blew, bands played, bells rang, men, women and children paraded. During the celebration practically all business in Dayton was suspended.

Wilbur and Orville rode to the celebration in a carriage with their old friends, Ed Sines, boyhood newspaper partner of Orville, and Ed Ellis, a long-time friend of Wilbur. The Wrights reviewed a parade in their honor and in the evening witnessed a spectacular display of fireworks. The celebration continued the next day when one of the features was the formation of a huge living American flag by 2,500 school children, wearing red, white and blue. Immediately after the celebration Wilbur and Orville left for Washington to complete the trials for the Army at Fort Myer. The contract with the government had specified that the plane must do forty miles an hour. Actually, Orville completed one 10-mile flight in 14 minutes at approximately 43 miles per hour. The Wright plane was accepted by the Army at the conclusion of these tests.

Immediately after the flights at Fort Myer, Orville and Katherine left for Germany. His purpose was to train pilots for the German company which had been organized. He made many flights on that trip, some of them witnessed by members of the royal family and on one of which the Crown Prince was a passenger. On one he raised the world’s altitude record from 100 meters to 172 meters, roughly 550 feet. Shortly thereafter he flew for one hour, thirty-five minutes and forty-seven seconds with a passenger, thereby establishing a new world’s record for a flight with a passenger.

While Orville was in Germany in 1909, Wilbur was making spectacular flights around New York. In one of these he flew 21 miles from Governor’s Island up the Hudson River to Grant’s Tomb and back.

To train pilots to fly their planes the Wrights opened a flying school on Huffman Prairie where those early and precarious flights had been made. Here a notable group of flyers received their training. One of them was Henry H. Arnold who became Commanding General of the Army Air Corps in World War II.

In May, 1910, Wilbur made his last flight as pilot. Shortly afterward he and Orville flew for a brief time together. It was the only flight when the brothers were both in the air at the same time. Later the same day Orville took up his 82-year-old father. In the spirit of the Wrights the Bishop’s only comment was ... “Higher! Higher!” Orville’s final flight as pilot was made in 1918 from South Field near Dayton.

After an illness of three weeks, Wilbur Wright died on May 30, 1912, in his forty-fifth year. The whole world mourned him. Thus, in the prime of life, with a record of achievement privileged to few, passed a notable figure in American creative history. Orville Wright survived his brother for 36 years, passing away January 30, 1948. Throughout his life he maintained his active interest in aviation, was a life member of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and a frequent and honored visitor to Wright Field, the great Air Force research center named in honor of the Wright brothers.

The Wright brothers have been honored by many nations. Medals, trophies, monuments tell in part, at least, the story of their great achievement. The original Kitty Hawk aeroplane holds the place of honor in the aeronautical exhibit of Smithsonian Institution, Washington. A replica of the Kitty Hawk in the Science Museum at South Kensington, London, speaks for the British nation in honoring the Wrights. Monuments have been erected at Kitty Hawk, N. C., at Le Mans, France, and at Dayton. And now Wright Hall with its restored 1905 plane takes its place as one of the efforts of a grateful world to honor one of man’s greatest achievements.

On the walls of Wright Hall is inscribed this tribute to the achievements and to the personal character of two great Americans:

_In honored memory of Wilbur and Orville Wright, citizens of Dayton and of the world. Through original research, the Wright brothers acquired scientific knowledge and developed theories of aerodynamics which, with their invention of aileron control, enabled them in 1903 to build and fly, at Kitty Hawk, the first power-driven, man-carrying aeroplane capable of flight._

_Their further development of the aeroplane gave it a capacity for service which established aviation as one of the great forward steps in human progress._

_As scientists, Wilbur and Orville Wright discovered the secret of flight. As inventors, builders and flyers, they brought aviation to the world._

_Their courage, perseverance and ability are comparable only to the magnitude of their achievement. The aeroplane will stand for all time as one of those few truly great inventions which have shaped the life and destiny of man._

CARILLON PARK DAYTON, OHIO

One of a series of Carillon Park booklets. Price ten cents.

PRINTED IN U.S.A.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.