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Wright brothers

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Engineers and inventors

                              Orville Wright
       "We came down here for wind and sand, and we have got them."
         Born Aug. 19, 1871
              Dayton, Ohio
      Died    Jan. 30, 1948
              Dayton, Ohio
   Occupation printer/publisher, bicycle retailer/manufacturer, airplane
              inventor/manufacturer, pilot trainer
     Spouse   none
                               Wilbur Wright
   "For some years I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is
   possible to man." "It is possible to fly without motors, but not
   without knowledge and skill."
         Born April 16, 1867
              Millville, Indiana
      Died    May 30, 1912
              Dayton, Ohio
   Occupation printer/editor, bicycle retailer/manufacturer, airplane
              inventor/manufacturer, pilot trainer
     Spouse   none

   The Wright brothers, Orville ( August 19, 1871– January 30, 1948) and
   Wilbur ( April 16, 1867– May 30, 1912), are Americans generally
   credited with making the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air
   human flight on December 17, 1903. In the two years afterward, they
   developed their flying machine into the world's first practical
   fixed-wing aircraft, along with many other aviation milestones.

   Currently, their feat is officially recognized by the Fédération
   Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as being the first controlled,
   powered, sustained (from takeoff to landing) flight involving a
   heavier-than-air vehicle, using mechanically unassisted takeoff
   (thrust/lift created chiefly by onboard propulsion).

   Nevertheless, the Wright brothers' claim to this aviation "first" has
   been subject to counter-claims by various parties. Much controversy
   persists around the many competing claims of early aviators. See first
   flying machine for more discussion.

Childhood and youth

   The Wright brothers were the children of Milton Wright (1828-1917); and
   Susan Catherine Koerner (1831-1889). Wilbur Wright was born in
   Millville, Indiana in 1867, Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio in
   1871. The brothers never married. The Wright siblings were Reuchlin
   (1861-1920), Lorin (1862-1939), Katharine (1874-1929), and twins Otis
   and Ida (born 1870, died in infancy). In elementary school, Orville was
   given to a bit of mischief and was once expelled. In 1878 their father,
   who traveled often as a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in
   Christ, brought home a toy "helicopter" for his two younger sons. The
   device was based on an invention of French aeronautical pioneer
   Alphonse Penaud. Made of paper, bamboo and cork with a rubber band to
   twirl its rotor, it was about a foot long. Wilbur and Orville played
   with it until it broke, then built their own. In later years, they
   pointed to their experience with the toy as the initial spark of their
   interest in flying.

   In 1885 or '86 Wilbur was accidentally struck in the face by a hockey
   stick while playing an ice-skating game with friends. He had been
   vigorous and athletic until then, and although his injuries did not
   appear especially severe, he became withdrawn, and did not attend Yale
   as planned. He spent the next few years largely housebound, caring for
   his mother who was terminally ill with tuberculosis and reading
   extensively in his father's library. Wilbur was a determined and
   methodical industrial engineer and he didn't hesitate to tackle any
   project such as machinery research and even church building. He drifted
   into the printing business Orville started, but was also an able
   technician in many other trades.

Early career and research

   Both brothers received high school educations, but did not receive
   diplomas. The family's move in 1884 from Indiana to Dayton (where the
   family had lived during the 1870s) prevented Wilbur from receiving his
   diploma after finishing four years of high school. Orville dropped out
   after his junior year to start a printing business in 1889. Wilbur
   joined him in the enterprise, serving as editor while Orville was
   publisher of the weekly newspaper the West Side News, followed, for
   only a few months, by the daily Evening Item. Capitalizing on the
   national bicycle craze, they opened a repair and sales shop in 1892
   (the Wright Cycle Exchange, later the Wright Cycle Company) and began
   manufacturing their own brand in 1896. They used this endeavor to fund
   their growing interest in flight. In the early or mid-1890s they saw
   newspaper or magazine articles and probably photographs of the dramatic
   glides by Otto Lilienthal in Germany. The year 1896 brought three
   important aeronautical events. In May, Smithsonian Institution
   Secretary Samuel Langley successfully flew an unmanned steam-powered
   model aircraft. In the summer, Chicago engineer and aviation authority
   Octave Chanute brought together several men who tested various types of
   gliders over the sand dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan. In
   August, Lilienthal was killed in the plunge of his glider. These events
   lodged in the consciousness of the brothers. In May 1899 Wilbur wrote a
   letter to the Smithsonian Institution requesting information and
   publications about aeronautics. Drawing on the work of Sir George
   Cayley, Chanute, Lilienthal, Leonardo da Vinci, and Langley, they began
   their mechanical aeronautical experimentation that year. The brothers
   extended the technology of flight by emphasizing control of the
   aircraft instead of increased power. They developed three-axis control,
   a fundamental principle of aviation which is still used.
   Replica of the Wright brothers' wind tunnel at the Virginia Air and
   Space Center.
   Enlarge
   Replica of the Wright brothers' wind tunnel at the Virginia Air and
   Space Centre.

   The Wrights had researched and initially relied upon the aeronautical
   literature of the day, including Lilienthal's tables; but finding that
   the Smeaton Coefficient (a variable in the formula for lift and the
   formula for drag) was wrong, they built a wind tunnel and tested over
   two hundred different wing shapes in it, eventually devising their own
   tables relating air pressure to wing shape. Their work and projects
   with bicycles, gears, shop motors, and balance (while riding a
   bicycle), were critical to their success in creating the mechanical
   aeroplane.

   During their research, the Wrights always worked together, and their
   contributions to the airplane's development are inseparable.
   Biographers, however, note that Wilbur took the initiative in the early
   stages and at first wrote of "my" machine and "my" plans before Orville
   became deeply involved, when the first person singular became the
   plural "we" and "our". Author James Tobin writes, "it is impossible to
   imagine Orville, bright as he was, supplying the driving force that
   started their work and kept it going from the back room of a store in
   Ohio to conferences with capitalists, presidents, and kings. Will did
   that. He was the leader, from the beginning to the end."

   Their assistant Charlie Taylor helped with construction, especially the
   engine, which he built in consultation with the brothers. The Wrights
   had to delay their flight experiences from time to time because of
   church tasks which required their attention. The Wrights did all of the
   theoretical work and most of the other hands-on construction.

Ideas about control

   Despite Lilienthal's fate, the brothers favored his strategy: to
   practice gliding in order to master the art of control prior to
   attempting flight with a motor. The death of British aeronaut Percy
   Pilcher in another hang gliding crash in 1899 only reinforced their
   opinion that a reliable method of pilot control, not elusive built-in
   stability, was the key to successful—and safe—flight. At the outset of
   their experiments they regarded control as the unsolved third part of
   "the flying problem". They believed sufficiently promising knowledge of
   the other two issues—wings and engines—already existed. The Wright
   brothers thus differed sharply from more experienced practitioners of
   the day, notably Ader, Maxim and Langley who built powerful engines,
   attached them to airframes equipped with unproven control devices, and
   expected to take to the air with no previous piloting experience.
   Though agreeing with Lilienthal's idea of practice, the Wrights saw
   that his method of balance and control—shifting his body weight—was
   fatally inadequate. They determined to find something better.

   Observation of birds led Wilbur to conclude they changed the angle of
   the ends of their wings to make their bodies roll right or left. The
   brothers decided this would also be a good way for a flying machine to
   turn—to "bank" or "lean" into the turn just like a bird—and just like a
   person riding a bicycle, an experience with which they were thoroughly
   familiar. Equally important, they hoped this method would enable
   recovery when the wind tilted the machine to one side (lateral
   balance). They puzzled over how to achieve the same effect with
   man-made wings and eventually discovered wing-warping when Wilbur idly
   twisted a long inner tube box at the bicycle shop.

   Other aeronautical investigators regarded flight as if it were not so
   different from surface locomotion, except the surface would be
   elevated. They thought in terms of a ship's rudder for steering, while
   the flying machine remained essentially level in the air, as did a
   train or an automobile or a ship at the surface. The idea of
   deliberately leaning, or rolling, to one side either seemed undesirable
   or did not enter their thinking. Some of these other investigators,
   including Langley and Chanute, sought the ideal of "inherent
   stability," believing the pilot of a flying machine would not be able
   to react quickly enough to wind disturbances to effectively use
   mechanical controls. The Wright brothers, on the other hand, wanted the
   pilot to have absolute control. For that reason, their early designs
   made no concessions toward built-in stability (such as dihedral wings).
   They deliberately designed their 1903 first powered flyer with anhedral
   wings, which are inherently unstable. The design mimicked seagulls,
   however, whose drooping wings help the birds remain balanced in gusty
   winds.

Flights

Toward flight

   First flight, December 17, 1903.
   Enlarge
   First flight, December 17, 1903.

   In July 1899 Wilbur put wing-warping to the test by building and flying
   a five-foot box kite in the approximate shape of a biplane. When the
   wings were warped, or twisted, one end would receive more lift and
   rise, starting a turn in the direction of the lower end. Warping was
   controlled by four lines attached to the kite. The lines led to two
   sticks held by the kite flyer, who tilted them in opposite directions
   to twist the wings and make the kite bank left or right. It worked.

   In 1900 the brothers journeyed to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to begin
   their manned gliding experiments. They chose the location based on
   advice from Octave Chanute (answering Wilbur's letter), who suggested a
   sandy coastal area for regular breezes and a soft landing surface. They
   singled out Kitty Hawk after scrutinizing Weather Bureau data and
   writing to the government meteorologist stationed there. The remote
   spot also gave them privacy from reporters, who had turned the 1896
   Chanute experiments into something of a circus. The trip required a
   train ride from Dayton to Cincinnati; change trains for an overnight
   ride to Old Point Comfort, Virginia (near Newport News); ferryboat to
   Norfolk; train to Elizabeth City, North Carolina; and boat ride to
   Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks.

The gliders

   They based the design of their first full-size glider on the
   Chanute-Herring "double-decker," a biplane hang glider which flew well
   in experiments in 1896 near Chicago. The uprights between the wings of
   the Chanute and Wright gliders were braced by wires in a modified
   "Pratt truss," which Chanute, an engineer, had adapted from his
   bridge-building experience. The general appearance of these gliders was
   similar to the biplanes that would usher in the era of flight in the
   next few decades.

   CAPTION: Glider Vital Statistics

        Wingspan  Wing Area Chord   Camber   Aspect Ratio  Length   Weight
   1900 17 ft 6in 165 sq ft 5 ft  1/20       3.5          11 ft 6in 52 lb
   1901 22 ft     290 sq ft 7 ft  1/12,*1/19 3            14 ft     98 lb
   1902 32 ft 1in 305 sq ft 5 ft  1/20-1/24  6.5          17 ft     112 lb

   *(This airfoil caused severe pitch problems; the Wrights modified the
   camber on-site.)

   The brothers flew the glider only a few days in the early autumn of
   1900 at Kitty Hawk. In the first tests, probably Oct. 3, Wilbur was
   aboard while the glider flew as a kite not far above the ground with
   men below holding tether ropes. Most of the kite tests were unpiloted
   with sandbags or chains (and even a local boy) as onboard ballast. They
   tested wing-warping using control ropes from the ground. The glider was
   also tested unmanned while suspended from a small homemade tower.
   Wilbur (but not Orville) made about a dozen free glides on only a
   single day. For those tests, the brothers trekked four miles south to
   the Kill Devil Hills, a group of sand dunes up to 100 feet high (where
   they made camp in each of the next three years). Although the glider's
   lift was less than expected (causing most tests to be unmanned), the
   brothers were encouraged because the craft's front elevator worked well
   and they had no accidents. However, the small number of free glides
   meant they were not able to give wing-warping a true test.

   The pilot lay flat on the lower wing, as planned, to reduce aerodynamic
   drag. As a glide ended, the pilot was supposed to lower himself to a
   vertical position through an opening in the wing and land on his feet
   with his arms wrapped over the framework. Within a few glides, however,
   they discovered the pilot could remain prone on the wing, headfirst,
   without undue danger when landing. They made all their flights in that
   position for the next five years.
   Orville with the 1901 glider, its nose pointed skyward; it had no tail.
   Enlarge
   Orville with the 1901 glider, its nose pointed skyward; it had no tail.

   They built the 1901 glider with a much larger wing area, hoping to
   improve lift. It was flown 50 to 100 times in July and August for
   distances of 20 to 400 feet. This glider, however, delivered two major
   disappointments. It produced much less lift than calculated and
   sometimes failed to respond properly to wing-warping, turning opposite
   the direction intended. On the trip home after their second season,
   Wilbur, stung with disappointment, remarked to Orville that man would
   fly, but not in their lifetimes. In the fall of 1901 they renewed their
   efforts and conducted systematic wind tunnel experiments. In only a few
   weeks they re-defined fundamental knowledge of lift, drag, wing shapes
   and airfoil curves. With a greater " aspect ratio"—longer wingspan and
   shorter chord (front-to-back wing dimension)—the 1902 glider that
   emerged from this research looked much more like the modern idea of an
   aircraft than their previous machines, possessing a notably more
   graceful appearance with its long narrow wings. The airfoil also had a
   flatter camber—the ratio of the wing's depth of curvature to its chord.
   The 1901 wings (before modification) had significantly greater
   curvature, a feature copied from Lilienthal. With their own wind tunnel
   data in hand, they were no longer copying anyone else's designs.
   Wilbur Wright pilots the 1902 glider over the Kill Devil Hills, Oct 10,
   1902. The single rear rudder is steerable; it replaced the original
   fixed double rudder.
   Enlarge
   Wilbur Wright pilots the 1902 glider over the Kill Devil Hills, Oct 10,
   1902. The single rear rudder is steerable; it replaced the original
   fixed double rudder.

   With characteristic caution, the brothers first flew the 1902 glider as
   a large unmanned kite, as they had done with their two previous
   versions. Rewarding their wind tunnel work, the glider produced the
   expected lift. It also had a new structural feature: a fixed, rear
   vertical rudder, which the brothers hoped would eliminate the problem
   of turns that went contrary to warping control. They understood that
   wing-warping caused "differential drag". Increasing lift at one end of
   the wing in order to raise it and bank into a turn also increased drag
   on that end, slowing it, which sometimes made the aircraft turn in the
   wrong direction.

   The improved wing design, generating greater lift, enabled consistently
   longer glides, but the problem of turns was only partly solved. The
   glider did not turn opposite its warping control anymore, but sometimes
   when the pilot banked for a turn, or the wind tilted the glider to one
   side, the craft failed to respond to corrective wing-warping and
   continued to slide toward the lower wing, which hit the ground. Orville
   suggested that the rear rudder be moveable, under control of the pilot,
   to overcome the problem. Turning the rudder would reduce pressure on
   one side of it—pressure that could force the glider to continue an
   unwanted turn—and increase pressure on the other side, in the direction
   of a desired turn. More experiments showed the rudder should be turned
   toward the wingtip that was warped to receive less lift (the lower wing
   when making a turn, the higher wing when leveling off from a turn or a
   wind disturbance).

   To simplify matters, they connected the rudder to the warping controls
   so a single movement (of their hips in the warping "cradle")
   simultaneously controlled wing warping and rudder deflection.
   Wilbur making turn Oct. 24, 1902.
   Enlarge
   Wilbur making turn Oct. 24, 1902.

   With this method they achieved true control in turns and during
   September and October made 700 to a thousand glides, the longest
   lasting 26 seconds and covering 622.5 feet—the best results anyone had
   ever achieved. Thus, did three axis-control evolve: wing-warping for
   roll (lateral motion), forward elevator for pitch (up and down) and
   rear rudder for yaw (side to side). On March 23, 1903 they applied for
   a patent for their novel technique of flight control.

Adding power

   In 1903, they built the Wright Flyer - later the Flyer I (today
   popularly known as the Kitty Hawk) - carved their own propellers, and
   had a purpose-built engine made by Charlie Taylor in their bicycle shop
   in Dayton, Ohio. The propellers had an 80% efficiency rate. The engine
   was superior to manufactured ones, having a high enough power-to-weight
   ratio to use on an aeroplane. The chains used to drive the propellers,
   though resembling those of bicycles, were heavy-duty hardware from a
   manufacturer of automobile chain-drives. While the early engines used
   by the Wright brothers are thought to no longer exist, a later example,
   serial number 17 from circa 1910, is on display at the New England Air
   Museum in Connecticut.
   Wright engine serial # 17, circa 1910
   Enlarge
   Wright engine serial # 17, circa 1910

   By autumn 1903 the Wright brothers were skilled glider pilots. Before
   attempting their first powered flights of the year, they made many
   glides in their 1902 machine, surpassing their own records for duration
   and distance.

   Then on December 17, 1903, in a frigid wind gusting to 27 miles an
   hour, the Wrights took to the air in their powered Flyer, both of them
   twice. The first flight, by Orville, of 39 meters (120 feet) in 12
   seconds, was recorded in a famous photograph. In the fourth flight of
   the day, the one most fully controlled, Wilbur flew 279 meters (852 ft)
   in 59 seconds. Their altitude on the four flights was about ten feet
   above the ground. .

   The flights were witnessed by 4 lifeguards and a boy from the village,
   making it arguably the first public flight. A local newspaper reported
   the event, inaccurately. Only one other newspaper, the Cincinnati
   Enquirer, printed the story the next day.

   The Flyer I cost less than a thousand dollars to construct. It had a
   wingspan of 40 feet (12 m), weighed 750 pounds (340 kg), and sported a
   12 hp (9 kW), 170 pound (77 kg) engine. After the fourth flight of
   December 17th, a strong wind overturned the parked Flyer and wrecked
   it; the aircraft never flew again. The brothers shipped the pieces
   home, and years later Orville restored the Flyer, lending it to several
   museums in the U.S., then to a British museum (see Smithsonian dispute
   below), before it was finally installed in the Smithsonian Institution
   in Washington, D.C. in 1948.

Trouble establishing legitimacy

   In 1904 the brothers built the Flyer II and set up an airfield at
   Huffman Prairie, a cow pasture eight miles northeast of Dayton, which
   banker Torrance Huffman let them use rent-free. On May 23 they invited
   reporters to their first flight attempt of the year on the condition
   that no photographs be taken. Engine troubles and slack winds prevented
   any flying, and they could manage only a very short hop a few days
   later with fewer reporters present. Some scholars of the Wrights
   speculate the brothers may have intentionally failed to fly in order to
   disinterest reporters in their experiments. Whether that is true is not
   known, but their poor showing did result in the local newspapers
   virtually ignoring them for the next year and a half.
   Orville in flight over Huffman Prairie, approximately 1,760 feet in 40
   1/5 seconds, Nov. 16, 1904.
   Enlarge
   Orville in flight over Huffman Prairie, approximately 1,760 feet in 40
   1/5 seconds, Nov. 16, 1904.

   The Wrights were glad to be free from the distraction of reporters. The
   absence of newsmen also reduced the chance of competitors learning
   their methods. After the Kitty Hawk powered flights, the Wrights made a
   decision to begin withdrawing from the bicycle business and devote
   themselves to creating and marketing a practical airplane. The decision
   was financially risky, since they were neither wealthy nor government
   funded (unlike other experimenters such as Ader, Maxim, Langley and
   Santos-Dumont). They did not have the luxury of giving away their
   invention. It was to be their livelihood. Thus, their secrecy
   intensified, encouraged by the advice of their patent attorney not to
   reveal details of their machine.

   At Huffman Prairie lighter winds and lower air density than in Kitty
   Hawk (due to Ohio's higher altitude and higher temperatures) made
   takeoffs very difficult, and they had to use a much longer starting
   rail, stretching to hundreds of feet, compared to the 60-foot rail at
   Kitty Hawk. During the spring and summer they suffered many hard
   landings, real crackups, repeated Flyer damage, and bodily bumps and
   bruises to show for it. In August, making an unassisted takeoff, they
   finally flew farther than their longest powered flight at Kitty Hawk.
   Then they decided to use a catapult to make takeoffs easier and tried
   it for the first time on September 7th. On September 20th, 1904 Wilbur
   flew a complete circle in about a minute and a half—the first in
   history by a heavier-than-air flying machine. By the end of the year,
   the brothers had made 105 flights over the rather soggy 85 acre
   pasture, which, remarkably, is virtually unchanged today from its
   original condition and is now part of Dayton Aviation Heritage National
   Historical Park, adjacent to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

   In 1905 the brothers built the Flyer III, which had the same marginal
   performance as the first two Flyers. Its maiden flight was June 23 and
   its first several flights were no longer than 10 seconds. After Orville
   suffered a bone-jarring crackup on July 14, they rebuilt the Flyer with
   the forward elevator and rear rudder both several feet farther away
   from the wings. The modifications greatly improved stability and
   control, and by October 5 Wilbur demonstrated they had a practical
   airplane by setting a record of 39 minutes 23 seconds in the air,
   flying for 24 miles (38.9 km) circling Huffman Prairie, landing only
   when his fuel ran out. The flight was seen by a number of people,
   including several invited friends and their father. Reporters showed up
   the next day (their first appearance at the field since May the
   previous year), but the brothers declined to fly. The only photos of
   the flights of 1904-05 were taken by the brothers.

   In 1904 Ohio beekeeping businessman Amos Root, a technology enthusiast,
   saw a few flights including the first circle. Articles he wrote for his
   beekeeping magazine were the only published eyewitness reports of the
   Huffman Prairie flights, except for the unimpressive early hop local
   newsmen saw. Root offered a report to Scientific American magazine, but
   the editor turned it down. As a result, the news was not widely known
   outside of Ohio, and was often met with skepticism. The Paris edition
   of the Herald Tribune headlined a 1906 article on the Wrights "FLYERS
   OR LIARS?"

   In years to come, Dayton newspapers would proudly celebrate the
   hometown Wright brothers as national heroes, but the local newsmen's
   ability to overlook one of the biggest stories in human history as it
   was happening a few miles from their doorstep stands as a unique
   chapter in the annals of American journalism.

   The Wright brothers were, in fact, complicit in the lack of attention
   they received. Wary of the competition stealing their plans, after 1905
   they refused make public flights or take part in air shows unless they
   had a firm contract to sell their airplane. They attempted to interest
   the military in the U.S., France, Britain, and Germany, but were
   rebuffed because they insisted on a signed contract before giving a
   demonstration. American bureaucrats were particularly unreceptive,
   having recently spent $50,000 on the Langley Aerodrome, only to see it
   plunge twice into the Potomac River "like a handful or mortar". Thus,
   doubted or scorned, the Wright brothers continued their work in
   semi-obscurity, while other aviation pioneers like Brazilian Alberto
   Santos-Dumont and American Glenn Curtiss were occupying the limelight.

   The Wright brothers made no flights at all in 1906 and 1907. After
   finally signing contracts with a French company and the U.S. Army, they
   went back to Kitty Hawk in May 1908 with the 1905 Flyer, modified with
   seats for pilot and passenger, and began practicing for their
   all-important demonstration flights. Their contracts required them to
   be able to carry a passenger. After tests with sandbags in the
   passenger seat, Charlie Furnas, a helper from Dayton, became the first
   fixed-wing aircraft passenger on a few short flights May 14. For safety
   and as a promise to their father, Wilbur and Orville did not fly
   together.

The patent

   Their 1903 patent application, which they wrote themselves, was
   rejected. In early 1904 they hired Ohio patent attorney Henry Toulmin,
   and on May 22, 1906 they were granted patent #821,393 for a "Flying
   Machine". Significantly, this patent illustrated a non-powered flying
   machine. The patent's importance lies in its claim of a new and useful
   method of controlling a flying machine, powered or not. The technique
   of wing-warping is described, but the patent explicitly states that
   wing-warping need not be the only method that could be employed to vary
   the angle presented to the air by the outer portions of a machine's
   wings. The concept of varying the angle near the wingtips, by whatever
   means, is central to the patent. The broad protection intended by this
   language was important in the patent infringement lawsuits the Wrights
   brought and won against Glenn Curtiss and other early aviators who
   adopted ailerons while the Wrights continued to use wing-warping (see
   Patent War section below). The patent also describes the innovative
   steerable rear vertical rudder and its vitally important use in
   combination with wing-warping to overcome the problem of "skidding"
   (adverse yaw) when turning the aeroplane. Finally, the patent describes
   the forward elevator, used for ascending and descending.

Public showing

   Orville demonstrating the flyer to the U.S. Army, Fort Myer Virginia
   September, 1908.
   Enlarge
   Orville demonstrating the flyer to the U.S. Army, Fort Myer Virginia
   September, 1908.

   The brothers' contracts with the U.S. Army and a French syndicate
   depended on successful public flight demonstrations that met certain
   conditions. The brothers had to divide their efforts. Wilbur sailed for
   Europe; Orville would fly near Washington, D.C.

   Wilbur began their official public demonstrations on August 8, 1908, at
   the Hunaudières horse racing track near the town of Le Mans, France.
   His first flight lasted only one minute 45 seconds, but his ability to
   effortlessly make banking turns and fly a circle amazed and stunned
   onlookers, including several pioneer French aviators. In the following
   days he made a series of technically challenging flights including
   figure-eights, demonstrating to the world his skills as a pilot and the
   capability of his flying machine, which far surpassed those of all
   other pilot pioneers. The French public was thrilled by Wilbur's feats,
   and the Wright brothers became world famous overnight. On October 7
   Mrs. Hart O. Berg (Edith), the wife of the brothers' European business
   agent, became the first woman airplane passenger when she flew with
   Wilbur.

   Orville followed his brother's success by demonstrating another nearly
   identical flyer to the United States Army at Fort Myer, Virginia,
   starting on September 3, 1908. On September 9 he made the first
   hour-long flight. On September 17 Army lieutenant Thomas Selfridge rode
   along as his passenger, serving as an official observer. A few minutes
   into the flight at an altitude of about 100 feet, a propeller split,
   sending the aircraft out of control. Selfridge was killed in the crash,
   the first person to die in powered fixed-wing aircraft. Orville was
   badly injured, suffering broken ribs and a leg. The brothers' sister
   Katharine, a school teacher, rushed from Dayton to Washington and
   stayed by Orville's side for the many weeks of his hospitalization. She
   helped negotiate a one-year extension of the Army contract.
   Wright Model A Flyer and launching derrick, France, 1909
   Enlarge
   Wright Model A Flyer and launching derrick, France, 1909

   Deeply shocked by the news, Wilbur determined to make even more
   impressive flight demonstrations; in the ensuing days and weeks he set
   new records for altitude and duration. In January 1909 Orville and
   Katharine joined him in France, and for a time they were the three most
   famous people in the world, sought after by kings, princes, prime
   ministers, reporters and the public. In February Katharine flew as
   Wilbur's passenger. The trio traveled to Pau, in the south of France,
   where Wilbur made many more public flights, giving rides to a
   procession of officers, journalists and statesmen. In April Wilbur gave
   demonstrations in Italy where a cameraman climbed aboard and made the
   first motion picture from a plane.

   After their return to the U.S., the brothers and Katharine were invited
   to the White House where President Taft bestowed awards upon them.
   Dayton followed up with a lavish two-day homecoming celebration. In
   July 1909 Orville, with Wilbur assisting, completed the proving flights
   for the U.S. Army, meeting the requirements of a two-seater able to fly
   with a passenger for an hour at an average of speed of 40 miles an hour
   (64 km/h) and land undamaged. They sold the aircraft to the Army's
   Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps for $30,000 (which included a
   $5,000 bonus for exceeding the speed specification). Wilbur climaxed an
   extraordinary year in early October when he flew at New York City's
   Hudson-Fulton celebrations, circling the Statute of Liberty and making
   a 33-minute flight up and down the Hudson River alongside Manhattan in
   view of up to one million New Yorkers. These flights solidly
   established the fame of the Wright brothers in America.

Family flights

   On May 25, 1910 back at Huffman Prairie, Orville piloted two unique
   flights. First, he took off on a six-minute flight with Wilbur as his
   passenger, the only time the Wright brothers ever flew together. They
   received permission from their father to make the flight. They had
   always promised Milton they would never fly together—to avoid the
   chance of a double tragedy and to ensure one brother would remain to
   continue their experiments. Next, Orville took his 82-year old father
   on a nearly seven-minute flight, the first and only one of Milton
   Wright's life. The airplane rose to about 350 feet while the elderly
   Wright called to his son, "Higher, Orville, higher!"

The patent war

   In 1908 the brothers warned Glenn Curtiss not to infringe their patent
   by profiting from flying or selling aircraft that used ailerons.
   Curtiss refused to pay license fees to the Wrights and sold a plane to
   the Aeronautic Society of New York in 1909. The Wrights filed a
   lawsuit, beginning a years-long legal conflict. They also sued foreign
   aviators who flew at U.S. exhibitions, including the leading French
   aviator Louis Paulhan. The brothers' licensed European companies, which
   owned foreign patents the Wrights had received, sued manufacturers in
   their countries. The European lawsuits were only partly successful.
   Despite a pro-Wright ruling in France, legal maneuvering dragged on
   until the patent expired in 1917. A German court ruled the patent
   invalid due to prior disclosure in speeches by Wilbur Wright in 1901
   and Octave Chanute in 1903. The Wrights did make agreements with some
   U.S. groups that sponsored airshows and collected license fees from
   them. The Wrights won their initial case against Curtiss in February
   1913, but the decision was appealed.

   From 1910 until his death from typhoid fever in 1912, Wilbur took the
   leading role in the patent struggle, traveling incessantly to consult
   with lawyers and testify in what he felt was a moral cause,
   particularly against Curtiss, who was creating a large company to
   manufacture aircraft. The Wrights' preoccupation with the legal issue
   hindered their development of new aircraft designs, and by 1911 Wright
   aircraft were considered inferior to those made by other firms in
   Europe. Indeed, aviation development in the US was suppressed to such
   an extent that when the US entered World War 1 no acceptable
   American-designed aircraft were available, and the US forces were
   compelled to use French machines. Orville and Katharine Wright believed
   Curtiss was partly responsible for Wilbur's premature death, which
   occurred in the wake of his exhausting travels and the stress of the
   legal battle.

   In January 1914 a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict in
   favour of the Wrights against Curtiss, whose company continued to avoid
   penalties through legal tactics and because Orville was planning to
   sell the Wright company and did not follow up the legal victory. In
   1917, with World War I underway, the U.S. government stepped in to
   supervise a cross-licensing organization in which member companies paid
   a blanket fee for the use of aviation patents, including the original
   and subsequent Wright patents. The Wright-Martin company (successor to
   the Wright company) and the Curtiss company (which held a number of its
   own patents) each received a $2 million payment. The "patent war"
   ended, although side issues lingered in the courts until the 1920s. In
   a twist of irony, the Wright Aeronautical Corporation (another
   successor) and the Curtiss Aeroplane company merged in 1929 to form the
   Curtiss-Wright corporation, which remains in business today producing
   high-tech components for the aerospace industry.

   The lawsuits damaged the public image of the Wright brothers, who were
   generally regarded before this as heroes. Critics said the brothers
   were greedy and unfair, and compared their actions unfavourably to
   European inventors, who refused to enforce restrictive patents on this
   new technology.. Supporters said the brothers were protecting their
   interests and were justified in expecting fair compensation for secrets
   of their invention. Their long friendship with Octave Chanute collapsed
   after he publicly criticized their actions.

In business

   In 1910, the Wrights hired a 5-man exhibition team to fly airshows. The
   team's debut was at the Indianapolis Speedway on June 13, 1910. The
   short tenure of this program was punctuated by several crashes,
   including one in which the mayor of Richmond, Virginia was riding
   along. The program was discontinued in November 1911, at which time
   five of nine aviators on the Wright payroll had died in crashes.

   On October 25, 1910, the Wright brothers were engaged by Max Moorehouse
   of Columbus, Ohio to undertake the first commercial air cargo shipment.
   Moorehouse, owner of Moorehouse-Marten's Department store in Columbus,
   asked if the Wright brothers could carry a shipment of silk ribbon from
   a wholesaler in Dayton to Columbus. The Wright brothers agreed to the
   proposal, adding that their pilot and aircraft would put on an
   exhibition once the cargo was delivered to the Driving Park landing
   area on the east side of Columbus. Moorehouse, in turn, agreed to pay
   the Wrights $5,000 for the service, which was more an exercise in
   advertising than a simple delivery. The actual flight occurred on
   November 7, 1910, with the Model B Wright Flyer piloted by Philip Orin
   Parmelee. The 62 mile (100 km) flight took 62 minutes, with Parmalee
   overtaking the Big Four express train in London, Ohio. In addition to
   carrying the first air-freight, Parmalee's speed of 60 miles an hour
   (97 km/h) set a world record for in-flight speed. For the return trip,
   however, the Wright Flyer was loaded on a train the night of the world
   record flight, and Parmalee returned to Dayton on the same Big Four
   Express train that he overtook in the air the day before.

   Orville sold his interests in the plane company in 1915. He, Katharine
   and their father Milton moved to a mansion, Hawthorn Hill, Oakwood,
   Ohio, which the newly wealthy family built. There, they lived quietly.
   Milton died in his sleep in 1917. Katharine married in 1926, which
   upset Orville. He cut her off, refusing to meet with or write to her.
   He finally agreed to see her just before she died of pneumonia in 1929.
   Orville died in 1948, from a heart attack. Both brothers are buried at
   a family plot at Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio. Neither brother
   married nor had children.

   The Flyer I is now on display in the National Air and Space Museum, a
   division of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. (See The
   Smithsonian Issue).

   The Flyer III, the only fixed-wing aircraft designated a National
   Historic Landmark, was dismantled after the 1905 flights, but rebuilt
   and flown in 1908 at Kitty Hawk, and was restored in the late 1940s
   with the help of Orville. It is on display at Dayton, Ohio in the John
   W. Berry Sr., Wright Brothers Aviation Centre at Carillon Historical
   Park. The display space for the aircraft was designed by Orville
   Wright.

   Orville instructed that, upon his death, The Franklin Institute in
   Philadelphia should receive his collection of airfoils and devices. The
   Franklin Institute was the first scientific organization to give the
   Wright brothers credit and ranking for achieving sustained powered
   flight. Today, The Franklin Institute Science Museum holds the largest
   collection of artifacts from the Wright brothers' workshop.

The Smithsonian issue

   Samuel P. Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1887
   to 1906, experimented for many years with model gliders and built
   successful powered unmanned aircraft models. Two tests of his
   full-sized manned Aerodrome in October and December 1903, however, were
   complete failures. Nevertheless, the Smithsonian later displayed the
   Aerodrome as the first heavier-than-air craft "capable" of manned
   powered flight, relegating the Wright brothers' achievement to
   secondary status. Orville Wright objected, but the Smithsonian was
   unyielding. Orville responded by loaning the Kitty Hawk Flyer to the
   London Science Museum in 1928. He stated the airplane would not be
   donated to the Smithsonian until the Institution acknowledged the
   primacy of the Wright brothers' invention. Charles Lindbergh attempted
   to mediate the dispute, to no avail. In 1942, under different
   leadership, the Smithsonian finally agreed, but the Flyer remained in
   Britain until 1948. On November 23, 1948 the executors of the estate of
   Orville Wright wrote a contract with the Smithsonian Institution
   regarding the display of the aircraft, stating that "Neither the
   Smithsonian Institution or its successors, nor any museum or other
   agency, bureau or facilities administered for the United States of
   America by the Smithsonian Institution or its successors shall publish
   or permit to be displayed a statement or label in connection with or in
   respect of any aircraft model or design of earlier date than the Wright
   Aeroplane of 1903, claiming in effect that such aircraft was capable of
   carrying a man under its own power in controlled flight." If this
   agreement was not fulfilled, the Flyer would be returned to the heir of
   the Wright brothers. This requirement is widely seen as tainting any
   possible independent examination of the various competing claims of
   early aircraft pioneers. The Flyer went on display to the public after
   installation ceremonies at the Smithsonian on December 17, 1948,
   forty-five years to the day after the airplane's only flights.

Competing claims

   Numerous claims before the Wrights aspire to the title of first
   powered, manned, controlled, and self-sustaining heavier than air
   flight (or minor variations of this classification). See First flying
   machine. Several claims actually were made after the Wrights' first
   successful flights, and attempt to discount the achievement on some
   technical basis, such as their use of a launching rail and catapult and
   the Flyer's lack of wheels.

   Controversy regarding credit for the invention of the fixed-wing
   aircraft was also fueled by the Wrights' secrecy before and after their
   patent was granted, and by the pride of nations.

   There has also been much debate whether the Wright brothers' early
   flights (as well as those of earlier claims) flew high enough to be out
   of ground effect. Competing claimants also note that the Wrights' early
   flights were usually flown only into the wind, helping lift. Taking off
   into the wind, in fact, became standard practice in aviation, for the
   same reason: takeoff is easier because the aircraft receives more lift.

   Another source of attack is that some replicas of the Wright Flyer do
   not fly. The reasons usually stem from an inability to know the exact
   details of the Wrights' design and construction and to duplicate the
   conditions of the flight. Specific features of the Flyer that even the
   Wrights did not know were important in rendering it capable of flight
   are lost to history, such as the octane of the fuels used, and the
   small details of aerodynamics that can have disproportionate effect on
   the ability to fly.

   After their Kitty Hawk flights in windy conditions, the Wrights
   developed a weight-powered catapult in Ohio to aid initial
   acceleration, compensating for the several additional horsepower their
   homebuilt engines lacked. This method of launching has been the source
   of some attacks on the Wrights' claim. Critics say that a plane
   incapable of taking off using its own power could not be a true
   aircraft.

   In fact, the Flyer II took off without a catapult and made short
   straight flights dozens of times in the spring and summer of 1904. The
   location available to the Wrights was unsuitable for wheels and a long
   takeoff roll, so they used the rail and added the catapult. The
   combination allowed takeoffs in only 50 or 60 feet, giving them
   consistent opportunities to get into the air and learn to fly. The
   takeoff devices materially shortened the time they needed to master
   their aircraft and make true flights, including turns, circles,
   figure-eights and safe landings.

   A few manned heavier-than-air aircraft probably became airborne before
   the Wrights, but lacked effective control; candidate machines include
   those of Clément Ader, Hiram Stevens Maxim, Richard Pearse and Gustave
   Whitehead. The Wright Flyer, however, stands as the first practical
   airplane with a combination of features not used before, but included
   in all that came later: efficient wings, three-axis control, an
   effective system to generate power and turn it into thrust, and a
   takeoff system.

Ohio/North Carolina dispute

   The states of Ohio and North Carolina both take credit for the Wright
   brothers and their world-changing invention - Ohio because the brothers
   developed and built their design in Dayton, and North Carolina because
   Kitty Hawk was the site of the first flight. With a spirit of friendly
   rivalry, Ohio has adopted the informal slogan "Birthplace of Aviation"
   (later "Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers", with a tip of the hat to not
   only the Wrights, but also John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, both Ohio
   natives.) North Carolina has adopted the slogan "First In Flight" and
   includes the theme on state license plates. Both states included an
   image of the Flyer I on their respective state quarters. As the
   positions of both states can be factually defended, and both states
   play a significant role in the history of flight, neither state truly
   has a complete claim to the Wrights' accomplishment. Neil Armstrong, at
   a presentation at the Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, joked
   that there is enough credit for both states: North Carolina provided
   the right winds and soft landing material and Dayton, Ohio provided the
   know-how, resources and engineering.

Trivia

   Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio is named after Dayton natives
   Orville and Wilbur Wright. The University's logo includes the Wright
   Flyer and one of the brothers on the ground. A diagonal brick wall that
   was erected across one of the school's main entrances is said to be
   identical in length to the Wrights' first flight.

   On April 19, 1944, the second production Lockheed Constellation,
   piloted by Howard Hughes and TWA president Jack Frye flew from Burbank,
   California to Washington D.C. in 6 hours and 57 minutes. On the return
   trip, the aircraft stopped at Wright Field to give Orville Wright his
   last plane flight, more than forty years after his historic first
   flight. He commented that the wingspan on the Constellation was longer
   than the distance of his first flight.

Quotes

   "While up in the air there is but very little to injure or to put any
   great strain on any part of the machinery. If you run into a tree or a
   house, of course, there would be a smash-up. No drinking man should
   ever be allowed to undertake to run a flying-machine."
   Amos I. Root, Jan. 15, 1905 edition of Gleanings In Bee CultureAccessed
   Nov. 17, 2006.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
