Wright brothers

Orville Wright

• Born: August 19, 1871
• Birthplace: Dayton, Ohio
• Died: January 30, 1948
• Place of death: Dayton, Ohio

Wilbur Wright

• Born: April 16, 1867
• Birthplace: Near Millville, Indiana
• Died: May 30, 1912
• Place of death: Dayton, Ohio

American aeronautical engineers

The Wright brothers invented the first practical powered aircraft flown by a pilot, thereby initiating the age of aviation.

Areas of achievement Aviation and space exploration, invention and technology

Early Lives

The Wright brothers belonged to a midwestern family of five children. Wilbur and Orville were the third and fourth boys, respectively; their younger sister, Katherine, was the only girl. Their father, the Reverend Milton Wright of the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Christ, had a large personal library, particularly of scientific and mechanical books. Their mother, née Susan Catherine Koerner, had been college educated and, with her husband, had invented several practical household items. As children, Wilbur, Orville, and Katherine established a closeness that became lifelong, especially after 1889, when Katherine took over running the home on their mother’s death. The Wright brothers initially fashioned and sold toys; later they made tools, including a lathe, a newspaper-folding device, and a printing press. Between 1889 and 1894, they used the latter to produce a small local journal; Wilbur did the writing. Since their father’s calling required the family to move often, the boys attended public schools in Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio. Wilbur and Orville were the only Wright children not to attend college.

The two brothers shared a remarkable genius for mechanics and complemented each other so closely as to give the appearance of being practically of one mind. Both had serious, no-nonsense, and reserved personalities. Wilbur was more pragmatic, had a steadier business sense, read much, and wrote for his father’s church bulletin. Orville was more meticulous, temperamental, and full of ideas; he became a fairly successful bicycle racer. Late in 1892, the two young men opened a shop for the sale and repair of bicycles, utilizing their own mechanical skills to ensure quality workmanship. They were so successful that within three years they had sold their printing press, had expanded their bicycle business, and had begun to assemble their own cycles, using improved designs and tools of their own making. Orville even devised a crude calculating machine. An early gift from their father of a toy helicopter stimulated a gradual interest in the rudiments of flight.

Lives’ Work

By the mid-1890’s, the Wright brothers were closely following the successful experiments of the German Otto Lilienthal with gliders, only to be stunned by news of his death in a gliding mishap in 1896. The tragedy, however, served as a catalyst for both men, who thereupon embarked on a common quest to solve the problem of piloted flight. At first they read the scanty scientific literature on aerodynamics. From 1899, they experimented with kites and gliders in their spare time, usually to the derision of witnesses. The task came to dominate both their lives, and neither one ever married. From 1900, Wilbur corresponded extensively with the French expert in gliders, Octave Chanute, who was endeavoring to discover where Lilienthal had erred. Chanute greatly encouraged the Wright brothers and promoted their work.

The approach of the Wrights toward mastering the air was novel. They differed from the experimenters in Europe who, ever since the adoption of the internal combustion engine to the automobile in the 1880’s, had concentrated on developing power plants. Instead, the two brothers after observing birds in flight in 1899 believed that pilot control of a vehicle under wind power had to be established before mechanical power could be applied. Orville theorized that lateral balance held the key. (Lateral balance is the ability of the pilot to adjust air pressure against the wing tips to his right and left at different angles to the wind to bank to either side.) Wilbur provided the means: a twisting or “warping” of the wings at correspondingly opposing angles. They built and tested a small kite-like glider in 1899 that proved their thinking correct. They discovered that a piloted “aeroplane” not only had to be controlled simultaneously along the horizontal axis to bank right or left but also had to be steered vertically to climb or descend. The plane also had to be directed to turn right or left.

Concurrent control of flight along these three axes thus dominated the Wrights’ subsequent experiments before a motor could ever be mounted. Solution of the three-axis control problem was their greatest contribution to the science of aerodynamics. Between 1899 and 1903, they constructed and tested a succession of biplane gliders, incorporating the horizontal wing-warping mechanism, a forward elevator for vertical control, and a movable rear rudder tail for turning. The latter became standard for all subsequent aircraft. Because existing tables of air pressure and drift proved inaccurate, Orville devised two small wind tunnels to make his own innumerable correct measurements of wing surfaces. Wilbur revealed these figures to the world of aeronautics in 1901. Though the Wrights’ scientific work was undertaken at Dayton, their glider flights were made in the ideal breezes over the sand dunes on the beach at Kitty Hawk and nearby Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina.

By 1903 the brothers not only had solved the three-axis challenge but also had calculated the amount of engine power required to lift their most advanced biplane glider. Their talents as mechanics enabled them that year to build a superb, lightweight four-cylinder engine with approximately four horsepower. They also constructed an unprecedentedly efficient airscrew propeller for the engine to drive. They then joined these two inventions with bicycle chains, which drove two propellers mounted aft of the wings as pushers. Skids rather than wheels ensured stable landings. The entire flying machine was to be launched by a weight-dropping catapult. With Orville at the controls, the completed aircraft, the Flyer I, made its first flight at Kill Devil Hill on December 17, 1903. It flew 120 feet in twelve seconds, but by the end of the day Wilbur had achieved a flight of 852 feet. Only five other people, all local citizens, witnessed the epic event.

The world took no notice of the Wright brothers’ monumental achievement, especially since the Wrights discouraged publicity until after their pending patents had been granted in 1906. Returning to Dayton, they devoted all of their time to creating and testing the first practical airplane. They were frustrated in their attempts to sell it to the United States or foreign governments; only in 1908 did their success become known. That summer, Orville dazzled U.S. Army observers at Fort Myer, Virginia, while Wilbur did the same in France for European observers. The effect was electric, and aviation enthusiasts now adopted the Wright method of aerodynamical control. Although a U.S. Army officer was killed and Orville seriously injured in a crash at Fort Myer, the Army accepted a Wright plane. European governments made similar purchases. In 1909, the Wright Company was incorporated, with Wilbur as president. Orville was content to be vice president and leave the business to his brother while he taught flying and improved aircraft designs.

Their fame assured, the Wrights now prospered, yet the adoption of their wing-warping techniques by competitors led them to institute legal action against many manufacturers. In the United States, their chief rival was Glenn H. Curtiss, who, like many other manufacturers, had adopted the European-invented aileron in preference to the full warped wing for lateral control. The Wrights protested that any wing-warping device owed ultimate credit to themselves. The bitter lawsuits did not endear them to the world’s aviation community, and they absorbed much of their energies. Furthermore, after 1909, they were quickly bypassed by advancing technology in Europe, and several of their army planes suffered fatal crashes. Then, in May, 1912, Wilbur succumbed to typhoid fever, and this blow sapped much of Orville’s enthusiasm.

Succeeding to the presidency of the company, Orville carried on. He continued to test every improvement to his planes, even though whenever a plane vibrated in flight he suffered pains stemming from his 1908 injuries. Because his interest was in research and not business, he sold out his interest in the company late in 1915 and gave his final flying lesson. Orville remained thereafter a consulting engineer with the company. The lawsuits, and countersuits, were not resolved until the United States entered World War I in 1917, at which time all the aircraft manufacturers agreed to a cross-licensing system whereby their patents were pooled to enable the United States to produce unlimited numbers of warplanes. Orville served as a major in the Army Air Service, primarily as a technological adviser at Dayton. He gave up flying in 1918 and spent the rest of his life devising aeronautical equipment, mechanical toys, and other ingenious gadgets. He also for many years lent his expertise as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA).

Rival claims and ensuing controversies did not abate until the early 1940’s. However, Wilbur and Orville Wright are firmly recognized as the undisputed inventors of the airplane.

Significance

The Wright brothers exemplified the great era of individual invention that preceded the massive team research efforts funded by large corporations, foundations, governments, and universities. Their discovery of the key to piloted, powered flight pilot control over the free-flying aircraft stemmed largely from the mechanical “Yankee know-how” passed on to them by their parents and honed in their bicycle business. Their practical experiments, therefore, succeeded whereas those of the theoretical scientist Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906) of the Smithsonian Institution did not. Similarly, the bicycle and motorcycle racing and manufacturing of their major American competitor, Curtiss, yielded the same results as those of the Wrights after Curtiss profited from their basic discovery. Also, the Wrights did not succumb to the European fascination with engines until the fundamental aerodynamical problems had been solved; nor were they air sportsmen, like many enthusiasts of the day.

The historical timing was right. Technology and science were merging in all aspects of the rapidly industrializing Western world, enabling the Wrights to apply existing knowledge in the creation of the first airplane. In addition, the conquest of the air had become but one aspect of the last phase of public preoccupation with terrestrial exploration of the polar regions, remote jungles, and “lost” civilizations a preoccupation shared by the Wrights. They also exploited the public’s craving for adventure with an exhibition team of stunt-flyers, though they did this only in response to competitors; by nature, neither man enjoyed popular hoopla of any kind. Finally, the drift of the European powers toward world war brought the Wrights the contracts they needed to continue their work with formal companies at home and in Europe.

The American military had no such sense of urgency and adopted early Wright flying machines only slowly, turning to the brothers to teach several officers to fly. The U.S. Army relied most heavily on Wright planes in the early years, 1908-1912, but several crashes led the Army to turn increasingly to other manufacturers. By contrast, the U.S. Navy initially preferred “hydroaeroplanes” that took off from and landed on the water, machines Curtiss provided since the Wrights opted for “landplanes.” To compete in seaplanes, however, the Wright brothers subcontracted with the only other airplane manufacturer of the early days, W. Starling Burgess (1878-1947), who used Wright blueprints but designed his own pontoon floats. Still, the Wright control mechanism of levers proved too cumbersome and was eventually overshadowed by the Deperdussin method, another example of the brothers’ failure to innovate beyond their basic design. Ironically, the Wright Company merged with the Curtiss firm in 1929 to become Curtiss-Wright.

The tragic aspect of the Wright brothers was their attempt, through litigation, virtually to patent powered flight itself with their claims over the wing-warping concept. Whatever the legal merits of their case, the airplane was one of those inventions that belonged to humanity as a whole and could not be controlled through patents. They did not object to others imitating their design, but they steadfastly opposed any who used it for profit without recompense to them. The ensuing lawsuits inhibited much aeronautical progress in Europe and the United States in the early years. The principal focus of their anger was Curtiss, a man of almost identical character, integrity, and mechanical genius whose seaplanes and flying boats provided the bulk of Allied naval aviation during World War I. Orville’s resentment only deepened after Wilbur’s untimely death, which he attributed partly to his brother’s exhaustion from the dispute. Another source of irritation was the insistence of the Smithsonian Institution that its pioneer scientist, Langley, really deserved the credit for the key initial discoveries in aeronautics a claim not abandoned until World War II.

The Wrights solved the problems of piloted flight and by so doing initiated the air age, that essential historic bridge between the planet’s surface and the ultimate leap into outer space.

Bibliography

Adams, Noah. The Flyers: In Search of Wilbur and Orville Wright. New York: Crown, 2003. Adams, one of the hosts of the radio program All Things Considered, tells the story of the Wright brothers through their letters, diaries, and visits to the significant sites associated with their lives and work.

Crouch, Tom D., and Peter L. Jakab. The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic and Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, 2003. The authors, curators at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, published this book to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Kitty Hawk flight. It includes biographical information, extensive descriptions of how the Wright brothers devised the airplane they flew at Kitty Hawk, and one hundred archival photographs.

Freudenthal, Elsbeth Estelle. Flight into History: The Wright Brothers and the Air Age. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949. An adequate popular biography of the two men.

Gibbs-Smith, Charles H. Aviation. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1970. A historical survey of flight from its origins in antiquity to the end of World War II, this work is the best single volume on the subject, giving a balanced treatment of the Wrights’ key role. It is dedicated to them, their entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica also being written by Gibbs-Smith.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Wright Brothers: A Brief Account of Their Work, 1899-1911. London: Science Museum, 1963. A well-illustrated booklet on the crucial years.

Heppenheimer, T. A. First Flight: The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Airplane. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2003. Heppenheimer, an aviation writer, provides a comprehensive look at the brothers’ lives, the design and construction of the airplane flown at Kitty Hawk, the Kitty Hawk flight, and the bothers’ subsequent business and technological ventures.

Kelly, Fred C. The Wright Brothers. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1943. The closest volume to an autobiography, this work was authorized by Orville Wright, who contributed heavily to it. It remains the standard work on their lives, though it is weak on the technological aspects and on the rivalry with Glenn Curtiss.

McFarland, Marvin W., ed. The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright. 2 vols. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953. An exhaustive, meticulously annotated compendium of all papers relating not only to the Wrights’ careers but also to that of Octave Chanute.

Renstrum, Arthur G., comp. Wilbur and Orville Wright: A Bibliography Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Wilbur Wright. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1968. An essential listing of books and articles.

Wright, Orville, and Wilbur Wright. Miracle at Kitty Hawk: The Letters of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Edited by Fred C. Kelly. New York: Farrar, Straus and Young, 1951. A very complete collection of the personal and technical correspondence of the brothers.

Related Articles in Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century

1901-1940: December 17, 1903: Wright Brothers’ First Flight; May 20, 1926: Air Commerce Act Creates a Federal Airways System.

1971-2000: July 1, 1976: Smithsonian Opens the National Air and Space Museum.